“The Loop” product placement
April 13, 2006 
While watching tonight’s season finale of the funny new sitcom The Loop on FOX, the show joked about product placement — with actual product placement. I think.
It’s all a bit confusing, really. If you’re a fan of The Loop, then you know that every once in a while during an episode the show is “paused” and captions are used to display contextual jokes.
Well, in tonight’s episode Amanda Loncar’s Piper character was standing in front of her mirror, trying on an outfit that included a denim skirt. So she says, “Wow, I look great in this Old Navy Skirt!” and then (product placement) appeared on the bottom of the screen.
Then, immediately following, an Old Navy commercial (the “Summertime Boyfriend” ad where the models are all dancing on a rooftop) came on.
So does that mean the product placement gag was actual product placement? Did Old Navy pay for the joke and then the adjacent commercial spot or did the show throw the joke in on their own and FOX ad sales then pointed it out to Old Navy, who decided to buy the spot?
Money must have exchanged hands somewhere here. Anyone have any insight they want to share?
