Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a type of advertising where branded goods or services are placed in non-advertising contexts. These contexts may include movies, television shows, or news programs that typically do not contain ads. The disclosure of product placement is often not made during the time the goods or services are featured. The practice of product placement became popular in the 1980s. As an example, the 1982 movie E.T., directed by Steven Spielberg, prominently featured Reese’s Pieces.
In April 2006, it was reported by Broadcasting &Cable that two-thirds of advertisers use product placement, also known as “branded entertainment,” with 80% of this taking place in commercial TV programming. The article, based on a survey by the Association of National Advertisers, revealed that the reasons for using in-show plugs varied, including creating a stronger emotional connection, better fitting with relevant content, and targeting specific groups. Early examples of product placement can be traced back to the nineteenth century in publishing. For instance, when Jules Verne published his adventure novel “Around the World in Eighty Days,” transport and shipping companies sought to be mentioned in the story due to Verne’s international fame.is still a common form of marketing. Both books and movies often incorporate product placement as a way of generating revenue and advertising various products [citation needed].
In the 1919 Fatty Arbuckle comedy The Garage, the weekly trade periodical Harrison’s Reports published its first condemnation of the appearance of Red Crown gasoline, a recognizable brand name, in movies. Over the next forty years, Harrison’s Reports often reported instances of on-screen brand name products, consistently criticizing the practice as detrimental to movie theaters. Editorials by the publisher P. S. Harrison strongly expressed his opposition to product placement in films.
Harrison’s Reports criticized the collaboration between Corona Typewriter company and First National Pictures in the 1925 movie The Lost World. Several incidents of Corona typewriters appearing in movies of the mid-1920s were published by Harrison’s Reports. Wings, released in 1927, was the first film to win the Oscar for Best Picture and featured product placement for Hershey’s chocolate. Another early instance of product placement in film is seen in the 1932 movie Horse Feathers, where Thelma Todd falls out of a canoe and into a river.
She calls for a life saver and Groucho Marx throws her the Life Savers candy. In the 1949 film Love Happy, Harpo Marx plays on a rooftop surrounded by different billboards. At one moment, he evades the villains using the old Mobil logo, known as the “Flying Red Horse”. This scene received harsh criticism from Harrison’s Reports, as stated in its movie review[9] and a front-page editorial of the same issue. The 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life, directed by Frank Capra, features a young boy who dreams of becoming an explorer and prominently displays a National Geographic magazine.
In the film noir Gun Crazy (1949), the pivotal crime involves the robbery of the payroll at the Armour meat packing plant, prominently featuring a Bulova clock. Early media platforms, such as radio in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as early television in the 1950s, often had programs underwritten by companies. The term “soap operas” originated from their initial sponsorship by consumer packaged goods companies like Procter & Gamble or Unilever. As television began to replace radio, DuMont’s Cavalcade of Stars stood out during its time for not relying on a single sponsor as seen in NBC’s Texaco Star Theater and similar shows.
Today, sponsorship is prevalent, with major vendors like Hallmark sponsoring programs. A notable instance of product placement is the prominent display of Studebaker motor vehicles in the TV show Mr. Ed, which was sponsored by the Studebaker Corporation from 1961 to 1963. The incorporation of products into the actual storyline of a film or TV show is commonly referred to as “brand integration”. Abercrombie and Fitch demonstrated an early example of such “brand integration” in 1964, as one of its stores served as a fictional location in the Rock Hudson / Paula Prentiss romantic comedy film Man’s Favourite Sport?.
A recent example of brand integration can be seen in HBO’s Sex and the City, where the plot revolves around various elements including Absolut Vodka, a campaign that one of the main characters is working on, and a billboard in Times Square. This billboard depicted a model, and thanks to a bottle of Absolut Vodka, prevented the image from becoming pornographic. Another TV series, Knight Rider, showcases brand integration through the prominent appearance of a talking Pontiac Trans Am. Moving to the world of computer and video games, one of the earliest instances of product placement occurred in the 1984 game Action Biker for KP’s Skips crisps. Additionally, certain video games like Crazy Taxi incorporate real retail stores as destinations within the game.
