Stuff About Product Placement

Product placement has been around for decades,
but it has come a long way since the first paid placement of a candy in the iconic film E.T. In recent years product placement has gotten to an almost shameful point. It used to be a rule of thumb that if the consumer notices the product placement then it was a failed attempt but recently marketers don't seem to mind if it is blatantly obvious. This clip was taken of an episode of White Collar shows just how obvious they make it, and this isn't even the worst. In some cases the producers try so hard to work it into a scene that it stops the plot dead. Entire scenes are created just to show the new ford focus and sometimes there are little side conversations or scripted observations to illuminate the features of the Ford Focus.
The question that comes to mind is how does this effect the consumer's perception of the product that is being plugged? Do poorly or blatantly placed products negatively effect the viewer's schema associated with these brands? Another thing to take into consideration is the consumer's trust. In the absence of product placement there are two worlds, entertainment/fiction and advertisement/information. Without product placement these two worlds are neatly separated from one another, but when the line is blurred and there is information mixed in with the fiction the consumer may decide to trust the information less. The producers of the show are also risking loss of trust by the viewers. People usually don't respond well to advertisements having a role in the plot and once a show becomes known for doing this regularly they could lose viewers. If that happens then ford will no longer have any desire to advertise with them and it will all be for nothing.