PPL My Show! -- The Gu Family Book Edition
bcook: After reeling from the Kdrama version of the Red Wedding (*GoT ref. #1) and reading all the accusations of Product-Placement (PPL) and selling of creative soul (that means you GFB writer) I started wondering.... how many products are they plugging in the last 10 minutes of Episode 24??
kakashi: People are actually googling this, you know. It really seems to be a hot topic in the Dramverse. I am feeling quite lucky I haven't watched this show, with all the outrage out there for how it's ended. But PPL spotting? Count me in.
PPL in Gu Family Book Episode 24
Let's walk through and see what there is to see!
We open the scene with an awesome panorama of all the things valuable to House of Gu (GoT ref. #2) and the first of many (oh my so many) PPL items.
The Phone (Samsung): This is normal, regular ppl. Samsung basically = telephones when it comes to South Korea. Expected. They even found a way to get a samsung in a sageuk in Faith. Aww he saved her flower! I'm not even going to think about how he would have kept it alive for 400+ years!
That's an easy one, yes. I've seen so many Samsung Galaxy phones product-placed in KDrama, I recognize them in my sleep. But what about the vase? PPL as well? Not that anyone would want to buy it ... it's UGLY.
Herbal Medicine: I've seen this one too. PPL for some miraculous herbal medicine. The first time I watched this I was just excited to see the old master looking healthy and plump. Did they make him lose weight for the role? He's so dedicated to his craft. The light shining off the gold bath fixtures makes me wonder if that was PPL too.
Oh, wonderful, miraculous herbal medicine. I NEED IT! And what's with LSG and bubble baths? Is that PPL too? I.e. for bubbles? Or, as you suspect, bathtubs?
Random Shower Scene: A bit late with the fan service PD/writer especially after crushing our souls the episode before. This is like killing Drothraki and then showing a flashback of them making out. Bad Bad! (*GoT ref #3)
That's probably not PPL. But I still felt I had to put it in. It's LSG's back after all, though not fully visible due to a slightly weird bathroom design feature.
Shampoo ppl?? LSG has a lovely back. *drool*
A large portion of this scene is LSG taking a leisurely bath while his samsung rings in the other room. I was so distracted by that ringing phone that I missed out on possible PPL items. Kakashi was more vigilant and spotted this.
This hairdryer? MUST be PPL. Why else use such an incredibly atrocious thing.
Getting Dressed: Oh. What is this unidentified object? Could be PPL.
Bwahaha. Belly Buttons cannot be purchased at your local plastic surgeon. Though...this is SK, anything is possible. LSG needs to work out more though (or go to Army) his bod leaves much to be desired.
Bwahaha That's his outfit for much of the show Kakashi!
Of course I knew that :)
Nightly Drink: Then we have the most blatant PPL I've ever seen.
I actually said out loud "Oh come on! Really?" (My neighbours think I'm a little crazy). Daddy Choi walks in holding a whiskey and conveniently showing the label. Or is that how everybody serves their alcohol?
... and LSG taking just one tiny little sip. Very plump. But are we sure this is whiskey, bcook? Could also be cough syrup.
BabyGu sipping some sizzurp? (**HipHop reference #1) No no. Korea is too conservative for that. Besides isn't there a one herbal medicine rule for drama PPL? Hmm now that I look at it closely it does look like the label of the herbal medicine in the magazine.
The Ride: Then Gumihotty walks down to his Lamobo! mmmm House of Gu is rolling in the dough. How did he get his money? Investments? Did he save some pottery from the Joseon era? I know from Faith that they're very rare and valuable.
Huh. Would not have thought this drama's target group to be Lamborghini-potential, but well! I might be wrong.
I think at this point they're just throwing whatever they can in there. Those floaty blue lights cost money you know!
Because really? Earphones? I'm not sure this is PPL but it was so random it has to be. If it is, it's pretty bad coz I have no idea what brand those are. PPL Fail.
Oh wow. He seems to be REALLY glad this is over ....
How many do we have so far? 7? At 30M Won (using King of Drama pricing) a pop that's not a bad amount of money. I think this has paid for the blue lights, the CGI for the growing plants, the green contacts, those horrible claws they gave Kang Chi for the first 6 episodes and Suzy's botox injections. (How else can she cry without wrinkling her face?).
The Shoes: The next thing the camera plays a lot of attention to... is Yeo Wool's shoes? Wah?
Please no. These must be the least exciting shoes I've ever seen.
The Bag: The best PPL in my opinion was Governess's handbag. I have no idea what brand it is, but I got an eyeful and frankly...I want that bag! Success PD! (Note: *one of the gangsters is wearing African print?! (the blue shirt with yellow stuff on it)
Definitely. That's at least 5' worth of PPL, the way they wave that thing around.
The Random: And finally, we get a nice close up of Yeo Wool's gun. This is a weird one coz guns are illegal in Korea but why else would they focus on it so much? Does it have some deeper meaning? Yeo Wool was killed with a gun but now she wields one thus showing that this time around she will be master of her fate?