However, there are instances when the economics are reversed and video game makers pay for the rights to use real sports teams and players. Moreover, product placement is now common in online videos. Online agencies specialize in connecting online video producers, who are typically individuals, with brands and advertisers. [edit] Self Promotion Twentieth Century Fox, a subsidiary of News Corporation, promotes its parent company’s own Sky News channel by incorporating it as a plot device in scenes where characters view news broadcasts of breaking events. citation needed] Additionally, the newscaster or reporter will typically mention that the audience is watching Sky News and reports from other channels are not shown to emphasize this further. A notable example of this is the 1996 film Independence Day. [edit] Categories and variations There are two categories of actual product placement: products or locations that are obtained from manufacturers or owners to reduce production costs, and products deliberately placed into productions in exchange for fees. [10] At times, product usage is negotiated rather than paid for.
Some placements offer cost savings for productions by providing loaned items such as props, clothes, and cars, eliminating the need to purchase or rent them. Barter systems and service deals are also common, where the director, actor, or producer may receive certain perks. Additionally, producers may partner with companies for product placements, exchanging products for funding advertisements tied to a film’s release, a show’s new season, or other events.
A form of product placement known as advertisement placement involves showcasing an advertisement for a product within a movie or television series, rather than the actual product itself. This could include a billboard featuring a Lucky Strike cigarette advertisement or a truck with a milk advertisement on its trailer. Another form is the use of promotional consideration, where a television game show awards an advertiser’s product as a prize in exchange for funding from the manufacturer. Companies specializing in product placement aim to seamlessly incorporate their client company brands into film and television productions. Jay May, the president of Feature This!, an entertainment company specializing in branded content, explains the process: “We receive the script from the studio, analyze it, identify our clients’ target audience, and then offer them the opportunity to have their product featured in a movie with specific actors, directors, and producers.” The effectiveness of product placement is measured through quantification methods that track brand integrations, employing both quantitative and qualitative approaches to determine the placement’s cost and overall media value.
Rating systems assess the placement type and on-screen exposure based on audience recall rates. Products can have different levels of visibility, such as being featured but not easily recognizable, easily identifiable, having long or frequent appearances, being associated with a main character, verbally mentioned, and/or playing a significant role in the storyline. Media values are also evaluated over time, depending on the market presence of a specific product. [edit] Consumer response and economic impact show that advertisers continue to utilize product placement as an advertising strategy due to its proven effectiveness.
Some consumer groups, like Commercial Alert, oppose product placement as it is seen as dishonest. They argue that product placements are often deceptive and lack clear disclosure. Commercial Alert calls for full disclosure of all product placement agreements and advocates for notification before and during television programs that contain embedded advertisements. They believe that this will enable greater parental control over children, who are easily influenced by product placement.
The Writers Guild of America, a trade union for TV script authors, objected in 2005 to the practice of their members being forced to insert disguised ad copy into storylines. They argued that this often resulted in millions of viewers unknowingly being sold products, violating government regulations.[14]
According to PQMedia, a consulting firm that tracks product placement, the market for product placement reached $3.7 billion in 2006 and is projected to rise to $5.6 billion by 2010. However, PQMedia believes these figures are somewhat misleading as many product placement deals now combine advertising and product placement. In these cases, the inclusion of product placement is often dependent on the purchase of advertising space. Taking this into account, PQMedia estimates that the value of product placement is closer to $7 billion, projected to increase to $10 billion by 2010.
The use of product placement is growing due to the increased usage of digital video recorders (DVRs) like TiVO, which allow viewers to skip ads. This behavior of skipping ads becomes more frequent as households own DVRs for longer periods of time. Certain products, such as automobiles, consumer electronics and computers, and tobacco products, are featured more often. Automobiles are the most commonly promoted products through product placement, with one manufacturer often supplying all the vehicles in a movie or TV show.
