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product placement posts

Filed under: Odds and ends

Top Chef challenge winner gets MacBook Pro

If you're a fan of Bravo's Top Chef and you haven't watched last night's episode yet, I won't spoil it by telling you who won the challenge and who got eliminated. I will tell you, however, that the elimination winner received a MacBook Pro 17" as the award for the best performance in the challenge. Not too shabby.

Considering the consistently high level of product placement on Bravo's shows, it's not all that surprising to see a Mac in the mix -- style maven Tim Gunn even sports a MacBook Pro on the host desk for his new show. What I wasn't expecting was the high level of enthusiasm the winner showed for the prize -- jumping up and down with glee, and the other chefs writhing in disappointment. Very nice.

Thanks, Heidi.

Filed under: Humor, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends

Stewie Griffin: Mac user

Last night on Fox's Family Guy, Stewie had a little fun with his Mac. While practicing for the Olympics, his brother Chris interrupted his "training" (don't ask). Stewie responded by knocking Chris unconscious with a book, and using his motionless body as a landing platform for his pole vaulting practice. Delighted, he announced, "...That was even cooler than playing with the speech function on my Macintosh."

Cut to Stewie in his high chair in front of a laptop:

Stewie: So, computer, what are you thinking about right now?
Mac: Stewie is cool.
Stewie: Yaaaay!

[Via TVSquad]

Filed under: Hardware, Apple

Washington Post on Apple and product placement

The Washington Post has an interesting article about all the 'free' product placement Apple has apparently received in TV shows and movies in recent years. The article states that Apple doesn't pay for all that publicity, but the company won't discuss how their products end up helping CSIs track down their suspect or how the iPod helps employees of The Office land a punchline.

However, the article goes on to mention that product placement is often "arranged through some kind of barter in which the show provides exposure in exchange for products or services" - doesn't that mean the placement is still being paid for?

Semantics aside, let's hope the Hollywood writers and Apple's tech evangelist don't go too overboard; the producers of NBC's The Office "pride themselves on being real" and seem to understand proper placement: "Indeed, actors on the show's drab workplace set do not use snazzy Apple computers, but rather black, generic desktop PCs." Hooray for the real world.

[via Slashdot]

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