What do a Roomba, a Sidekick and a Prius have in common?
... and Mallomars
A few products made noticeable repeat appearances in the Gilmore Girls’ lives.
In the later series, when Gilmore Girls really hit its stride and popularity, product promotion became noticeable to the point of distraction. On the whole, these were forgiveable but some cases still stick in my craw.
Chris’ drawn out conversation with Lorelai about whether to buy Rory a Sidekick mobile phone portended its eventual appearance much like the party guests at the beginning of the The Godfather asking about Michael Corleone’s whereabouts. By the time it finally arrived, Rory was uncharacteristically glued to its screen, hanging on the minutiae of her father’s behaviour.
Rory I’ve got him right here he’s turning left on main, and he found a buffalo-head nickel in his glove compartment.
This came off as a thinly veiled argument against any parent buying their child a mobile phone, which I hope it surreptitiously was (he writes, very aware that he’s writing about about being borderline addicted to a TV show).
On the occasion of Rory’s graduation from Chilton, Richard and Emily present her with a Prius electric hybrid car, bestowed along with cringeworthy bullet points for any grandparents thinking of doing the same.
Richard We got her one car. It’s a little Prius. It’s safe, it gets great gas mileage. Emily And it’s the one that Leonardo DiCaprio drives.
And it looks like a slug. But it’s the promotional consideration that counts and we can’t begrudge it completely: that boring grey heap helped fund the last couple of series. The thing is, if the girls had genuinely had any affection towards it, they would have named it. Sluggy, maybe. And despite many appearances, it didn’t get any cooler as a result. It never got its own storyline. Paul Anka never locked himself in the Prius. Neither did Paul Anka the dog.
Then there was the Girls’ shared out-of-body Roomba experience. I’m not sure if this one counts because the robotic vacuum cleaner only appeared once. On balance, I think it was product placement because the devices were pink and did make me want to buy one purely because they were pink.
It’s safe to assume South America provided considerable financial assistance for the constant promotional consideration of coffee.
And the Pro-Buttercream lobbyists clearly won out over the Anti-Marzipan coalition. Indeed, marzipan gets a roasting (which probably wouldn’t have made it taste any better):
Emily Oh Jason, would you like some marzipan? Jason Would I? I love marzipan. [Chris Eigeman deserved an Emmy purely for his delivery of this line] Emily Take as much as you like, and put some extra into a napkin. Just not the one Lorelai spat her piece into.
I would love to hear if you tried marzipan as a result of its being on Gilmore Girls. Or bought a Prius.
Can you think of anything else promoted on the show?
More broadly, did the show inspire you to do anything? Backpack across Europe? Attend a Renaissance fair? Steal a boat? Watch the Changeling? Jump off anything with an umbrella? Go to Yale instead of Harvard? Sing that song at karaoke? Write a smash hit television series?
I have an online doc where I keep ideas for gilmorenews blogs – it’s called Ideas Book, like Logan’s little notebook.
Ladies and gentlemen, by my count this is my 100th blog. For which I pat myself on the back, raise a glass and wish you all a glorious summer. Love you guys.