Examples of product placement in television and film include The X-Files and 24, which both featured the use of Fords. The James Bond films are also known for pioneering product placement. For instance, in the 1974 film The Man with the Golden Gun, AMC cars were extensively used, even in scenes set in Thailand where AMC cars were not sold and had the steering wheel on the wrong side for the country’s roads. Similarly, in the film XXY (2007), all the vehicles shown are Toyotas, despite the story taking place in South America. The credits of the film acknowledge Toyota as a financial supporter of its production.
The last two Bond films featured vehicles from Ford or its subsidiaries, while in Bad Boys 2, Transformers, and The Matrix Reloaded, most cars were manufactured by General Motors. Sometimes, vehicles or other products play such significant roles in a film that they become like another character. Nissan cars are prominently displayed in the TV show ‘Heroes’, with logos often zoomed in and out or entire cars shown briefly at the start of a new scene. In The Matrix Reloaded, a crucial chase scene involves a brand new Cadillac CTS and a Cadillac Escalade EXT, with a Ducati motorcycle also featured in the getaway. Initially, three James Bond films starring Pierce Brosnan showcased BMW cars, but due to fan outcry, the producers returned to using the traditional Aston Martin, which was owned by Ford Motor Company and consequently served as additional product placement. Additionally, a Shelby GT500 is extensively used at the beginning of I Am Legend. In the 2008 movie Taken, Liam Neeson drives Audi cars – an A3 and an S8 – during the final high-speed scene on the streets of Paris.
All of the vehicles in the video game Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 are made by Dodge. [edit] In terms of consumer electronics and computers, the 2006 movie Casino Royale includes various Sony products being advertised: a BD-R disc is shown prominently, VAIO laptops are used by all characters, Sony Ericcson cell phones and GPSs are also used, as well as BRAVIA televisions. Additionally, Bond uses a Cyber-shot camera to capture photos. (This was the first Bond film to be produced after Sony acquired the Bond franchise).
The movie “Quantum of Solace” features Bond, M, and Tanner using a Microsoft Surface to display information on rogue agents. It is worth noting that Apple’s products frequently appear in films and on television. Apple has stated that they do not pay for these appearances and they refuse to discuss how their products end up in these media formats [16]. Interestingly, recognizable Apple products have even been featured in newspaper comic strips like Opus, Baby Blues, Non Sequitur, and FoxTrot, despite paid placement being rare in this medium. In a unique take on product placement, Hewlett-Packard computers are now exclusively showcased in photo layouts within the IKEA catalog. Additionally, plastic models of Hewlett-Packard computers are placed in IKEA stores, replacing Apple’s presence in the Swedish furniture retailer’s promotional materials from several years ago. Hewlett-Packard further placed their computers in the US production of The Office. Meanwhile, throughout the TV series Smallville, only Dell computers are used, including equipment from their Alienware line and later on, the XPS range.
In Stargate Atlantis, the first seasons featured Dell Latitude and XPS laptops. Stargate SG1 also made a switch to Dell-branded LCDs from traditional CRT monitors in the gate-rooms during its last seasons. The movie WarGames (1983) originally proposed the use of an IMSAI 8080 desktop computer by Cliff McMullen of Unique Products, the same company responsible for placing Reese’s Pieces in Steven Spielberg’s E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Other product placements in WarGames include the main character’s mother being depicted as a real estate broker at the request of marketers from Century 21. In Splash (1984), a television set features advertisements for the now-defunct electronics retailer Crazy Eddie and Bloomingdale’s department store. The movie The Day the Earth Stood Still showcases various Microsoft devices, such as mobile phones, laptops[citation needed], and Microsoft Surface. In video games, processor and graphics card placements are commonly found.
Examples of product placement in video games and TV shows include EA’s Battlefield 2142, featuring ads for Intel Core 2 processors on map billboards. EA’s The Sims includes in-game advertising for Intel and McDonald’s. In the video game F.E.A.R, Dell screensavers are displayed on all the laptops, as well as other computers in the game. Metal Gear Solid 4 showcases Apple products such as laptops, desktop computers, and even an in-game iPod. In the TV show Sex and The City, Carrie is seen using a MacBook with an upside-down Apple logo. Additionally, product placement is also prevalent in food and drink categories.
