Pavlovian Apples? Wall-E and Product Placement

Pixar’s latest offering, Wall-E, may capture the imagination of children everywhere. My child, being four, was not quite as interested in it as the popcorn and orange soda that came with a Canada Day outing to the movies.

But when we got home, something interesting happened.

What Happened

I was warming up my MacBook to do some work and as the chime that announced my computer had come on went off, my child began tearing around the room wildly chanting “Wall-E! Wall-E!”

Seems that sound of my Mac starting up is, as discussed late last week on FriendFeed, the sound that the adorable rust-bucket of a robot makes when he has achieved a full solar charge. So suddenly, I had a tearful toddler on my hands demanding to know where I was hiding Wall-E.

What It Means

And then it struck me: Will a generation grow up feeling lovingly drawn to Apple computers based on an almost Pavlovian reaction to memories of their delight in a movie they saw when they were small? Is this another way of branding consumers early?

Apparently, these are not the only Apple-related references within the film. The New York Times cited other examples that escaped me- and likely the majority of the other parents in the audience- at the time.

Unlike the in-your-face product placement of the film Sex and the City, has Apple found a more subtle and enduring way of slipping their products into the subconsciousness of the next generation of tech-users? And will it be more effective?

A Little More Sex (and the City that is.)

Scooped!

I was going to write about the extensive product placement in the film version of Sex and the City, but one of my fellow students at Centennial College’ s Corporate Communications and Public Relations program beat me to it. (And the post is incredibly articulate and well-crafted so it’s likely better that she beat me to it.)

But she raised a point I want to expand on. In her blog, Sarah Roger notes that Vanity Fair has an article that lists all the products that are featured prominently in the movie. And it’s one heck of a long list. (And a really good post- go read her blog now and then come back. I’ll wait.)

My question is when did the Marcom for a film become part of its own PR? And how long will it be before we have films where the product placement is determined first and the script is written around it? Are we there already?