When we first heard that the 2012 Hyundai Tucson was going to be featured in The Walking Dead, our curiosity was piqued to say the least. It's very hard to pull off product placement in a show, and often times if comes off being cheesy and off putting rather than interesting.
Luckily, the people at Hyundai shared the same concerns, and quite a bit of thought actually went into the vehicle's placement. Rather than having the show's characters spout off lines about how reliable Hyundai is or how they command some of the strongest brand loyalty in the industry today (both of which are true, but wouldn't fit in the show's context), the Tucson was featured alongside a long-abandoned Georgia Highway amongst countless other vacant vehicles.
Now we know what you're thinking... This isn't the most flattering way to showcase the Tucson. But we assure you, Hyundai Chief Marketing Officer, Steve Shannon and the show's producers found a way to make it so!
In the scene that features the Hyundai crossover, the group of survivors are searching for supplies in various cars, when one survivor, Shane finds the Tucson. Upon searching the vehicle, Shane finds that the vehicle's keys still in the ignition. He takes a shot at starting the vehicle up, and low and behold, it works perfectly. The radio even starts transmitting a signal from the Emergency Broadcast System; a clue, perhaps, to a future plot point.
Of course, there's one aspect that Shannon was still uncomfortable with, which is the fact that the Tucson was featured with a thick coat of dust, dirt, and grime on it. But, the vehicle was required to be in such condition to maintain a sense of realism within the show's universe. After all, it had been abandoned on the side of the road for months, so it would make no sense for it to be clean, polished and in pristine condition.
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