In the movie Beetlejuice (1988), Minute Maid juice is shown; in the Back to the Future trilogy, Pizza Hut’s future products include an instant pizza that can be hydrated for immediate consumption. On the television show “American Idol,” Coca Cola cups are always seen on the judges’ table. not only do brand specific elements appear in certain shows, but entire formats of media have been created to feature individual brands in a particular genre. An example of this is The Corkscrew Diary (2006), a travelogue about wine and food that showcases emerging destination estates and the wines they produce.
Travel destinations and services are promoted in various ways, ranging from subtle to overt. While it has been common in commercial television to award “an all expense-paid trip” to a destination as a game show prize or to mention in a show’s closing credits that transportation was provided by a specific airline, a more sophisticated approach to promoting a travel destination is to assist and subsidize film production companies that are willing to set their story in or shoot footage on-location at the destination being promoted.
While critics argue that competitive film subsidies contribute to runaway production, in which US productions are filmed in other countries purely for economic reasons, it is important to note that a movie set in a specific travel destination can serve as a valuable advertisement. State of Florida film commissioner Paul Sirmons explains that these movies act as larger-than-life advertisements for the locations they are filmed in. For example, “CSI Miami” attracts international visitors to Miami, while “The Truman Show” put Seaside on the map. These movies continue to be shown for years, effectively spreading the imagery of these destinations.
The Love Boat was a popular American television series that aired from 1977 to 1986. It was set aboard the Pacific Princess, a ship owned by Princess Cruise Lines. Throughout its run, the series served as an advertisement for the cruise line, often using the trademarked slogan “It’s more than a cruise, it’s the Love Boat” in printed advertisements until 2002.
In Stanley Kubrick’s film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” a fictional commercial spaceplane called the Orion III, which belonged to Pan Am, played a significant role and was featured in the movie’s poster. The sequel to the film, “2010,” also included a background television commercial for Pan Am in the home of David Bowman’s widow.
The sci-fi series “Battlestar Galactica” featured a ship called the “Pan Galactic” or “Pan Gal” starliner in its fleet. This ship had similar colors and logo to Pan American’s old logo.
Pan Am’s airplanes made appearances in multiple James Bond films including “Dr. No,” “From Russia with Love,” and “Casino Royale.” Additionally, a Pan Am 747 and the Worldport were featured in the film “Live and Let Die.”
The airline’s logo was showcased in Licence to Kill, as James Bond checks in for a Pan Am flight that he ultimately does not board.
Tobacco was also featured in Licence to Kill, with the use of the Lark brand of cigarette. The producers accepted payment for this product placement. The studio believed that this placement would trigger the American requirement for cigarette advertisement warnings. As a result, the Surgeon General’s Warning was included in the end credits of the film. This led to calls for prohibiting such cigarette advertisements in future films.
Later releases of License to Kill had the Lark pack replaced with a generic pack in video and television releases. Additionally, many movies, like the youth-targeted “Ramen Girl,” omit the Surgeon General’s Warning while featuring product-placement for Marlborough cigarettes. The British Medical Journal found that the tobacco industry recruits new smokers by associating its products with fun, excitement, sex, wealth, power, rebellion, and independence, according to previously secret tobacco advertising documents.
The tobacco industry has utilized various methods to promote associations with smoking, including encouraging smoking in entertainment productions. This exposure to smoking in media has been linked to higher rates of smoking and positive attitudes towards tobacco among teenagers. Despite the tobacco industry’s consistent denial of active participation in entertainment programming, recently disclosed documents in the USA reveal a longstanding and extensive connection between the industry and Hollywood.
Placing tobacco products in movies and on television (fig 1Go), encouraging celebrity use and endorsement, advertising in entertainment-oriented magazines, designing advertising campaigns to reflect Hollywood glamour, and sponsoring entertainment-oriented events have all been part of the tobacco industry’s relationship with the entertainment industry. This information is from How the tobacco industry built its relationship with Hollywood, BMJ 2002[24].
Radio, television, and publishing industries have also been involved in reality TV product placement advertisements, which are commonly seen in reality television shows.
