Product placement

Overview

Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of this is done by loaning products, especially when expensive items, such as vehicles, are involved. In 2021, the agreements between brand owners and films and television programs were worth more than US$20 billion. Incorporated into works to maintain a feeling of realism or be a subject of commentary, product placement is the deliberate incorporation of references to a brand or product in exchange for compensation. Product placements may range from unobtrusive appearances within an environment, to prominent integration and acknowledgement of the product within the work. When deliberate product placement is not announced to the viewer, it is considered a form of covert advertising. Common categories of products used for placements include automobiles and consumer electronics. Works produced by vertically integrated companies (such as Sony) may use placements to promote their other divisions as a form of corporate synergy. During the 21st century, the use of product placement on television has grown, particularly to combat the wider use of digital video recorders that can skip traditional commercial breaks, as well as to engage with younger demographics. Digital editing technology is also being used to tailor product placement to specific demographics or markets, and in some cases, add placements to works that did not originally have embedded advertising, or update existing placements.

Origins

Product placement began in the 19th century. By the time Jules Verne published the adventure novel Around the World in Eighty Days (1873), his fame had led transport and shipping companies to lobby to be mentioned in the story. Whether Verne was actually paid to do so remains unknown. Similarly, a painting by Édouard Manet (1881–1882) shows a bar at the Folies Bergère with distinctive bottles placed at either end of the counter. The beer bottle is immediately recognisable as Bass beer. Manet's motivations for including branded products in his painting are unknown; it may be that it simply added to the work's authenticity, but on the other hand the artist may have received some payment in return for its inclusion. Research reported by Jean-Marc Lehu (2007) suggests that films produced by Auguste and Louis Lumière in 1896 were made at the request of a representative of Lever Brothers in France. The films feature Sunlight soap, which may be the first recorded instance of paid product placement in film. This led to cinema becoming one of the earliest channels used for product placement.

With the arrival of photo-rich periodicals in the late 19th century, publishers found ways of lifting their paper's reputation by placing an issue of the magazine in photographs of prominent people. For example, the German magazine Die Woche in 1902 printed an article about a countess in her castle where she, in one of the photographs, holds a copy of the magazine in her hands. Product placement was a common feature of many of the earliest actualities and cinematic attractions from the first ten years of cinema history. During the next four decades, the motion picture trade journal Harrison's Reports frequently cited cases of on-screen brand-name placement. Harrison condemned the practice as harmful to movie theatres, and his editorials reflected his hostility towards product placement in films. Harrison's Reports published its first denunciation of that practice over Red Crown gasoline's appearance in The Garage (1920). Another editorial criticised the collaboration between the Corona Typewriter company and First National Pictures when a Corona typewriter appeared in several films in the mid-1920s including The Lost World (1925). Recognisable brand names appeared in movies from cinema's earliest history. Before films had narrative form in the current sense, industrial concerns financed the making of what film scholar Tom Gunning described as "cinematic attractions", short films of one or two minutes. In the first decade or so of film (1895–1907) audiences attended films as "fairground attractions" interesting for their then-amazing visual effects. This format was better suited to product placement than narrative cinema. Leon Gurevitch argued that early cinematic attractions have more in common with television advertisements in the 1950s than they do with traditional films. Gurevitch suggested that as a result, the relationship between cinema and advertising is intertwined, suggesting that cinema was in part the result of advertising and the economic benefits that it provided early filmmakers. Segrave detailed the industries that were advertised in these early films.

Early film

A feature film that has expectations of reaching millions of viewers attracts marketers. In many cases the film producers request no payment for product exposure when consumer brands appear in movies. Film productions need props for scenes, so each movie's property master, who is responsible for gathering props for the film, contacts advertising agencies or product companies directly. In addition to items for on-screen use, the product or service supplier might provide a production with complimentary products or services. Tapping product placement channels can be particularly valuable for movies when a vintage product is required—such as a sign or bottle—that is not readily available. Although there is no definitive proof that product placement for Red Crown gasoline in The Garage, Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) contained a prominent title card in the opening credits reading "The gowns of the female stars were designed by Vally Reinecke and made in the fashion studios of Flatow-Schädler und Mossner." Among silent films to feature product placement was Wings (1927), the first to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It contained a plug for Hershey's chocolate. Fritz Lang's film Woman in the Moon (1929) shows someone drinking prominently from a glass for Odol, a popular German brand of mouthwash, and his film M (1931) shows a banner display for Wrigley's PK Chewing Gum, for approximately 20–30 seconds. The Edison Company collaborated with The Ladies' World, a mail-order journal, to create serials using formulaic storytelling which included products sold in the journal. This tactic began a trend of serials with products marketed towards women through the silent film era. Another early example occurs in Horse Feathers (1932), where Thelma Todd's character falls out of a canoe and into a river. She calls for a "life saver" and Groucho Marx tosses her a Life Savers candy. It's a Wonderful Life (1946) depicts a young boy with aspirations to be an explorer, displaying a prominent copy of National Geographic magazine. In Love Happy (1949), Harpo cavorts on a rooftop among various billboards and at one point escapes from the villains on the old Mobil logo, the "Flying Red Horse". Harrison's Reports severely criticised this scene in its film review and in a front-page editorial. In Gun Crazy (1949), the climactic crime is the payroll robbery of the Armour meat-packing plant, where a Bulova clock is prominently displayed. In the 1958 British WWII movie Ice Cold in Alex, the long sought after ice cold beer in question turns out to be (clearly) a Carlsberg.

