Product Placements on Lost

In "Lockdown," Libby tells Doctor Jack that she got stung by a sea
urchin, and Doctor Jack tells her to put some Neosporin on it.

Obveeus...

If this show was really a copy of of Survivor or any other form of reality,
wouldn't he just tell her he to pee on it? ;-)

David...

Who do you think Jack is, a miracle worker?

Oh yeah, right...

Neosporin is the trade name for Pfizer's brand of over-the-counter
antibiotic ointment. I was surprised to hear the trade name used,

Brian Thorn...

ANIM8Rfsk...

heh

do they sell Wal-nut Butter?

I do. I guess it just depends on how you were raised, etc. I also
usually ask for an aspirin (another trade name, belonging to Bayer)

Ryan Robbins...

"Aspirin" no longer belongs to Bayer, at least in the United States.

and Fast Food places more or less have given up fighting the cola wars
and give you a Pepsi even if you asked for a Coke.

number6...

I searched the web for information on trademarks using MSN search and I Tivo'd
the latest Lost on my DVR ...

The two you mention are interesting ... Bayer actually lost their
trademark "aspirin" because they allowed it to become common use ...
and Coca-Cola does all they can to insure the Coke trademark remains
(and I'm sure Pepsi does the same with theirs) by actually fiiling and
winning several cases every year just as a matter of form against
companies like those fast food places when they do just what you
mention ...

Obveeus...

Fast Food places have more or less given up fighting the cola wars and they
now serve you an empty cup...leaving you to fill it yourself.

Brian Thorn...

ANIM8Rfsk...

They have? Coke used to enforce that. They'd send people around and order

Brian Thorn...

Try it yourself. Go to a burger joint that sells Pepsi and ask for a
Coke. More often than not, they'll just give you a Pepsi and not even
argue "we only have Pepsi" anymore. Lawyers may threaten, but the odds
of lawyers swarming down on the Wendy's in Podunk, Arkansas are
sufficiently remote that few bother anymore.

Zamboni...

I've had a number of places that have given me Coke after I ordered
Pepsi. They look really put out when I send it back.

a Coke and take a sample back to the lab, and if it wasn't Coke, they'd go
back and say something along the lines of 'we can sue you, or give you a
great deal on carrying genuine Coca Cola products'

This was actually justifiable. The vast majority of complaint letters the
Coca Cola company received were along the lines of "We ordered a Coke at
Brian Thorn's Diner and Laundromat in Peoria and it was AWFUL and we'll
never buy a Coke again" so they'd go out and, guess what, it wasn't a Coke
at all.

Extremely difficult in the drive-thru... :-)

Obveeus...

They don't worry about what they give you at the drivethrough. They know
you will be a ways down the road before fishing out the straw (if they give
you one), peeling it, inserting it in the cup, and taking your first sip.
All they have to do is make sure that they get something in the cup that is
about the right color. ;-)

Brian Thorn...

Yeah, I know. The local Wendy's seems utterly incapable of making a
hamburger without cheese... :-(

ANIM8Rfsk...

My KFC is even worse. I actually sit there in the car and open all the
packages and check before leaving the window 'cause they get it wrong more
often than not. Nothing like ordering all white and coming home with a
bucket of thighs.

Of course then they take it back and give you something else and you just
KNOW they spit on it (if you're lucky).

And then there's 'Jason' who ALWAYS tells you it's 25¢ more at the window
than he said on the speaker. I guess he's figured out some way to pocket
the difference. My favorite though was when I ordered some really minimal
$1.99 special and he tried to charge me about $8, with the excuse that
instead of just GIVING me the $2 meal, he'd rung up the big meal and
substituted and subtracted blah blah blah. And then he's like "Do you WANT
me to ring it up as the $2 meal????' like it's the most unreasonable thing
in the world.

because up till now the writers have been careful to use only generic
names, not trade names of specific pharma companies. (Such as
"ofloxacin" rather than "Floxin".)

That was either a technical goof--the writers just thought it was
well-known to the audience like "Xerox" for copiers--or a deliberate
product placement on their part. If the latter, then it's the first
actual product placement I've seen on Lost--has anyone noticed any
others before this?

rwgibson13...

