Preceding last season’s finale, the producers of teenybopper soap opera, Lonelygirl15 incorporated an ingenious bit of product placement into the show’s cast. Spencer Gilman, a character certified as a Neutrogena scientist, was deployed into the series’ alternate, occultish reality to subtly convey to viewers that Rapid Clear Daily Treatment Pads are awesome, and to help Daniel and Jonas rescue a kidnapped Bree.
As a rescuer, Spencer sucked (Bree died and it was kinda sad), but as an advertisement, he seems to have been enough of a success to carry-on the character-as-product-placement strategy.
Following a comparatively less emotional season two finale on Friday, the creative minds behind LG15 will write Jack – a troubled teen who discovers he has the ability to teleport and a shill for the upcoming Fox movie, Jumper – into the third season’s script.
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###Silicon Alley reports that the storyline involving Jack with culminate on February 14, when Jumper hits theatres.
Although I find the repetitive, overly dramatic stylings of LG15 to be a bit much, I dig series that create their own realities. Combining two narratives that each live in their own alternate universe is a clever idea, and a much better advertising technique than bringing beauty products into the storyline.
Now, if they can mix some tertiary characters from movies like The Dark Knight into the plot, I might start watching LG15 regularly again.