PayPal Survives the Rapture on HBO

Will your company survive the Rapture?

PayPal might, if the writers of HBO's new hit series "The Leftovers" have anything to say about it. The company received an unusual endorsement in the show's most recent episode.

Based on a best-selling novel by Tom Perrotta, the series depicts life after the "Sudden Departure," when 2% of the world's population vanishes without explanation. It follows the daily lives of characters who are transformed by grief, in an upstate New York community split apart by the mysterious phenomenon.

The Aug. 3 episode focuses on Nora Durst. She lost her husband and two children in the partial-apocalypse. Since then, she has begun working as a civil servant in the Department of Sudden Departure.

Nora travels to New York City for a "departure-related occupations and practices conference." What at first seems like a networking event turns out to be the stage for her unraveling. But before Nora leaves the city, a conference attendee persuades her to meet Holy Wayne, a possible con artist who claims he can alleviate pain.

This is where PayPal gets an unexpected plug. A visit with Holy Wayne, it turns out, costs $1,000.

"You on PayPal? If not, I can get you set up," Wayne's assistant says.

Nora confirms that she does have a PayPal account.

"Go ahead and pull it up. You authorize the amount," the assistant replies. He then spins around his laptop, flashing a shot of the login screen for millions of HBO viewers to see.

PayPal said in an email that the scene was not a product placement. "We did not even know it was coming until we saw it," said Anuj Nayar, a spokesperson for the company.

Warner Brothers, the show's producer, did not respond to a request for comment.

"The Leftovers," which debuted at the end of June, has not yet established if PayPal's mobile apps made it through the Rapture unharmed.

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