'The Incredible Hulk' is Brought To You By Norton 360…

...and a blurry tube of Pringles!

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Tuesday, June 10th 2008 at 3:49 PM

Photo: Courtesy of Brad's Desktop

I finally saw The Incredible Hulk last night and I gotta tell yah, it has some of the most blatant product placement I have seen in quite some time.

The screen capture above is from my personal computer, of course, it's not like Bruce Banner would have had the time for custom wallpaper while searching for gamma radiation issues, but luckily the computer he was hacking was protected by Symantec's Norton 360 and how do I know? Because the damn thing was on the screen long enough for all of us to realize it. You could almost hear Banner's inner-monologue going, "Hmmmm, that really is nice to know that this computer is protected by Symantec's Norton 360. I think I will buy that for all my personal and business computing needs."

You may also notice the blurry Pringles tube. Yeah, that is in there too, but it appears Procter & Gamble wasn't shelling out the same kind of dough Symantec was for the one and only chip that "Once you pop, you can't stop." It was blurred out, but still easily recognizable.

I don't mind product placement, but does it have to be so obvious? Remember when our movie and TV heroes used to just drink Cola and Beer? The "New York Times" has an old 2006 article looking back at several of the fake products placed in movies such Beautee Soap, Dazzledent, Klenzrite and Pike's Pale Ale (I bet Pike's Brewing would be up for bringing that one back).

Now, before you say it, I know by writing this article I am giving Symantec free advertising. I don't care if they get advertising, I just wish I didn't have to watch a commercial while I watched my movie. Audiences pay a pretty penny to watch movies now days, do they really need to get diverting advertising during it? I don't know about you but it sometimes takes me out of the movie when I see that, I know this time it gave me a good laugh.

Oh, a quick side note, my full review will be posted on Thursday, but I can tell you The Incredible Hulk is a pretty damn fun flick. I get to see The Happening today at noon, hoping to make it a twofer week! Fingers crossed!