I love everything about this Seth Berkman story for The New York Times right from the get-go:
In an episode of the Korean television show “The K2,” which takes place in a world of fugitives and bodyguards, a man is being treated with a defibrillator when he enters into a dream state. On the fringe of death, he recalls taking a past love to a Subway restaurant and to a park for a picnic, where he gently feeds her a sandwich and soft drink with the Subway logo facing the camera.
As one does.
The detail is not a narrative quirk. It is a result of South Korea’s broadcasting regulations and the aggressive use of product placement in the country’s shows by Subway, the American sandwich chain famous for its $5 foot-longs.
Basically, South Korea’s terrestrial stations can’t advertise in commercial breaks so… ads, uh, find a way.
Subway did not provide a total of how many Korean dramas its products had appeared in, but an informal tally by The New York Times counted appearances on 17 shows. That can add up to a lot of people seeing the company’s cold cuts.
Indeed.
She pointed to criticism of the show “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God” (also known as “Goblin”) and a scene where it’s inferred that the protagonist prevents a man from committing suicide; in an effort to cheer him up, the suicidal man is handed a Subway sandwich. Subway is also celebrated in death; in another episode, the Grim Reaper is shown enjoying a meal from the chain.
This is narrative gold. In all seriousness though, I’m surprised this hasn’t happened more in the U.S. with the rise of Netflix and the fall of commercials. Presumably, Netflix controls for this, but also presumably, other streamers not only won’t, but may welcome it (provided they get a cut).¹
Or, even better (for them), since many streamers are tech giants, I suspect we’ll see more and more of their own products in shows. Apple did this from day one: the early days of The Morning Show were basically one big Apple ad. Amazon is undoubtedly going to go down this path as well.
¹ In a way, it reminds me of soccer (futbol) squads allowing their jerseys to be giant advertisements to make up for the lack of commercials in-game. Of course, the NBA started doing this too, even with the in-game commericals…
