My wife and I just finished watching "Bones" from the first episode up to the latest one. In the last two seasons something really creepy and pathetic started happening - the actors started having a dialogue about the Toyota they were riding in. This has involved two separate Toyota vehicles and each time the conversations changed from worrying about the grisly murder case to the benefits of radar cruise control or cameras in blind spots. The actors practically deliver a 30 second adverti*****t about the Toyota Prius etc. woven into their normal concerns and actions.

Before anyone jumps on me for this - I know that "visual" product placement has been around for ages and is here to stay. However - when did product placement graduate from static brand positioning in the field of view to being something we are supposed to believe the characters are enthusiastically talking about?

Does anyone else know about other TV shows including this type of marketing? It's beyond the one-off quip of "I can't make it through the day without my Coca Cola" etc. - the characters perform an obvious adverti*****t that rings so abruptly false that it stops the show dead. It would have been less intrusive for them to be wearing "I love Toyota" T-shirts for the entire show.....