Nah, I vote for the tree and the moon.
kakashi: People are actually googling this, you know. It really seems to be a hot topic in the Dramverse. I am feeling quite lucky I haven't watched this show, with all the outrage out there for how it's ended. But PPL spotting? Count me in.
PPL in Gu Family Book Episode 24
Let's walk through and see what there is to see!
We open the scene with an awesome panorama of all the things valuable to House of Gu (GoT ref. #2) and the first of many (oh my so many) PPL items.
The Phone (Samsung): This is normal, regular ppl. Samsung basically = telephones when it comes to South Korea. Expected. They even found a way to get a samsung in a sageuk in Faith. Aww he saved her flower! I'm not even going to think about how he would have kept it alive for 400+ years!
That's an easy one, yes. I've seen so many Samsung Galaxy phones product-placed in KDrama, I recognize them in my sleep. But what about the vase? PPL as well? Not that anyone would want to buy it ... it's UGLY.
Oh, wonderful, miraculous herbal medicine. I NEED IT! And what's with LSG and bubble baths? Is that PPL too? I.e. for bubbles? Or, as you suspect, bathtubs?
Random Shower Scene: A bit late with the fan service PD/writer especially after crushing our souls the episode before. This is like killing Drothraki and then showing a flashback of them making out. Bad Bad! (*GoT ref #3)
That's probably not PPL. But I still felt I had to put it in. It's LSG's back after all, though not fully visible due to a slightly weird bathroom design feature.
Shampoo ppl?? LSG has a lovely back. *drool*
This hairdryer? MUST be PPL. Why else use such an incredibly atrocious thing.
Bwahaha. Belly Buttons cannot be purchased at your local plastic surgeon. Though...this is SK, anything is possible. LSG needs to work out more though (or go to Army) his bod leaves much to be desired.
Then he gets dressed (phone's still ringing by the way). He puts on the ugliest shirt I've ever seen and then picks a slightly better looking blazer. This must be PPL. Though for the life of me I don't know what label they're trying to sell. The designer should be shot.
The incredibly ugly clothes? Could be PPL - but also anti-PPL. He is browsing, browsing, browsing through them at length, too. The red thing is a special kind of bathrobe, I'm guessing. Bwahaha That's his outfit for much of the show Kakashi!
Of course I knew that :)
I actually said out loud "Oh come on! Really?" (My neighbours think I'm a little crazy). Daddy Choi walks in holding a whiskey and conveniently showing the label. Or is that how everybody serves their alcohol?
... and LSG taking just one tiny little sip. Very plump. But are we sure this is whiskey, bcook? Could also be cough syrup.
BabyGu sipping some sizzurp? (**HipHop reference #1) No no. Korea is too conservative for that. Besides isn't there a one herbal medicine rule for drama PPL? Hmm now that I look at it closely it does look like the label of the herbal medicine in the magazine.
The Ride: Then Gumihotty walks down to his Lamobo! mmmm House of Gu is rolling in the dough. How did he get his money? Investments? Did he save some pottery from the Joseon era? I know from Faith that they're very rare and valuable.
Huh. Would not have thought this drama's target group to be Lamborghini-potential, but well! I might be wrong.
I think at this point they're just throwing whatever they can in there. Those floaty blue lights cost money you know!
Because really? Earphones? I'm not sure this is PPL but it was so random it has to be. If it is, it's pretty bad coz I have no idea what brand those are. PPL Fail.
Oh wow. He seems to be REALLY glad this is over ....
How many do we have so far? 7? At 30M Won (using King of Drama pricing) a pop that's not a bad amount of money. I think this has paid for the blue lights, the CGI for the growing plants, the green contacts, those horrible claws they gave Kang Chi for the first 6 episodes and Suzy's botox injections. (How else can she cry without wrinkling her face?).
The Shoes: The next thing the camera plays a lot of attention to... is Yeo Wool's shoes? Wah?
Please no. These must be the least exciting shoes I've ever seen.
 |
| Shrug |
The Bag: The best PPL in my opinion was Governess's handbag. I have no idea what brand it is, but I got an eyeful and frankly...I want that bag! Success PD! (Note: *one of the gangsters is wearing African print?! (the blue shirt with yellow stuff on it)
Definitely. That's at least 5' worth of PPL, the way they wave that thing around.
The Random: And finally, we get a nice close up of Yeo Wool's gun. This is a weird one coz guns are illegal in Korea but why else would they focus on it so much? Does it have some deeper meaning? Yeo Wool was killed with a gun but now she wields one thus showing that this time around she will be master of her fate?
Nah, I vote for the tree and the moon.
Anthony would be so proud of this producer!! Ten minutes, worth millions of won!
There you have it. Did we miss anything? Let us know.
* Why GoT I don't really know. I guess the pain and disgust I felt of over episode 24 reminded me of how I felt reading (yeah I read!) GoT.
** Sizzurp is slang for syrup. Some people (not being of sound mind) drink it to get high or something. smh. I don't know how. But rappers started referring to it in their songs and it got into mainstream vocab.