I’ve just watched the “Snake on the Plane”. Well, I saw some interesting (but not a new innovation) on the movie: The in-movie commercial.

On one scene, the FBI agent (forgot the name) wanted to identify the snake to his boss. But it was hard for him to inform his boss about the snake just by describing the snake’s color. One of the passenger told him that she could send an e-mail with the photo inside. The others complained that she needed a computer and digital camera to do that. She replied that “This could do that!” and showed her Treo 600 or 650 (it’s a Palm based PDA with digital camera).

I just want to ask one thing. To send an e-mail, you will need at least a data connection provided by your operator. On about 30.000 feet above the sea level, I didn’t think your Treo would be able to get the signal 🙂. In my own experience, the GSM signal could be received about 3000-5000 feet above sea level (Pssst! don’t tell anybody that I’ve ever turned on my cellular on the plane 😉). Anyway, that was a movie… So, technical thing could be avoided (so consider you could your cellular on the plane).

Then, I saw a passenger keep playing his PSP inside the plane 🙂. Commercial from Sony? And I saw kid playing his Nintendo DS (only a slight view).

Finally, the “hero” who landed the plane (the pilots were dead by the snake) told the FBI agent that he learned flying a plane from the simulator. The agent asked about his platform used to play the simulator, “Xbox or PS2”? Of course the hero said that it was PS2 (Sony eh? I knew his answer because I saw PSP on the previous scene).

Few years ago, when I saw Mission Impossible 1 (CMIIW), I also listen a “hidden commercial” conversation about the latest Cyrix processor. But I guessed that conversation was too technical, so not many people would be able to distinguish it. This time (on the “Snake on the Plane”), the Sony and Palm commercial were too clear for all audience.

Is it Effective?
Well, off course. Will you start playing simulator on PS2 and expect some time you will be a “hero” to fly a plane? 😉 or maybe you will try to find out the PDA used to send the photo on the movie (I tell you, it was Treo 600/650). Btw, somebody tells me the simulator game played by the hero on the PS2 platform? I don’t play game much, but the most heared simulator is from Microsoft… Just wondering if there is any better competitors.