"I'll Bing it for you..."

TV shows are using product placements far more blatantly than in the past. There is nothing subtle about how products are shilled anymore. In the good old days, a hardened street gumshoe would relax in his seedy office after a hard day of pluggin' bad guys and pour himself a straight-up shot of CC. You may not get to see the label clearly, but you knew what it was.

But, not anymore...

Current TV shows like Hawaii 5-0, NCIS, The Mentalist, et al. are placing items or mentioning services in their storylines. They pay the bills, I realize, but they really make me squirm! The placements are so up front and in your face Krusty the Klown would be proud.

• Ford Explorer: During a car chase... the action goes into slow motion so we can read the vehicle name on the tail as it spins by the lens. Viola! A cheap product commercial!
  
• Microsoft: At a crime scene, out comes the smartphone camera with the statement, "I'll SkyDrive it to you". Who out there uses SkyDrive? Or willingly continues to? I tried it, even on my iPhone, and found it clunky and slow. Just take a photo as you usually would and either email or send it by text message. A LOT faster!
  
• Cross-Show Promos: On The Mentalist, Patrick Jane says, "He's 5-0, ya know?" when describing his partner from CBI to a member of the public.
  
• Microsoft (again): This is the worst.... "I'll BING it for you". Now this is just plain fantasy. Nobody ... and I mean NOBODY would be caught dead saying this is real life. Google is the default and this ain't changing anytime soon. Say "I'll Google it for you" and you'll receive a knowing nod. Say BING instead, and you'll get a look that says "What's wrong with you?"