The ads just moved directly into the shows and storylines for Amazon Prime and Netflix (and most everyone else).

Has anything really changed? There have always been kids programming that was primarily about selling toys. I'm thinking of Care Bears, GI Joe, Transforms, Voltron, etc...

When shows like that move to Netflix or Amazon Prime the native ads remain, but the interstitials are gone.

That’s true. I guess as an adult, I feel like I notice it more when the writing / photography blatantly and inorganically bring logos and certain products to the forefront.

A family member’s kids were watching a Christmas movie on Netflix, and while I wasn’t watching it, something jarring hit my ears. In the middle of the movie, Santa names the brand and model of a car, and then starts listing its specs as he gets into a car chase and praises its features. A literal car ad built right into the movie.

Pay for placement is common in the USA and in films also why you don't often see baddies using apple products.

There’s placement, and then there’s altering the storyline and photography of a scene to achieve the goal of advertising a product.

For example, there’s a difference in someone drinking a can of Coke, versus someone spending 30 seconds talking about how they love Coke, and adjusting the camera angles so that the Coke logo is always front and center.

It’s possible to do product placement that doesn’t take you out of the story. But recent stuff beats you over the head with it in ways that are inconsistent with normal behavior and it’s jarring, takes you out of the moment, and I have no idea how people tolerate it.

I always laugh when lots of the US cop shows we get here in the UK have the good guys prominently using Microsoft equipment... to GOSUB their subroutine, or some similarly authentic "tech speak". With the new AI powered by Product Placement Of The Week, they can enhance the image and miraculously read the plate on the bad guys' vehicle!

> Has anything really changed? There have always been kids programming that was primarily about selling toys

Not on the BBC, that’s my point.

I’m sure there are plenty of people here that remember Blue Peter and sticky-back plastic (unobtanium in my childhood) along with empty washing up liquid bottles with logo redacted (presumably with stick-back plastic)