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I'm a big fan of Neighbours and watch it every day, in fact I have watched it for about the last 15 to 20 years. I've been watching it so long I can't actually recall when I started watching it regularly because I even saw some of the early episodes back in 1987. I prefer this soap to Eastenders because it's less depressing and it allows me to end the evening in a happy mood.
One thing that annoys me about Neighbours though (apart from the cheesy sound effects) is the blatant product advertising, particularly with Apple products. Everywhere you look someone is pulling out an Apple notebook or poking away at an iPhone. When someone goes out for a run (this is something they do a lot in Australia apparently) they have an iPod strapped to themselves.
Apple devices are so prominent in the show...
Whilst I understand that Apple products may be cheaper in Australia than they are in the UK, I find this level of product placement to be a bit overwhelming and biased. These Apple devices are so prominent in the show one could easily believe that Apple have sponsored Neighbours. Surely that's not the case? What happened to good old PCs and Blackberry or Android smart phones? If we're going to have branded stuff, let's have a little bit of everything please or let's have none at all.
Facebook too seems to get mentioned all the time. This is very much a bugbear of mine because you can't walk down the street or turn a page on a newspaper without seeing Facebook mentioned and seeing the big blue "F". Interestingly enough though, they've got a search engine called "Poodle" which looks remarkably like another well known search engine. I have no idea what that's all about, but can we expect to see someone else searching on Weyhey or Bung any time soon?
By: Neybuzzfan
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Really, who the hell gives a F#@K? It's not a big deal
I wholeheartedly agree with this blog. I'm watching Neighbours right now, in the UK, and the sheer cartful of Apples on show prompted me to do a quick Google (or should I say 'Poodle') for "how much money does neighbours get from apple product placement" - which led me to this very article.
I'd assume the show gets a hefty contribution from Apple.
:D
Also re: Poodle search, the new perfered search engine of choice on Ramsay Street is The Search Engine (with a little steam locomotive above the name). It makes me chuckle every time!
if so,then you clearly don't know the culture of today!
You cannot go anywhere today without seeing or hearing about facebook. Even corporate companies have facebook pages these days. Apple products are also the most popular of their type. Android is improving but isn't up to their standards yet. People everywhere use iphones, ipads and ipods. I wouldn't leave the house these days without mine, I've become so sadly dependent upon it!
If these companies are sponsoring the program then they are entitled to advertise through it. If they withdrew their funding then they would just be replaced with another company and you would get to see their products instead. At least whilst this goes on you can continue to enjoy the show you clearly love, so I wouldn't complain too much. Once the money dries up then it will be dropped from your screen in an instant.
Babs
But, to be honest, isn't one of the prime reasons for TV shows is to advertise? Maybe once upon a time the advertisers would clamber for time in the breaks of these shows, now it seems the shows are the vehicles for advertising, oh and the mindless dumbing down distractionary brainwashing and predictive programming.