showing copyrighted logos/products in movies

[armyantmatt]

Hey everybody-

I have been trying to resolve a debate for a long time now, and I am hoping somebody here can answer with conviction. In a movie, do you need permission from a company to show their product? (Ex: A character at a party asks for a Guiness, and you can see the label on the bottle.) A friend of mine thinks you need permission from every company whose product or logo you will show. I say thats bunk, there are way too many items in movies to get permission for all of them. Then again, old TV shows used to always have the plain white labels and wrappers on products which simply stated the name of the item inside. Anybody know?

[psychofiend]

I was really wondering about that. A friend of mine is putting a show on our local access channel and he thinks I can't have a Lipton Iced tea and smile for the camera for shits and giggles.

[MinerWerks]

Nowadays, yeah, companies are at least going to have to give permission for you to use their products in movies/TV. They are more conscious than ever about their image and they want to control it as much as possible.

Then there are the wacky things later on down the line, like where ABC had Universal recompose shots in MALLRATS to avoid showing Coca-Cola logos... ridiculous.

Can you get away with showing a product without their permission? In something under the radar and relatively harmless, probably. If the people footing the bill have an army of lawyers, forget it.

[Efexeye]

Usually, the company pays a fee to have their product featured in a scene. There's a reason why James Bond drinks Heineken- they pay for him to!

[ratm1966]

Speaking of advertisements. I here some companies are gonna pay more to have their products featured on TV, and then not have any commercials. The shows will be the commercials. I think this would be cool, except for the fact that there won't be any breaks to go get another beer. Well, unless you have a Tivo (Spelling?).

[towelie99]

Wasn't one of the reasons they created TiVo to screen out commercials from your recorded broadcasts? Don't know if this is ironic or not (unless you're Alanis) but close enough.

[code6enterprises]

It should be like on EdTV where all of the ads are on the bottom of the screen. But that would make CNN harder to decipher(spelling?) then the Matrix.

[DangerSeeker]

In many cases the filmmakers want a specific product, and won't get a dime. A lot of people assumed "Josie & the Pussycats" was primarily funded by product placement because of the constant presence of logos everywhere.

Actually, not only did they not get a dime from any of the companies, but quite a few turned them down because of the way they made fun of advertising, product placement, marketing, etc.

Weird, huh?

[FanGirl]

One of the only company that gives money for product placement is Pepsi (excluding companies that deal with the James Bond franchise). They will contribute $1 million to your special effects budget. Some filmmakers are better at hiding this than others. Twister was just a little obvious whereas Terminator 2 just had a Pepsi machine in the hallway when the two terminators fight in the beginning.

Most companies do exchanges. Jim Beam will pay for the wrap party. Budget rental car will give the production free rental cars for the directors and actors. Mostly the company will just provide you with the product instead. This helps cut down on the budget for the prop department and is great when you're on a tight budget.

Trivia: The first product placement in a movie was in the Conversation and it was the Bell Howard recording machine.

[psychokittyn]

how interesting to know!

[FanGirl]

I'm full of useless and random information especially trivia type stuff like that.

[karmattack]

I don't think you can use a company's product without permission, but I don't know all the legalities of it.
What I DO know is that General Motors controls how their vehicles are used in movies and TV. Pay attention the next time a car gets demolished or explodes in something you're watching; you'll never see a GM vehicle explode on film OR be used by a villian who is rampaging around. They used one in T3 that gets smashed up, but GM allowed it because it is the hero's vehicle and it takes hit after hit and keeps running [those are the GM's spokesperson's words too -- my brother-in-law sent me a copy of the official statement].
So, if a company has that kind of control over how their products are viewed, I'd assume there are legalities present.

[Omaru]

what about films and tv shows that have store interiors in them, all those shelves full of brandnames and stuff. how do they get by that?

[code6enterprises]

Like on Punchdrunk Love. They centered the whole movie around the Healthy Chioce products.