For instance, the popular Russian television show Dom-2 (similar to Big Brother) frequently showcases a participant mentioning something like, “Oh, have you seen the new product X by company Y yet?” as the camera focuses on the mentioned product. It has been alleged that these participants receive payment for this promotion. Similarly, in the hit American series The Real World Road Rules Challenge, participants often utter a similar line, typically referring to the mobile device and carrier of a received text message.
Public and educational television in the United States typically operate on a funding model where local stations receive donations from Viewers Like You, without interrupting programming with spot advertising. Although non-commercial educational stations allow the use of underwriting as a form of indirect advertising (“Production [or local acquisition] of this program is made possible by X, makers of Y”), they expressly prohibit price comparisons or calls to action like those used in commercial television, as it is a condition of their license [25]. Therefore, an underwriter of an educational program may choose to gain more visibility by offering promotional consideration, such as a manufacturer of woodworking tools donating the tools used on-air to build individual projects in addition to funding production of a popular home-improvement show.
This approach is applicable for both commercial and non-commercial television. However, it necessitates precise targeting to align a product with a television show that already features the product naturally. For instance, Home Depot would be a suitable vendor for a program like The Learning Channel’s Trading Spaces. On the other hand, power tool manufacturers such as Porter-Cable, Delta Machinery, and Vermont-American would find an ideal fit in non-commercial broadcasts like PBS’s The New Yankee Workshop. Likewise, a manufacturer of duct tape would have a golden opportunity in a home-improvement program like The Red Green Show.
One unique location for a fitness series is Classical Stretch, produced by American Public Television. The show, hosted by Miranda Esmonde-White from Montreal, has been airing for a long time. Initially, the first three seasons were distributed by New York PBS flagship station WPBS-TV. Classical Stretch stands out among numerous fitness programs by setting all its lessons on a tropical beach, allowing for a refreshing change in scenery. The soothing presence of unobtrusive classical music adds to its distinctive appeal.
In theory, the increased production costs of a non-commercial program can be prohibitive; however, in reality, the show’s underwriters, a travel company and a luxury resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico, easily cover the costs of relocating production and constructing necessary facilities. [27] [edit] TV programmes List of TV shows with the most instances of product placement (11/07-11/08; Nielsen Media Research) “The Biggest Loser” 6,248 “American Idol,” 4,636 “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” 3,371 “America’s Toughest Jobs,” 2,807 “One Tree Hill,” 2,575 “Deal or No Deal,” 2,292 “America’s Next Top Model,” 2,241 Last Comic Standing,” 1,993 “Kitchen Nightmares” 1,853 “Hell’s Kitchen,” 1,807 [edit] Comic publishing The South African soccer comic Supa Strikas incorporates product placement within its pages to promote various brands and allow for free distribution to readers worldwide. The comic features product placement on players’ shirts, billboards and signage placements, as well as branding of locations or scenarios. Globally, Chevron provides significant support to Supa Strikas through their Caltex and Texaco brands as sponsors of the comic series.
The Supa Strikas team proudly displays these sponsors on their shirts in Southern Africa, Central America, Egypt, and Malaysia. In markets where Chevron is not present, other well-known brands sponsor the team’s kit. These include VISA in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, GTBank in Nigeria, and Henkel’s Loctite brand in Brazil. Additionally, other brands receive advertising in the comics and animation. Their logos are featured as billboards and background advertising, as well as through the branding of locations and scenarios.
These companies include Metropolitan Life, Spur, The South African National Roads Agency, Nike and many others. This innovative approach to comic publication has seen the brand grow dramatically over the last few years, with Supa Strikas now reaching an estimated 10 million readers a week worldwide. Today, the comic is available across Africa (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mauritius, Reunion, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Egypt); in Latin America (Colombia, El Salvador, Panama, Brazil, Honduras, and Guatemala); in Europe (Norway, Sweden, Finland) and Asia (Malaysia). The Supa Strikas model has shown considerable successes, leading to the creation of a number of other titles which use the same system. These include cricket comic Supa Tigers, which is distributed in India and Pakistan, and Strike Zone, a baseball comic based in Panama.
