Got NOS?

     Although I was late to join the bandwagon, The Fast and the Furious movies are a guilty pleasure of mine. I know nothing about cars, but for some reason I've found myself getting excited over the releases of new sequels throughout the years. But, I'm not going to point out the obvious brand experience the producers of these movies have tried to sell to viewers for the past 16 years, I'm choosing to focus on the almost equally obvious product placement.
     The Madison and Vine technique has been implemented into the series since the orange-tinted days of the original film. In every single race that takes place, the characters involved never fail to twist the nob of a NOS canister that releases the boost of speed that sends them across the finish line. The infamous blue tanks of nitrous oxide have literally made an appearance in all eight movies, and usually get a special slow-mo or close up shot in the scene.

(NOS at 2:05)

     I began watching the series when I was 10, and I honestly thought the brand NOS was fictional until recently. However, the brand owners did their job by making sure that I was able to identify their products and logo without skipping a beat for the past 5 years. The effectiveness of the product placement almost makes me laugh because I'm not even the target market for this product. These people were not only able to target people that actually race cars, but also were able to rope in a whole crop of other people that don't know the first thing about car racing.
     The producers of the movie were also able to keep me from getting annoyed with the constant product placement. These days, when I see Beats featured in a music video, it annoys me because it's so obvious that ads have entered my entertainment. When it's that obvious, I sometimes don't even want to continue watching the video. However, since the filmmakers incorporated the product so well, it didn’t even occur to me that it could be Madison and Vine in action. I thought the slow-mos and close ups were too obvious for that. Their cleverness made sure that the product image was ingrained into my memories.
     All in all, the Fast and Furious franchise has been able to sell viewers a product for 16 years. They've reached groups that aren't even likely to purchase their products and did it in a way that hid their intentions in plain sight. The producers and company have been able to use the Madison and Vine technique seamlessly for 16 years, and will probably continue to do so in years to come.