In "The Merger" episode of The Office, the storyline featured a product placement of a shredder sold by Staples. First, a character in the office is given a stack of papers and told to "go to work", which brings a wry smile to his face. A few scenes later, he's bragging to the camera that this shredder can handle thick stacks of paper, CDs, even credit cards. He proudly whips out his wallet and feeds one of his cards into the machine, then realizes the mistake he's just made.
I didn't think much of it, but then after a few more scenes, the commericals came up and one of them was for the shredder from Staples. Nice, I thought, subtle placement, follow-up by an information segment.
Problem is, they then went too far… In the second half of the show, we go back to the character, who is shredding lettuce and pouring salad dressing on it. They could have stopped there as a funny follow up to his obsession with this machine. But no… Another character walks over and asks where he got the salad, and he responds "Staples." Too much! Too Much!
Turns out that Staples has become a primary sponsor of The Office, which includes continuous references to the company and its products. I think this is fine when it's done in subtle ways, but in this particular episode, it crossed a line. Others agree.
Recent Comments