I certainly would consider it worthy of its own thread. Might be good, now that all the hubbub over it has died down, people can speak more rationally about it now. Personally, I ended up not minding it, as it didn't crop up in the European version. However, I don't dislike it because it's a product placement. One strong theme of Munch's Oddysee is product placement, after all - vendo power ups and consumer goods weaponry are the biggest examples of this, and remain, in my opinion, brilliant concepts that didn't seem to hit the mark for reasons I'm not entirely sure of. But nonetheless, it being product placement actually seems in harmony with the ethos of the experience.
I know a lot of people did hate it for that reason, though, which seems overblown. OWI have given nothing but good responces to the cries of protest against their decision. What blows it as an idea for me is, as you say, it's an Earth product. And this is Oddworld. Which is meant to take place in a reality where Earth does not exist. The concept of humans arriving on Oddworld with whopping great cargo ships does not coat my soul with the paint of pleasure.
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