Sex And The City: HBO Has No Shame

I suppose given the virtually endless parade of brand placement that will be on display in the upcoming Sex And The City movie, I shouldn't be so shocked and appalled by HBO's utterly shameless peddling of Sex And The City paraphernalia. But still, a quick perusal of the HBO online store chalk full of really tacky merchandise left me with a certain disdain for HBO and more importantly, for the Sex And The City brand. Key chains, tacky t-shirts, an "eco-friendly" shoe bag, etc. The list is virtually endless but the prize for the tackiest item (in a category rich with really, really tacky merchandise) goes to "the genuine, bone fides Sex And The City rhinestone-studded Cosmopolitan pin" (pictured below). Remember, this is a television series in which a lead character's romantic relationship unravelled over a passing reference to a "scrunchy" (Season 6). It's all just so wrong.

Sincerely,

The Luxe Chronicles

"Don't look at us - we wouldn't wear that?!?!?!"

Comments

[Helene]

Dear Muhajababe - those are actually very good marketing suggestions. I suspect though that what we're witnessing in terms of marketing and merchandising is to be expected of a network that aims to make "SATC - The Movie" an actual franchise. I know there have been references to sequels and the level of fervor the producers have displayed in courting product placements suggests that they see more value in this revenue stream than in terms of actual box office revenue. We'll have to wait for the movie's release in May to see whether the script and plot are worthy of the television series' fans and all the hoopla surrounding the project.

Helene

P.S. Thank you for the kind words. I try to make my posts worthy of my readers.

[muhajababe]

i don't like TV merchandising, and to think a movie like SATC would be the last to jump in that bandwagon! saddens me to see all this cheap stuff being sold. To me, if they really wanted to market this movie they should appeal to the women who made it popular in the first place ! something unconventional, guerrilla marketing in NY .. anything but that hideous pin lol

p.s. Helen i love reading your blog keep it up ! elegant,simple sophistication, and i like your personal opinions :D

[Helene]

Thank you all for your comments. I agree, HBO is targeting the tourist crowd with this poor quality merchandise. I suppose my disappointment stems from the fact that I would expect this from NBC or Lifetime but not HBO given the cutting edge shows they tend to turn out. There must be a disconnect between the network's creative team and their marketing department. They might want to circulate a memo.

Helene
The Luxe Chronicles

P.S. Anne: Many thanks for your kind words. Glad you like The Luxe Chronicles.

[Dahlia]

For Pete's sake, if anyone's going to buy anything SATC related it would have to be the hot pink DVD box set of all the seasons, or the SATC Kiss and Tell book, which I bought and did not regret. Oh and maybe the theme song as a ringtone, but that's about it. Anything else is just tacky, tacky, tacky.

What I would've liked would be a REAL soundtrack of the songs used during their run. I've discovered amazing flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook, Kristy MacColl's "In These Shoes", Zero 7, Talvin Singh, etc. Sadly no such soundtrack exists.

[Ms. P&C]

No, we wouldn't wear that, but there's going to be scads of women in the middle of America whose only conception of New York is what they've seen on SATC. Unfortunately, this pin will then seem like the height of sophistication and glamour.

So happy I live on a coast!

[Anne]

Your blog is really elegant and lovely. Glad you liked the Mandarin in Hong Kong. Haven't been there much since they refurbished apart from a quick visit to their spa, but it's a world apart.