Product placement is nothing new in movies, and of all the film franchises we should expect it from, James Bond is pretty much right at the top. Fantastic though Martin Campbell's 2006 Bond reboot Casino Royale was, that didn't stop them from shoehorning in a cheekily unsubtle bit of product placement: Vesper Lynd: MI6 looks for maladjusted young men, who give little thought to sacrificing others in order to protect queen and country. You know...former SAS types with easy smiles and expensive watches. Vesper Lynd: Rolex? James Bond: Omega. Vesper Lynd: Beautiful. What's particularly striking about this act of product placement is that it's not just a quick glance at Bond's Omega watch (and in fact, the movie strangely doesn't even glance at it during the dialogue), but rather an actual exchange between two characters. It's sigh-inducingly blatant, as it serves zero narrative purpose and is at once hilariously and depressing obvious. Plus, the "beautiful" at the end sounds irrepressibly smug and obnoxious.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
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