Cars are stars, as everyone in Detroit already knows.
But when it comes to product placement in television and movies, automobiles are playing a bigger role than ever.
On a recent episode of ABC’s “Alias,” a chase scene practically screeched to a halt as the camera zoomed in on a Ford F150 logo.
On NBC’s “The Apprentice,” a Chrysler vehicle will play a role in one of the final tasks assigned to the show’s contestants.
It’s all about weaving products into entertainment in ways other than traditional commercials.
Sometimes, it’s even about making your car a lead character.
General Motors is teaming up with USA Network on a TV movie inspired by the Pontiac GTO. “The Last Ride” will star Dennis Hopper, Fred Ward and Chris Carmack of Fox’s “The O.C.”–plus a vintage 1960s GTO and the newly revived 2004 model.
The project was the idea of Rob Cohen, who used a 1967 GTO in his 2002 film, “XXX,” and recently filmed three TV ads for the reintroduction of the famed muscle car. The story is about three generations of a family connected by the GTO.
Filming is supposed to begin this month. The tentative air date is early June.
What makes “The Last Ride” so unusual, according to GM, is that the car was cast before the script was even written.
“We’re usually brought in on something like this in the 11th hour,” says Dino Bernacchi, Pontiac’s advertising manager. “We’re never, ever brought in in this phase of a concept.”
Kevin McAuliffe, senior vice president of integrated brand entertainment for Universal Television Networks (which includes USA Network), says the creative aspects of the film blend neatly with the marketing angle.
“The content really is story-driven, with the car being the fourth character,” McAuliffe says.
But some TV watchers have reservations about taking product placement to this level.
“It makes sense that people who make movies are going to have brand names in them,” says Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University. “But the thing that makes it disturbing is people are beginning to conceive of filmmaking as advertising from the get-go.”
Says Thompson, “This is essentially a fancy 60-second Super Bowl ad reconceived as a TV movie.”
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Joe Knowles (jknowles@tribune.com)
