apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Well then, they should've torn down Central Perk and turned it into a Starbucks...

It was because of this episode that I got the Pottery Barn apothecary table!

I'm so glad I don't watch television.

Hasn't product placement been around forever?

I remember liking this episode because it summed up how I felt about Pottery Barn at the time, i.e. hating myself for wanting it.

this site seems particularly devoted to pottery barn and affilaites.

this site seems particularly devoted to pottery barn and affiliates

smart marketing idea. friends viewers would be a great target market for pottery barn. plus it is believable that the characters (maybe except phoebe) would buy pottery barn stuff. Although I wish they had a Ralph Lauren episode LOL. It would make sense since Rachel worked there and would have a discount!!

stuff like this doesn't bother me, it's no different from reading a blog that has products in it where the blogger gets a promo kit or the product for free or reading a magazine where editorials are practically ads.

To this day I can't walk by a Pottery Barn without saying "Phoebe hates Pottery Barn!"

Isn't this info over 8 years old, considering this episode aired in April of 2000? There are a ton of more recent and relevant product placements in television now, look at The Hills, The Office, 24, CSI. Why cover this now?

When this episode came out, I'd never heard of Pottery Barn and for a good year thought it was an imaginary store for the show. So I guess they did a good job incorporating it into the Friends' world.

Does kind of remind me of the '80s though when toys were shows and shows were commercials. Or the '90s when Martha Stewart launched Baby to help Gap launch BabyGap.

I guess that was in 2000

when this episode came out i was in early high school.. if joss is right, i was 15, and just starting to have my own ideas of taste and style. i saw the episode and phoebe's comments have affected my taste ever since... not hating pottery barn, but the line she had about the same things being in every home, every where and wanting pieces that were unique.

There is so much attitude in some of these comments. Where is that coming from?

AT is very inclusive of all sources for home goods.

I appreciate the reference to friends. I had not thought about this in awhile. Thanks!

-Eleazar
http://www.blogazar.com

This episode taught me the art of restraint - a piece or two from Pottery Barn is fine, but you never want someone to walk into your house and exclaim, "Page 72 of the catalog!" no matter how nice it may look.

And Rachel's having to think up historical eras to fool Phoebe into believing the stuff was old was classic - I still use those lines, "A lot of this stuff is from Colonial times. What are some other time periods, Rachel?" "Well you know, there's yore, and uh, you know, yesteryear."

dollarvines, I know what you mean. There's a Sex And The City episode when Charlotte calls Anthony (Mario Cantone) and he tells her he's just coming out of "Bed, Bath, and Freaking Beyond!" To this day that's what I call that store.

I tend to have the same idea here as closertotheocean and LilyC. I'm not against these big stores, it's just that I have to put things back sometimes. I like an item and then I feel that I don't like it anymore, some feeling that too many other people are all picking up the same things and making my home too indistinct.

It may be overexposure to the blog here, it seems like everyone has these IKEA trips, a lot of people in the Small Cool contest and other home tours have the same furniture/lamp/bedding/curtains, and if someone wanted to know where it came from, if it wasn't from a grandma or a flea market, so many people would know whether it was from West Elm or Anthropologie or CB2, etc. I know some people like something and they like it and they don't care if 10 other people have it. I might like something but be a little embarrassed if I had the kinds of things everyone could shout out the source in unison. More like Phoebe that way, I guess.

The best compliment Mike and I ever got was when a friend came to our home, took a look around and declared, “You guys are soooo not Pottery Barn!”
Entire post is here: http://stylenorth.ca/blog/2008/07/inspiration-unique-furnishings/

Absolut Vodka did the same thing for a Sex and the City episode. I hate it when that happens. Seems so violating. And it messes with the integrity of the show.

This is interesting. We all get upset about product placement and the blatant use of it. Yet, for anyone who saw "The Devil Wears Prada", Meryl Streeps lengthy response to the Hathaway character about her sweater as opposed to fashion was priceless. None of us come up with our own ideas. There are floating around out there, or put in our face, but they come from somewhere else. We start from birth with a product line, are told what to wear, what to eat, and when we finally "develop our own taste" it has been influenced by a million different things. Besides, movies and TV are about making money.

That said, I absolutely can not shop in Pottery Barn.....living in LA, I love the second hand shops but - then - everthing second hand was once an advertised product, probably in a movie or on TV or in a magazine.....so now companies by episodes....it wouldn't be successful if there wasn't a willing audience.

I don't watch FRIENDS but I understand how Miss Phoebe feels. While I don't have anything from Pottery Barn in my home --- the stuff does look pretty in the catalogs I get.

(I bought a rug from them once and then returned it. That's why I get all the catalogs.)

JacksonMarie - please share your LA second hand furniture store sources!

I thought Pottery Barn had gone out of business... No?

Artichokesoup: Bed, Bath and Beyond Human Endurance.

Also, "the integrity of the show" gave me a little giggle. I think that's an oxymoron, given that TV exists to sell ad space.

I feel this love hate thing about ikea, cause I think I have great stuff in my house and there is a style going on in there, but I once had a graphic design client. this lady had the exact same taste as me so it was a great working relationship. but when I went to her house to sign the contracts, she had all the same stuff in her house as I did. same pillows, same dishes, same table, same pots and pans, it was just like my house with some stuff moved around.

I still think there should be a bathroom fittings shop called "potty barn"!

In effect, these stores are Garanimals for home design.

It just came to me, that's what it can do for some people. Their house will look like someone matched it up just so, and everyone will have the same matching stuff. Nothing really wrong with it unless you don't prefer it.

See if that closes the ref tag. (Oops).