Hacker News Reader

Comment by keiferski | Hacker News Reader

A possible and troubling outcome of this may be that "controversial" scenes are removed from classic films entirely, because advertisers don't want to be associated with them. We've already seen disclaimers added to movies that are "problematic" like Gone with the Wind or Breakfast at Tiffany's.

When push comes to shove, will Media Co. turn down millions from Coke just to keep a 30-second scene in a film? I'm not optimistic.

View on HN

I don’t like any product placements —but even less so when they’re injected after the fact.

I don’t care if I “recognize” a car being a Toyota, if it’s necessarily incidental to the scene.

I do care that things may be artificially plastered in a scene, whether cereal box in a movie before breakfast cereals were a thing or a billboard on a building for a brand that didn’t exist. At that point it’s not a film and it becomes an advertising cartoon.

It’s a bit repulsive to be honest.

I agree that products just being in movies doesn't bother me, but the so-common-it's-getting-tropey waist-height shot focused primarily on the car's (logo'd) grill as it approaches to a stop directly in front of the camera is starting to bug me quite a bit.

Cant even point out offline that Taiwan is an independent country with self determination, they are going to be ok with selling a couple cokes.

This is why I got into piracy. I don't have to care what modern woke politics dictate as allowable or not, nor do I have to deal with corruptions of art from their original forms for the sake of advertisement or profitability.

I agree that removing scenes or adding product placement into existing works of art is very troubling but I'm not sure I would equate that to adding disclaimers to the start of a film. In my mind it's like an age rating - it's additional information which gives someone the information they need to decide if a film is appropriate for them or their family.

I somewhat agree with you, but I also think when you add moralistic disclaimers to the beginning, or claim that the movie should be pulled from streaming catalogs, [1] it’s a small “compromise” to just remove the uncomfortable scenes. Especially if everyone involved will otherwise lose money.

1. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/movies/gone-with-the-wind...

And my plex library continues to grow..

Reply on news.ycombinator.com