AOL-TW is gonna publish On, a magazine about "what people do with the web".

Jeremy Bushnell of Invisible City sent me a link to a Feed article about the insane amount of product placement in the film Cast Away. Admittedly, the unabashedly pro-corporate subplot never really crossed my mind (the movie was engaging enough), but it's a bit sickening. And if the artists (there still are artisitically minded people who make films, right?) don't put the product placements in the final cut, they get sued.

Today, Castle Rock Entertainment , CBS, Columbia, Dreanmworks, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, MGM, Miramax, Morgan Creek, New Line Cinema, Paramount, Trimark, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, Disney, and Warner Brothers all employ Product Placement or Production Resources executives to consult with the hundreds of companies seeking to place their brands in pictures. These executives analyze scripts before
they go into production, come up with breakdowns for "production opportunities," and go in search of sponsors. Given the cost of promoting a film in today's market, merchandising deals are becoming mandatory. Merchants, on the other hand, get captive audiences, get celebrities that
wouldn’t ordinarily endorse their product to do so, and minimize advertising costs. "Imagine the impact of your customers seeing their favorite star using your product in a feature film," one placement company's ad reads. "Both your company's name and product thereby become an integral part of the show, conveying both subliminal messages and implied endorsements."