Microsoft-bashing has been in fashion for the last decade so I find it refreshing to see Microsoft machines on a popular TV program. I don't get to watch much movies or TV shows so the last time I actually saw a Microsoft product on screen was when Lenovo PCs popped up in Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), one of the most painfully terrible films I've watched in the last twenty years.
I'm not sure how effective product placement is in Arrow mostly because it's tough to combat Apple's dominance in TV and movies, but I personally like seeing Katie Cassady (Laurel lance), Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen), David Ramsey (Diggle), Colin Salmon (Walter Steele) and the extremely popular Emily Bett Rickards (Felicity Smoak) toting Microsoft products.
Find the MS logo!
The Microsoft products featured in Arrow season one started appearing gradually in the series. In line with Oliver's plot of returning from an island after 5 years, the initial hardware he sets up in his lair is pretty old and shown briefly in episode one (with small screens and a PC form factor no longer available today). The Microsoft logo becomes increasingly visible by episode 3 and by episode 4 onwards every episode is a veritable Find-the-Mickey.
1. Microsoft monitors/All-in-One PCs - From Laurel's law office to the building surveillance scene, the Microsoft logo is proudly stamped on all the displays. The logo is especially prominent in Oliver's war room, which sports dual monitors. Later on in the season, the bland black displays will be replaced by shiny Lenovo All-in-One PCs as the success of the show probably triggered more sponsors.
2. Walter Steel's desktop replacement Windows laptop - Walter's charming scene with Felicity in episode 5 shows a black laptop on his desk. This same laptop is visible in all of Walter's office scenes until his kidnapping.
3. Asus Zenbook - When new partner Diggle and Oliver require some hardcore research, they visit the bespectacled Felicity at her office in what would be a recurring event in season one. The shiny, top-of-the-line Zenbook from Microsoft partner ASUS makes a cameo appearance in episode 6 but still doesn't look as bulletproof as Stephen Amell's abs. The same Zenbook model is briefly visible in a different episode, this time carried by an unknown thug.
4. Windows 8 - Windows 8 makes its Arrow debut in episode 6 installed on the aforementioned Zenbook. If anyone should be the ambassador of Microsoft Windows 8 (and Windows 8.1), it should be Felicity Smoak as played by Emily Bett Rickards. Even if Ms. Rickards is probably an Apple user or Samsung fan, I'm pretty sure her using Windows 8 to track down villains on the show is enough to convince Arrow fans to head off to the Microsoft Store and give the Surface Pro 2 with Windows 8 a go. Her vulnerability, awkwardness and geek appeal is positively Smoak-ing.
As befitting her quirky character, Felicity's username in her Windows 8 workstation is Zoomba. For sharp-eyed users and fans of Arrow, they will also notice that every scene with Windows 8 features Felicity, Laurel and Thea beginning at the Start menu but switching over to the desktop (or vice-versa).
Continued in Microsoft Product Placement in Arrow Season One Part 1
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