Jerry should be in advertising

While watching the "Little Jerry" episode, I think I caught an embedded joke in the phone conversation between Jerry and his parents when, thinking he was broke, his parents told him he should be in advertsing.

(If this have been discussed, my apolgy. I checked the FAQ)

Seinfeld is one of the best examples of effective product product placement advertsing in a sitcom. I usually notice it most in the movies, but when I watch reruns, Jerry is the master. In this epidsode alone, Juicy Fruit get a plug, there's a giant, inflated blue label banana behind the counter of the store where Little Jerry tests his metal, not to mention the posters on the wall at the cockfight. Not to mention the ever-present bike, computer, beverages in the fridge (sometimes Pepsi, Coke, Snapple and I can recall once seeing a non-descript can)

I wonder if the money from Junior Mints, O Henry,and Juicy Fruit went to the show or NBC.? This show must have been a literal gold mine for someone in advertising revenue.

C. Parker

I don't consider the use of real consumer products on Seinfeld to be "product placement" (which, I believe involves an ad agency paying for the implied endorsement). I think Jerry and the gang used actual products to add reality to the show.

Just my take on it...as always, I could be wrong (wouldn't be the first time).

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I think I read somewhere a writer for the show said he didn't like watching a show and they pull out a generic brand beer. It took him out of the show for a minute. Brand names have a certain resonance. I think they show the products for fun. I think product placement like that is illegal so they don't show real brand names for advertising purposes.

So, what fake brands do they have? Let's start another damn list. We talk about fake movies all the time. Double Nut Crunch Cereal Hennigan's Scotch?

Paul Valenti

Paul V. (Sein999999) said:

<<<<So, what fake brands do they have? Let's start another damn list:

Double Nut Crunch Cereal Hennigan's Scotch? >>>>>

Beef-A-Reeno

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art vandelay wrote:

Possible... but then, George was seen eating Rold Gold pretzels in "The Glasses", around the time Jason's Rold Gold pretzels commercials started airing.

Keith Davenport wrote:

I can't recite the specific episodes, but early on in the series, Jerry has a Cannondale bike hanging in the bathroom hall. Later, its a Klein. I just notice product changing. If the products are only sets/props, no real need to change. Just thinking.

C. Parker

In article ,

Plus for the humor value. For some reason or combination of reasons, Jerry ordering a pack of Juicy Fruits at the end of that scene is hilarious. I don't know why - wouldn't have been as funny if he said Tic-Tacs or Raisinets (although it is absolutely perfect when Harvey Korman orders Raisinets in the movie theatre towards the end of Blazing Saddles!). That's why these guys make the big bucks I guess! (His subsequent complaining about the 80-cent price was a misstep, though, it kind of ruined it somehow, wasn't as funny; woulda been better if they just cut the scene when he smilingly ordered the Juicy Fruits.)

Same with the Junior Mints - that wasn't product placement, it was a set up for a classic, hilarious chunk of dialogue that has lived on to become one of the most famous, repeated riffs from the series! ("Chocalatey, minty, they're delicious! Very refreshing!")

richforman

Actually, all of the products we see on Seinfeld are in fact product placements. I am an advertising major and we spent a class watching the Junior Mint episode to discuss the topic. All the name brand products we see were placed in the show by a placement company. With Seinfeld being such a popular show, advertisers were knocking down product placement companies doors to get their product featured on the show. So when you see a product, you can be sure it is not there by accident. They were carefully integrated by a company whose job it is to make us notice these placements. In fact, it is one man's job to place the cereals on Jerry's shelf. (Can you imagine that being your full time job??) Hope that helps.

*Stephanie

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I have been watching "The Phone Message" (it's coming along, Mike, honest!) and I noticed that George has what appears to be a bottle of Pepto-Bismol, except it says on it , quite crudely "Anti-Acid". Is this a genuine product in the US, or a disfigured Pepto bottle? (Also, here in the UK, PB bottles have white caps, but this bottle has a black cap). An example of reverse product placement?

Actually, not true. In most cases, products that make it on the show are just products that Jerry and the producers truly like. They actually turned down many offers to take payments for product placements in an effort to make the show what they wanted it to be. In the "real world" we refer to items often by brand names rather than their generic names - we ask for a "coke" or a "pepsi" and even if a server is supposed to inform customers that the particular requested brand isn't what is served by the establishment, the customer will generally drink the cola soda brought to them (who would leave a restaurant for the sake of not having pepsi vs. coke?).

Seinfeld recognized this, used it and made an attempt to promote products that he actually liked.

and the producers truly like.

The products not only had to be things Jerry and/or Larry David enjoyed...they had to advance the plot or contribute some laughs to an episode. And it's true that Jerry turned down money offered even by some of the products he plugged for free.

     That doesn't mean Seinfeld isn't into making a buck through
endorsements...he's put a lot of work into the American Express spots he does.
He just likes his commercial endorsements to be clearly delineated from any
entertainment programming where he appears (although the spots themselves are
often entertaining). And he won't endorse a company he doesn't like and believe
in.
     One of Jerry's  upcoming projects will be to set up a boutique commercial
production house where clients who want to use humor to sell a product will
come to have their spots produced. He may appear in a few of them himself...but
he will sharply limit the number of companies he personally endorses, so he
doesn't dilute the value of his endorsement. His full creative control over the
spots in which he appears in the ongoing AmEx TV campaign has given him a lot
of experience and knowledge in the ad business, and he's interested in trying
it as an ongoing sideline to his comedy work. He wouldn't be the first TV
comedian to succeed at this...in Britain and North America, John Cleese has had
a lot of success in doing projects ranging from commercials to institutional
and training films.

Bob Smith, afternoons WXXI-AM 1370, Rochester NY