Remember the BMW series in MI 4. The Mecca of all product placements that was widely talked about. Here’s the story of a very recent brand association that may not have worked out well.

Mad Men’s storyline in its last week is all about the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce agency approaching Jaguar for its first car account. Herb, the fictional Jag executive who was also part of the agency choosing committee agrees to give the business to SCDP if Joan, the office manager sleeps with him.

While the entire storyline is fictitious, Jaguar had no control over the script. Will this hamper the brand in any way? Doesn’t it paint a bad picture of the back door office politics?

Maybe it is just a case of bad timing, but Jaguar broke a new campaign in mid-March with the line “How Alive Are You?” The fictional campaign on Mad Men portrayed Jaguar as a mistress with the line “Jaguar: The mistress who will do things your wife won’t.” At the end, they settled for “Jaguar: Something beautiful you can truly own.”

When asked for comments, David Pryor VP Brand development for Jaguar USA said “One connection I liked was, they went down this emotional path. They weren't trying to sell the car, they were building on this emotional connection, this love, this lust that people had for the brand back then and that we're trying to recreate now."

Do you think extreme shows like this damage the brand appeal or will it be accepted as fiction?