{"id":3583,"date":"2025-06-13T12:41:43","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T17:41:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capertongillett.com\/blog\/?p=3583"},"modified":"2025-06-13T12:42:06","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T17:42:06","slug":"the-most-egregious-product-placements-ever-part-1-just-the-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capertongillett.com\/blog\/the-most-egregious-product-placements-ever-part-1-just-the-cars\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Egregious Product Placements Ever, Part 1: Just the Cars"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fig. 1: Nissan Versa!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There\u2019s a phrase you might hear from time to time in my house, essentially at random:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Yaris gets awesome gas mileage, but it\u2019s not getting us to the North Pole.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we\u2019ll say that at random because apparently that\u2019s something the writers of Smallville<\/em> circa 2007 believe anyone would actually ever say, and it\u2019s hilarious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, when it comes to product placement, what people would actually<\/em> ever say has to take a back seat to what\u2019s closest<\/em> to a thing a person might<\/em> say that still fulfills the obligation of the product placement contract. And the answer is usually \u201cessentially not at all close.\u201d Which is why egregious product placement is one of my favorite genres of bad advertising, and why so many options are available that Part 1 of this post is dedicated to only the ones for cars<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In no particular order:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chloe\u2019s Yaris that won\u2019t make it to the North Pole (Smallville)<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Of course I have to kick things off with the founder of the feast, the offense that inspired this whole post. In Seasons 6 and 7 of the WB\u2019s Smallville<\/em>, Chloe acquires a Toyota Yaris that makes frequent appearances, always referred to as \u201cmy Yaris.\u201d And while the constant references to \u201cmy Yaris\u201d are a hoot, the real prize has to go to her oh-so-natural warning that, awesome gas mileage notwithstanding, her Yaris isn\u2019t going to get them north of the Arctic Circle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big winner:<\/strong> Look, Clark, my Yaris gets awesome mileage, but I seriously doubt it will get us all the way to the North Pole.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John’s Tundra that can carry a ton of building materials (The Rookie<\/em>)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Maybe Toyota learned its lesson about awkward dialogue, because when they placed their Tundra on ABC\u2019s The Rookie<\/em> in 2020, they decided to just include a whole-ass commercial instead. We get to watch rookie John Nolan load building supplies into his truck amid gratuitous beauty shots from all angles of a flawless, glossy black pickup, and if you were wondering if the Tundra has a Tow Haul button? Wonder no more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big winner:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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