Thursday, May 17th, 2012
In the latest episode of Big Brother 11, the houseguests competed in a branded luxury challenge that has aroused negative criticisms from the online community.
The houseguests were not competing for a limousine trip; they were competing for a private screening of the upcoming film ?The Ugly Truth?, a romantic comedy which stars Katherine Heigl and Gerald Butler.
The announcement of the prize was followed by a full-length trailer of the film, along with a trivia game about the movie.
While there were no dialogues built around the summer flick, CBS promoted the movie by splicing shots of the houseguests laughing, cheering, and clapping in joy.
After viewing the trailer, the houseguests went out of the house to compete for the movie prize. They were met by Dan, America?s Player, who stood behind a sea of The Ugly Truth movie posters.
The contestants then answered trivia questions that were meant to find out the ugly truth about the opposite sex. Upon answering the questions correctly, the contestants used the girl/boy logos from the poster to indicate their scores.
Bloggers and columnists are comparing the product placement to 30 Rock?s infamous McFlurry and iPhone scene.
Julie Miller from Movieline.com said, ?Considering the ludicrousness of past Big Brother challenges, it is amazing that the producers didn?t have the houseguests reenact a scene from the movie while dialing a long-distance number on a rotary phone or competing in a game of Mouse Trap, but they might be saving that for the premiere of Julie & Julia."
