This Is 40: movie or marketing heaven?

My all time favorite marketing activity is the product placements in movies and TV shows or the product endorsement. I recently watched, "This Is 40" starring Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd. "This Is 40" is about a wealthy suburban couple about to enter their 40's and distracted by life and technology-specifically APPLE technology. Nearly every scene contains an APPLE product or logo, and the actors mention the iPhone, iPod and iPad by name almost as frequently. There are plenty of other product endorsements, I lost count after the first half hour, but a few that come to mind are Nike, New Balance, Livestrong and Arrogant Bastard Ale! The scene with the New Balance tennis shoes actually made me giddy with how blatant the endorsement was; a close up of the actors feet with a brand new pair of New Balance tennis shoes on, while laying on the bed with his iPhone. Could the producers really think the audience is blind to this?? Several scenes even revolve around an APPLE product. Honestly, I wonder if half of the movie budget was funded by APPLE.

I miss the days of subtle product endorsements, you know a side glance of a can of beer or soda in the hands of your favorite actor or singer, just enough to determine the brand, but not enough to even see the name or logo! These days actors/musicians are being paid and supplied to carry those products around in their everyday lives so you can see the brand in candid tabloid photos and red carpet events. Celebrities now work with major corporations in Ad campaigns, commercials even branding their own names and products, everywhere you turn a celebrity is endorsing the newest most expensive the must have whatever of the season. Argh, enough already!

On the other hand, what a concept? Movies and TV shows are shown and broadcast all over the US and even the world, how is that for a target market! Every man and woman over 17 who see's this movie will be inundated with the APPLE brand and products and will then talk about those products when talking about the movie simply because they are in almost every scene!  Although the movie doesn't tell you, directly, to purchase APPLE, there isn't an Android in sight!