Sonny Crockett & Black Jack

[Robbie C.]

I'll just clarify again that Black Jack isn't a made-up term...it was the phrase used to order "black label" Jack Daniel's as opposed to the lower-proof green label version that was much more common in the 1980s than it is now. At the time in the US it was the same thing as ordering Johnny Walker black (for black label) as opposed to Johnny Walker red (for red label). 

[AndrewRemington]

19 hours ago, pahonu said:

In the past, network shows wouldn’t display most commercial products to avoid the possibility of advertising conflict.  For example, if Miami Vice showed Sonny drinking a Coke in a scene, rival soft drink manufacturers wouldn’t want to pay for advertising on that show when they’re rival was getting free advertising.  Not showing those things left advertising options open.

There were exceptions of course,  typically cars.  They would be difficult to substitute anyway, plus car manufacturers realized if they provided cars for free, viewers would see their product every week.  Things have changed today.  Shows often have specific agreements for product placement.

I think you are right for the most part. Another exception is Sonny’s Lucky Strike cigarettes. We clearly see the package numerous times and it’s a very recognizable logo. Also, in many restaurants/cafes in MV we also see Tabasco hot sauce bottles very frequently but I don’t think you can read the Tabasco name on there. In “God’s Work” at the little restaurant/cafe Castillo stops at, you see many cans of La Preferida food and can clearly read the brand name.

Edited July 27, 2020 by AndrewRemington

[AndrewRemington]

18 hours ago, Robbie C. said:

I'll just clarify again that Black Jack isn't a made-up term...it was the phrase used to order "black label" Jack Daniel's as opposed to the lower-proof green label version that was much more common in the 1980s than it is now. At the time in the US it was the same thing as ordering Johnny Walker black (for black label) as opposed to Johnny Walker red (for red label). 

Yes, definitely. Even for me, a non-experienced whiskey drinker at the time, I figured “Black Jack” meant “black label Jack Daniel’s. The black label Jack Daniel’s is very iconic, at least in the US. If you ask anybody to name a brand of American whiskey, they’ll probably say Jack Daniel’s first (unless they’re some snotty hipster ).

Edited July 27, 2020 by AndrewRemington

[Robbie C.]

5 hours ago, AndrewRemington said:

I think you are right for the most part. Another exception is Sonny’s Lucky Strike cigarettes. We clearly see the package numerous times and it’s a very recognizable logo. Also, in many restaurants/cafes in MV we also see Tabasco hot sauce bottles very frequently but I don’t think you can read the Tabasco name on there. In “God’s Work” at the little restaurant/cafe Castillo stops at, you see many cans of La Preferida food and can clearly read the brand name.

There were lots of fussy things at the time about advertising alcohol on TV, so that might play into it as well.

[pahonu]

1 hour ago, Robbie C. said:

There were lots of fussy things at the time about advertising alcohol on TV, so that might play into it as well.

I’m not certain of the precise dates, but cigarette advertising on US TV and radio was banned before any alcohol.  I believe it was the 70’s and it still is completely banned.  The first alcohol ads banned were spirits although they made a comeback on cable TV several years ago.  Think of all the beer ads and wine cooler ads in the 80’s!  Product placement thus became very important to tobacco companies after the TV advertising ban, and also for spirits.  They both focused heavily on car racing. As I think about it, Lucky Strike may have paid to place them on the show.  

[AndrewRemington]

3 minutes ago, pahonu said:

I’m not certain of the precise dates, but cigarette advertising on US TV and radio was banned before any alcohol.  I believe it was the 70’s and it still is completely banned.  The first alcohol ads banned were spirits although they made a comeback on cable TV several years ago.  Think of all the beer ads and wine cooler ads in the 80’s!  Product placement thus became very important to tobacco companies after the TV advertising ban, and also for spirits.  They both focused heavily on car racing. As I think about it, Lucky Strike may have paid to place them on the show.  

Wow, I wonder if Lucky Strike did pay to have placement on MV? You see that package a lot throughout Sonny smoking. And in “Jack Of All Trades” you see Jack Crockett’s Lucky Strike pack.

However, outside of the show, in 80’s pictures I see Don Johnson smoking filtered cigarettes. On the show he always smoked the non-filtered Luckies. Lucky Strike did make filtered cigs too, but who knows what he was smoking outside of the show.

[pahonu]

24 minutes ago, AndrewRemington said:

Wow, I wonder if Lucky Strike did pay to have placement on MV? You see that package a lot throughout Sonny smoking. And in “Jack Of All Trades” you see Jack Crockett’s Lucky Strike pack.

However, outside of the show, in 80’s pictures I see Don Johnson smoking filtered cigarettes. On the show he always smoked the non-filtered Luckies. Lucky Strike did make filtered cigs too, but who knows what he was smoking outside of the show.

From what I’ve read, product placement agreements typically have very specific language, such as for how many seconds and how prominently it appears on the screen.  It still happens today.  Often it’s the producers who first reach out to companies looking for potential compensation if a specific script is well suited to a certain brand or type of product.  
 

A very obvious and somewhat recent example happened on the TV show The Middle a few years ago.  The story was about the show’s family using a neighbors new car without permission for a whole week while the neighbors went out of town and left them the house keys for emergencies.  They apparently drove the car in numerous scenes for every possible errand and constantly commented on how it was such a nice car and why they couldn’t have such a nice car.  I never saw the episode but I read about it in Newsweek, I believe it was.  The car company, Volkswagen, paid quite a bit for what was essentially a half hour commercial.

Ferrari, of course, handed Miami Vice two Testarossas for free, a form of product placement. They not only got them to stop using the replica, which is important for any high-end brand, but they gave them the newest model, not coincidentally.  It went on to appear on a hugely popular show every week for several years.  That was easily worth the cost of those two cars, I’d guess.  Think of how iconic the Ferrari 308 is because of Magnum pi.  The producers actually  first approached Porsche, who chose not to cooperate.  In hindsight, it was probably not the best marketing decision.  Of course, they didn’t know yet if the show would succeed.