We have a different definition of "product placement." I don't
consider that the product has to be spoken by name or dwelt on for a
long time for the term to apply. Certain companies routinely donate
goods or services for even minimal screen time...

RWG (such has been the case several times on the show, I suspect)

TheNewsGuy(Mike)...

Locke's Home Inspection truck, when he parks it at the motel - The
image quite obviously includes the F-O-R-D logo on the tailgate. I
think that was intended, not to reward the FoMoCo but to connect to our
island con man "Sawyer", James Ford.

John Bailo...

Maybe the new supply drop will contain Nike's and diet Coke.

David...

Nikes? That explains what the Others need kids for.

Steven L....

Pringles!
(that's for those of you who watch that other castaway show on CBS
Thursday evenings)

SoHillsGuy...

I've been compelled to go out and purchase Dharma Initiative brand
cereal and macaroni and cheese...does that count?

Bruiser's Master...

How about when Hurley and John were discussing what was inside the hatch
and Hurley mentions Twinkies? Is Haliburton also a trademark?

Besides, it's more natural in everyday conversation to just say
Neosporin. If Jack had said "antibiotic ointment" it would come across as

nancy13g...

Not for everybody, it's not. I don't think I've ever said "Neosporin"
in my life. I don't buy the brand name; I use the generic at home. My
kids and I all refer to the stuff as "antibiotic" or, more commonly,
just plain "first aid cream".

=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Thomas_Smedeb=F8l?=...

Funny how different such things is from contry to contry. In Denmark I
haven't ever recently heard of an antibiotic cream for first aid (minor
scratches and the like) some 30-40 years ago iodide was popular, but

~consul...

The touted benefits of neosporin and it ilk is that it also cuts down the bacteria more so than any other, and it minimizes scarring. Eh, I suppose so.

Default User...

Possibly because it's in a petroleum jelly base (someone called it a
cream elsewhere, it's not). As it's thick, it seals up the cut with
anti-bacterial goo.

Steven L....

In the U.S., when I was a child, the standard over-the-counter
antiseptics for wounds were mercury compounds: Mercurochrome and
Merthiolate. Used widely since the 1920's, I think they fell into
disfavor due to recent concerns about mercury toxicity. But they're
still widely used in other parts of the world today.

Steven L....

Yep. Remember "St. Joseph Aspirin for Children"? That was before
doctors found out that aspirin given to kids with infections can trigger
Reye's Syndrome.

And then there was "Father John's Medicine," which they used to
advertise heavily on the CBS Morning News. I never found out what
Father John had put in it.

TheNewsGuy(Mike)...

It's still around. They list the active ingredient here:

Also, new studies suggest that OTC cough medicine has no real effect on

currently I think most people just washes with water and soap and apply
some bandaid.

Shevek...

In Spain, Betadine (povidone-iodine) is extremely popular.

Obveeus...

Here in the USA we do are very best to breed bigger, better, sronger germs!

=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Thomas_Smedeb=F8l?=...

Figures ;)

Wash with soap? Geeze, I bet you folks are still using soap without
antibiotics built right into it.

=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Thomas_Smedeb=F8l?=...

well - actually we got 4 taps in every house:
- hot water
- cold water
- soap water (so i'm unsure wheter it's got antibiotics in it or not)
- cold beer :)

Maybe we don't need the antibiotics when we're hurt, because we get so
much through our large porkbuffets???

best wishes

contrived.

nancy13g...

(shrug) Different people have different ways of using the language, I
guess. I do use trademarked names for a lot of things -- "kleenex" and
"bandaids", for example. "Neosporin" just doesn't happen to be one of
them.

Bruiser's Master...

My original point should've been that *enough* people use the term
"Neosporin" (albeit i, too, am not one of them) that it can be used in a
script without being considered as product placement. Even for those of us
who don't use the product or the term, like myself, it's sufficiently
common.

But i do have mixed feelings about this sort of thing when i'm watching
a movie or a tv show and there's a Coke can right there in the scene. On the
one hand it's an obvious product placement, but on the other, Coke is rather
ubiquitous anyway, so it is more believable than a can of Mr. President's
generic cola.