...it wasn't "product placement". Product placement is when everyone at the table is drinking Snapple, and all the bottles conveniently face the camera ever so perfectly to expose the label. Product placement is distracting because you see Carmela Soprano holding her shopping bag in an awkward way to expose the name of the store, or because characters crowbar brand names into conversation unnaturally.

In last week's Modern Family, a plot point developed as the result of a unique product, the Ipad. The character has already been established as a geek/nerd, so it was very natural that he would be an "early adopter" of the product. Furthermore, this whole Apple Fanboy phenomonan is very common in our current society; such a storyline shouldn't be avoided just because it involves a product. We, as viewers, know people who'd wait in line for an Ipad. The character is that type of person. The storyline "fits".

Finally, the "image" of the Ipad wasn't manipulated artificially. The character who craved one is considered the "doofus" of the family, so his desire for one isn't exactly a ringing endorsement of the product. This is not Jack Bauer saving the world using a Sprint phone or the President watching Fox News to get updated on the situation.

Other characters express skepticism about the product, calling it a toy. The only thing the Ipad is shown doing is to create a birthday cake that allows its "candles" to be blown out. Most people would roll their eyes at such a "feature". And while some have expressed a complaint about the show ending with the family oohing and ahhing over the gift, I think that's the perfect anti-feel-good message that this show is known for. The family cared more about the materialism than celebrating the birthday.

I hate product placement because it's so distracting. In order to appreciate a show, I have to forget that it's scripted. I have to believe in the characters, the scene, etc. The second I pause and say "hmm, why is that coke can placed there?" I'm taken out of the fantasy. But an actual story about something so common as Apple Fanboyism...that rings true to me.

Sorry Alan (who I rarely disagree with, but who hated the product placement), but I found nothing wrong with MF.