New Year’s Eve a woo promoting movie

Wifey and I just got back from seeing the new movie New Year’s Eve. As a movie it was boring. They spent the entire budget on the cast, which was extensive and included some of my faves. The plot was dull, the characters were not engaging, there were very few laughs and the ending was predictable.

For a skeptic though, the worst part was the shameless promotion of the Power Balance rubber bracelets. These things have been shown to be a scam of the worst kind and are a rip off.

Two characters in the film were show wearing them. Jensen, a famous musician played by Bon Jovi wore a black one, which kept flipping from inside out to right way out between scenes.  Elise, Jensen’s back up singer, played by Lea Michele wore a pink band.

The product placement in the film was not even subtle. At one point Elise is seen twisting the band in frustration, complete with close up showing the brand name clearly.  Later, her beau retrieves the band and returns it to her glass slipper style; complete with another close up.  Throughout the movie the bands are clearly visible.

Much to the annoyance of Wifey, I sat thru the entire credits to the very end to see if there was a statement of endorsement. Nothing was mentioned.

Once I noticed the bracelets, I did watch for other product placement. The only other obvious one was for another Warner Bros Film, Sherlock Holmes in the form of a Times Square bill board in one scene.

I have no issue with product placement if it feels natural and does not distract from the film. This film failed. It probably would not bother me so much if the product was ethical and the film was otherwise good; no such luck.

Bottom line, go see another movie.

UPDATE:
I tweeted about this and included @powerbalance. They replied:

This company sells a fraudulent product, should we believe them?