Music and recording industries While radio and television stations are at least in theory strictly regulated by national governments, producers of printed or recorded works are not. This has led marketers in some cases to attempt to get advertisers’ brands mentioned in lyrics of popular songs.
A recent rise in the use of product placement in music videos and lyrics can be attributed to The Kluger Agency. This is because popular songs have a repetitive nature that can have a significant impact on pop culture, making “Brand Partnerships” or Product Placement an effective way to create trends quickly. In January 2009, an album called “Migracorridos” containing five songs, including the accordion ballad “El Mas Grande Enemigo,” gained airplay on twenty-five Mexican radio stations. The song tells the story of an aspiring immigrant left to die in the Arizona desert by coyotes (people smugglers). However, the radio stations were not informed that the US Border Patrol had commissioned the album, which was created by Elevacion, a Hispanic advertising agency based in Washington and New York.[30] Regarding the legal aspect, much of the existing broadcast law concerning the obligation of licensed broadcasters to disclose any money or valuables received in exchange for on-air promotion of a product stems from the payola scandals that occurred on broadcast radio in the 1950s.
An investigation was launched in November 1959 to look into allegations that some radio disc jockeys had accepted bribes in exchange for playing songs on the radio[31]. As a result of this investigation, disc jockey Alan Freed from WABC and WINS was indicted on May 9, 1960. He was fined for accepting $2,500 to play specific songs, which was a violation of commercial bribery laws. Additionally, he ultimately lost his job in commercial radio. On September 13, 1960, the US government took action to prohibit payola in broadcasting.
According to current US law, specifically Section 317 of the Communications Act and Federal Communications Commission regulations as CFR 47, Section 73. 212, radio stations must disclose if any content broadcasted has been paid for or provided by someone. These regulations have been considered in past payola investigations, such as the 2005 investigation by then-New York State attorney general Eliot Spitzer into Sony BMG and other major record companies. However, it is likely that a regulation requiring clear identification of advertisements and advertisers has broader implications, including the use of product placement by advertisers in broadcast programming.
Often, a broadcaster will assert to have followed the regulation by including some type of acknowledgment of promotional consideration in a discreet location within a broadcast – such as embedded within a portion of a program’s closing credits. However, the question of whether sufficient disclosure is being provided remains unanswered;[34] this matter was brought up in 2005 by FCC commissioner Jonathan Adelstein who argued that “some believe that if broadcasters and cable companies choose to further commercialize new and other shows, that is their prerogative.”
However, if they engage in payola without disclosing it to the public, it becomes the concern of the FCC. In 2008, the FCC proposed more disclosure of product placement. According to Adelstein, the small and unreadable crawl at the end of a show does not follow the spirit of the law. In the United Kingdom, product placement is currently prohibited. The EU directive would have allowed it, but Andy Burnham, the culture secretary, rejected it. There were plans to outlaw it completely, as in the past, it was only regulated by OFCOM. However, in September 2009, OFCOM announced that the ban would be lifted to generate funds for commercial broadcasters. Nevertheless, the ban would still apply to children’s TV and the BBC. This decision has been welcomed by British media companies like Independent Vision who aim to improve the current business model for Advertiser Funded Programming. A notable example of extensive product placements can be seen in the film I, Robot, where brands such as Converse trainers, Ovaltine, Audi, FedEx, Dos Equis, and JVC are prominently featured within the first ten minutes.In a notorious scene that blends into an advertisement, a character admires the shoes of Will Smith’s character, to which he responds, “Converse All-Stars, vintage 2004” (coinciding with the year of the movie’s release) [40].
Audi invested heavily in the film by creating a specialized car, the Audi RSQ, specifically for the movie. The main goal was to enhance brand awareness and increase the emotional appeal of the Audi brand. This objective was confirmed by surveys conducted in the United States, which showed that the Audi RSQ significantly improved the brand’s image ratings. Throughout the film, the Audi RSQ appears for a total of nine minutes, while other Audi models such as the Audi A6, Audi TT, and Audi A2 can also be spotted. Overall, I, Robot received criticism in British surveys for being considered “the worst film for product placement.”
