Music videos -- at their most basic level -- are ads. Ads for the artists featured therein. Spears, in her just-released video for her new single "Hold It Against Me," has taken that concept one step beyond self-promotion and into the realm of product placement. Is she the first performer to push product? No. Think of the effect Run DMC had on Adidas back in the early '80s. But she does seem to be breaking ground with undisguised, un-subtle in-video brand cameos.
Of course Brit's own perfume gets a money shot, but so does Make Up Forever (available at Sephora), dating site PlentyofFish.com and Sony. All of whom, we imagine, defrayed the costs of making an over-the-top music video with lots of pyrotechnic effects.
The promotional vibe sort of overshadows the Britney vs. Britney "Matrix"-style battle, the Def Lepard-reminiscent font used at the beginning and end of the video and the Gaga-esque addition of a pack of expressionless minions and IV tubes attached to BritBrit's fingers.
I would write more, but suddenly feel the need to put on some Make Up Forever and dash out to buy a Sony flat screen TV. ( washingtonpost.com )
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