Is “30 Rock” courting a sponsor or just having fun?

I blame 30 Rock for my hardcore Snapple addiction. I'm taking it one day at a time, but it's difficult.

Well, being outside the US I can't view the clip and I haven't seen the episode, but I tend to err on the side of Tina Fey is Goddess, and I will accept anything she does, and she has never let me down so far.

That said, McFlurry is the best edible invention since the invention of ice cream. I'm definitely craving a soft swirl of vanilla, but without the cookies and with hard crunchy Dajm in it. Mmmmmmm.....

Looooooove 30 rock. Love mcflurries. I see no problem here.

 

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I've been noticing a lot lately that movies and television have gone beyond product placement and actually will write the product into the show or movie. For example, TALLADEGA NIGHTS actually had a Applebee's commercial in the movie.

I really, really don't think the people at 30 Rock are trying to pull one over on us. I thought the point of these McFlurry jokes was that while Jack could be eating a decadent $1000 bowl of gold ice cream at a fancy restaurant by himself, he would rather eat a $1 McFlurry with his lovely girlfriend.

I actually saw this almost as a jab at McDonalds and the McFlurry. A sweet jab, but still a jab.

It's just going to become even more commonplace.  I never watch commercials because I record everything on my DVR and with one glorious push of a button I am thirty seconds past it.  So, due to people like me and people who just stream the shows online, the old school method of commercial breaks will no doubt change. 

I hate McDonald's and their business practices.  Anyone read Fast Food Nation?  So I don't really get how this was some kind of pop culture reference.  It seems a little disingenuous on Tina's part.

Am I calling her a liar? Don't think so, but it smells fishy.

"I think inside jokes are part of 30 Rock’s brilliance"

Agreed! I believe Ms. Fey. Even if she chose to pimp products, she would still be the cleverist commercial ho out there. 

I didn't think it was a big deal, and found nothing wrong with it.  People are just being a little too sensitive.  I was more interested in that gold flake choclate thingy they were talking about.

what about those iphones? they're on every episode!

Damages did this too with cars in the last episode with the mini-cooper convertible. This site could use more Damages posts :D The sexual tension between Patty & Ellen is intense!

Hmm.. McFlurry. Well well, if it's product placement or not, I don't care. In my everyday life I am surrounded by brands, like, I don't even notice them. When TV shows go out of their way to avoid brands it becomes unrealistic and thus I see the backstage of it all. The illusion is gone. I say: More realism in comedy shows! Makes my life happy..

I thought the whole McFlurry thing was a gag. The thing is, in RL we actually do talk about products, so it seems kind of silly to get up in arms when they do it on a show. I mean, we all have deep, meaningful discussions about who has the best fries, or the philosophy behind a Hardees 1/2lb burger. It's what we do to keep from gouging our eyes out with a hatpin on long road trips.

Whether it was product placement or not, the use of the product was hilarious. In my opinion, that's the bottom line. Sell out or not as some might term it, it's still very funny. The entire show pokes fun at the companies that help make it. GE? I think they're genius for allowing them to use the company and product names in ways that make the show funnier.

I thought it was hilarious.  Part of 30 Rock’s genius is that it’s so meta.

As much as I love Salma Hayek, I don't think she's a great comedy actor.  However, her delivery on "You'd think they'd fight each other, but they don't" about the McFlurry just killed me!  Also "patron saint of judgmental statues" almost made me spit out my Diet Pepsi.  Diet Pepsi: delicious, refreshing, and zero calories!

I thought it was just a gag - one that was getting pretty tired, after the Verizon and Snapple stuff - but McDonald's is one of their sponsors? Yeah, that makes it product placement.

It's not like 30 Rock are strangers to blatant product placement, either... *cough*iPhone*cough*.

Love the show, though.

TV shows have a way with making us want things and they don't even have try very hard- just stick it on screen and the fans will flock. I personally blame 30 Rock for my Tina Fey addiction. But I guess that's a whole other kind of product placement.

Top Chef is the worst at Product Placement. The "Diet Dr. Pepper Quickfire", or the Quaker Oatmeal one or the Swansons Chicken Broth one- they are shameless. I even get a kick out of the blatant product placement of Glad products in every single shot. It looks like one of the walls in the elimination waiting room is made out of bricks of Glad boxes. Additionally, lol at Tina's grimace statement. 30 Rock can do no wrong in my book.

 

I like men who have a future, and women who have a past.

I would like to meet Salma's friends, or should I say amigas hahaha.

 

... I don't think it was product placement. I think it was mocking product placement brilliantly.

Although, I do have to say... I was really craving some ice cream with candy swirled in after I watched this episode

... so I went and bought a Sonic Blast

(And no, Sonic Inc. did NOT sponsor this comment)

I only date guys who drink Snapple.