IIRC, brand logos were blurred back in the earliest days unless they were sponsors of that particular tv shows/movies
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It’s a little complicated and not generally what people think.
So, obviously laws vary around the world so I’ll just talk in generalised use you generally find in a number of countries.
So, it’s not usually just illegal to use a logo, brand name or product in a TV show or movie. So if you’re filming a movie and have the character walk past a McDonald’s you don’t need to ask permission to have that in your movie. Same as you’re allowed to have a character eat a Big Mac, or drink a coke, or drive a Ford, or whatever, again, without asking for permission. You’re using the products for their intended purpose.
Now, if you were to have a character turn into a rapist every time they drink a Coke then that’s a different thing. You would possibly get sued for that for casting Coke in a bad light.
Also might get sued if you make a McDonald’s set because you have now created their logos, brands, etc for your own profit.
Now, as to why some TV shows, etc might still blur them out…….. because they don’t generally have the budgets of big blockbusters and so aren’t willing to risk a lawsuit even if they’d win. Some companies are lawsuit happy and will sue everyone even if they’re allowed to use it.
With every case of a logo appearing in the background of a show uncensored, whether or not a company will take legal action is confirmed. So over time more logos have been proven to be OK without any censor.
Logos are both trademarked and copyrighted. So in order to include a logo in your movie, you would strictly need to obtain a copyright clearance. That costs money – not from the copyright holders but from your lawyers who obtain it for you – so it is easier just to put tape over it or get post to blur it out.
Why isn’t that done as much now? Probably lots of the trademark and copyright owners have produced freely available copyright clearances that anyone can obtain.
other comments cover copyright and brand image issues
might be worth mentioning, if you’re remembering logos being obscured in the past but not as much lately, consider that you watched more kids’ media… as a kid.
there are much more strict rules about advertising to kids. nickelodeon loves to depict kids with a laptop or phone featuring a pear-shaped logo. Kel loves orange soda– and you never saw a Sunkist or Crush logo. Cartoon characters eat Sugar-O cereal (followed by a fun Cinnamon Toast Crunch ad during the commercial break, lol)
[Tom Scott did a piece on this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-x8DYTOv7w)
So additional to what others have said about copyright, libel/slander/defamation, and advertising laws around children’s programming, in some places (the UK, for instance), advertising restrictions surrounding product placement are super strict as compared to other places such as the US.
The thing is, any TV show which is or contains an advertisement absolutely has to CLEARLY indicate that it’s an ad. (This would also apply to movies being broadcast on television, but less so movies shown in theaters.)
So, because of this, TV shows and movies produced in countries with less restrictive advertising laws and the UK may have to either have branding altered or removed, or are produced without branding as much as possible.
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When I worked for MTV on the challenge we removed all the logos and made sure nothing had brands on it. When I asked why the executive producer said it was because the brands hadn’t paid him. We had a deal with under armour and they were the only brand that was going to be shown. I think this is the more likely answer, the producers want to make sure the only brands appearing are the ones who have paid them.
The percentage of Apple computers in summer blockbuster movies is much higher that the percentage of Apple brand computers out here in the real world. Why? It’s because Apple *pays* to get that logo on the screen, and Apple has very deep pockets.
In addition to what has been said, there are fake products for movies/TV that are designed to look a lot like a name brand. At first glance, you may not realize they aren’t the actual product. Check out a company named theearlhayspress for examples
Those logos are copyrighted. It’s someone else’s work, and you need their permission to show it. When they get blurred, that’s because there is no permission for whatever reason.
When they’re not blurred, the companies have given permission to use it. Sometimes someone in production will call the companies (Coke or Pepsi for example) and ask permission to use their products.
Sometimes it is actually an advertisement. The company is paying for the movie to have that stuff. For example if the main character is always drinking pop, then they might approach Coca-Cola and tell them what’s happening and if Coke is willing to pay, they’ll show the character drinking Coke. Look up product placement.
But either way, the end result is that they do have permission. If the can’t get permission, they have to out fake labels on it, or cover the logo in tape, or blur it out.
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