Two recent movies I've watched, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Ocean's Thirteen, featured a Nokia N800 and a gold-rimmed Samsung phone respectively. And even if I haven't watched A Good Year, that rich-guy-returns-to-roots story featuring Russell Crowe, Palm incessantly marketed the Treo's presence in that movie.

Obviously the results of product placement, where the producers of a movie are willing to give a particular product significant screen time, sometimes it being crucial to the plot. All in exchange for some financing for the film of course.

I wonder: just how effective is product placement? I mean, I'm sure gadget geeks like me will remember that Reed Richards controlled his uber-sophisticated through his Nokia N800, but does the average viewer really care? Same question applies to produce placement in general. Surely the studios don't mind the extra cash, when all they have to do is shoot scenes in a certain way. But are advertisers just wasting their money?

On a side note, check out the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Mobile Game.