I Better Not Lose My Rav-4 Over This!

I dreamed a dream in time gone by...

When I was in high school I wanted a Dodge Viper more than anything else in this world. It was fast, stylish and exotic….kind of like Sofia Vergara but the Viper isn’t as loud. I found that most kids my age also wanted exotic cars like that, especially if you were a male. Girls on the other hand wanted Volkswagen Beetles, and Mitsubishi Eclipses. At that age, teenagers don’t want practical vehicles. They want cool cars, fun cars, stuff that looks good. Though it has been 10 years since I was in high school, I don’t think things have changed much.

Imagine my surprise when I was watching “Hart of Dixie” last week and-maybe I should explain why I was watching “Hart of Dixie.” Last week I was watching “Talking Dead” and Scott Porter formerly of “Friday Night Lights” was the guest. He is an uber nerd and a “man crush” may or may not have developed. But mostly did. He was talking about being on this show, and that’s when I decided to check it out. Turns out it is nothing like the Walking Dead. There is not one Zombie in the entire show! But what I did like in the show was the blatant product placement.

Is it a Rav-4 or a Rava?

In this particular episode two of the young female characters are trying to get their father to break up with his new young fling. To throw the youngest one off the father and the harlot buy her an all-new 2014 Toyota Rav-4! It is center screen for a short while and she is even seen making a phone call from the hands free Bluetooth device. When she finished the call, she hangs up, they focus on the dash and the character says “neat” in a squeaky voice. That’s not a standard feature so they must really want to buy her love. Later on the other daughter finds out, gets upset, and decides to-you know what, it’s not important. I actually quit paying attention at this point. But, what brought me back was the mention of the Rav-4 later on in the episode. The daughter who received it said to the other “I better not lose my Rav-4 over this…you can order movie tickets right form the dash!”

You may be put off by the dialogue, or the fact that they were openly selling a car to young idiots, but these things didn’t bother me. What put me off was the type of car being sold, and this brings us to the Spurlock Effect.

The Spurlock Effect refers to those products placed in a film or TV Show that don’t fit the character or the audience in which the show intends to reach. In his 2011 film “Pom Wonderful Presents the Greatest Movie Ever Sold,” Morgan Spurlock discusses the product that inspired his film. In the show Heroes, one of the main characters was given a Nissan Rouge as a gift. Once again this is a teenage girl being given an older persons car. That’s not fair to older people; no one really wants a Rouge. Even Sarah Palin, who made a life of “goin rouge”, thinks they are pretentious. So, why would teenagers, who are concerned with image, want a car that is intended for people with families?

To better understand the “Spurlock Effect,” Consider these fictional examples: one would never expect to see the Golden Girls drinking Monster Energy Drinks. We also wouldn’t expect to Justin Bieber to “pimp” ensure in his latest video.

I understand that Toyota has a new car, and they need to get the word out. The Rav-4 is a great car and I have no problem with it being placed in the show. (After all, I love product placement.)The problem is that because of how absurd this is, it takes away from the show. Why not give this young girl a Scion FR-S? After all, Scion is Toyota’s youth brand. The FR-S is a fun four cylinder sports car that would be a lot more in touch with a shallow teenager. (That is how she is described in the show, not my words.) I also understand that the Rav-4 is the newest model from Toyota, so why not give it to the father, or one of the older members of the cast. Remember, people like that are the ones who buy the Rav-4.

The Spurlock Effect shows us that improper product placement can ruin a show. At the end of the day, the Nissan Rouge inspired an entire film from Morgan Spurlock. The Rav-4 inspired me to write this blog. Neither one of us can probably tell you anything else about the episodes we watched. (I do recall that I thought Scott Porter was definitely ready for leading man roles and that if Rachel Bilson and Valerie Bertinelli were in the room I may be incapacitated.)

Product placement can work, but either the writers, or Toyota, did not care of enough to try harder to make this work. Product placement works because it reflects real life. Little girls aren’t given Rav-4’s; they are given teal Pontiac Sunfires because their parents want them to experience disappointment at an early age. When the product placement takes away from the show, it takes away from real life and thus takes away from the suspension of disbelief. I’m just a simple boy from West Virginia and I know that.