I love to see photo gear used as props in photos… I don’t know why, but I think it’s fun! The current Urban Outfitters catalog has some wallpaper displayed on page 16, and they are using three C-stands as props.
Speaking of photo gear as props, there is a commercial on television right now where a woman on a yacht is using a beautiful Leica camera… I think it might be an S2 digital? I can’t remember what the commercial is, maybe for a perfume? If I see it again, I’ll find a link to it online.
I’ve noticed that a lot of medical and pharmaceutical companies also use cameras as props in their ads. If you have allergies, apparently you’ve always yearned to take your large format camera out to a sunny field of flowers, but never could before. Or, men with erectile disfunction love playing with cameras, now that they’ve got their fire back, so to speak…
I’ve also seen one or two credit card commercials where they do a sort of interview/mini-documentary on a pro photo that has a thriving business – all in thanks to that great card and its line of easy credit!
I guess photo gear and photographers can be found both behind AND in front of the lens. Let me know what other ads you’ve seen where photo stuff is used a prop or a background element (in other words, not an actual ad for a camera or photo item, but it’s a secondary piece to the story).