Later films

The James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967) featured the Toyota 2000GT, and the films Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and The Cannonball Run (1981) film series featured conspicuous placements. The science fiction film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) is often cited for its multiple, obvious placements, including the candy Reese's Pieces, into the plot. In the New World Pictures dub of The Return of Godzilla, Godzilla 1985, Dr Pepper was prominently placed in the new scenes shot for the dub. In a scene shot at an American military base, a vending machine is directly between two characters, and in similar scenes characters are often depicted drinking the soft drink. Cheerios and Coca-Cola were placed in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita, in Superman: The Movie, and in its sequel Superman II. Clark Kent eats Cheerios for breakfast in Smallville. In Superman II's climax, Superman crashes into a giant Coca-Cola advertisement and saves people on a bus bearing an ad for Evita, before he smashes into a Marlboro delivery truck. In the 1993 film Demolition Man, the fast food chain Taco Bell is integrated directly into the film's lore, depicting it as the only remaining restaurant franchise in existence by 2032. Since Taco Bell was not well known outside of the U.S., for the international release of the film it was replaced with Pizza Hut, another restaurant chain owned by Yum! Brands. Lines were re-dubbed and logos changed during post-production. In the film Cast Away, Tom Hanks, the lead character, is a FedEx employee. A volleyball from Wilson Sporting Goods is also prominently featured in the film. References to the delivery company FedEx are made throughout the film, and the company is central to the plot. The Internship (2013), which features two unemployed slacker friends seeking employment at Google, was described by Tom Brook of the BBC as "one huge advertisement for Google" that took "product placement to a startling new extreme". Rolling Stone magazine included it on a list of the 10 Egregious Product Placements in film.

Early radio and television

Over-the-air (OTA) radio and television in the United States are not funded through end user license or subscription. In US radio since the 1930s and television since the 1950s, programs have been normally underwritten by sponsors. Soap operas were named for the consumer packaged goods products advertised by Procter & Gamble and Unilever. When television began to grow popular, DuMont's 1950s Cavalcade of Stars show did not rely on a sole sponsor. Sponsorship continues with programs sponsored by major vendors such as Hallmark Cards. The expansion of television ownership in the 1950s saw an increase in the viability of product placement in the eyes of marketing executives. Various marketing studies analyzed consumer habits related to the time of programming leading to competition between brands in securing their products in network shows at optimal times. This same practice was used in targeting specific demographics with the products being used such as Studebaker cars being used in shows during prime adult viewing hours. The conspicuous display of Studebaker motor vehicles in the television series Mister Ed (1961–1966), which was sponsored by the Studebaker Corporation from 1961 to 1963, as well as the display of Ford vehicles on the series Hazel (1961–1966), which was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company from 1961 to 1965, are prominent examples of television product placement. The UK commercial television network ITV broadcast admags—entertainment programs with product placement—such as Jim's Inn until Parliament banned them in 1963.

Later television

The expansion of the reality television genre in the 1990s provided an avenue for products to be demonstrated in a more natural manner. Product integration into programs such as MTV's The Real World became easier as they did not need to be written into the plot; rather, they are just present in the lives of the people on the show. As June Deery describes in her 2012 book Consuming Reality: The Commercialization of Factual Entertainment, the home makeover genre could provide a similar experience for the viewer as an Infomercial as real products and companies produced a desirable outcome. A prominent example of product placement in these shows is in the series Fixer Upper in which Joanna Gaines and Chip Gaines used their real company Magnolia Market in the show.

Types

Placements fall into two main categories: paid and unpaid. Most product placements are unpaid. In unpaid product placements, the advertiser will usually loan or give the product to the production. The productions costs are reduced, as they would otherwise have to buy or rent the items. Subcategories are basic, when a logo is merely visible, and advanced, whereby the product or brand is spoken by characters in the show or movie. Barter and service deals (the branded product is provided for crew use, for instance) are common. Content providers may trade product placements for help funding advertisements tied-in with a film's release, a show's new season or other event. Still another variant, known as an advertisement placement, displays an advertisement for the product (rather than the product itself) which appears in the production, such as an advertisement on a billboard or a bus that appears in the show.

Brand integration

Brand integration, a variant of product placement, is when "the product or company name becomes part of the show in such a way that it contributes to the narrative and creates an environment of brand awareness beyond that produced by advanced placement." While this type of advertising is common on unscripted shows such as The Apprentice, it can also be used in scripted television. An early example was by Abercrombie & Fitch, when one of its stores provided the notional venue for part of the romantic comedy film Man's Favorite Sport? (1964). On All My Children one character took a job at Revlon. The character's job became part of the character's development. Jurassic Park not only prominently features Ford cars and other commercial products, but also includes a scene displaying its own promotional merchandise. One shot shows the "Jurassic Park Souvenir Store", with products that it offered for sale to fans.

Product displacement

A real brand logo may be hidden or replaced with fictional brand names in a production, either to imitate, satirize or differentiate the product from a real corporate brand. Such a device may be required where real corporations are unwilling to license their brand names for use in the fictional work, particularly where the work holds the product in a negative light. According to Danny Boyle, director of the film Slumdog Millionaire (2008), the makers used "product displacement" to accommodate sponsors such as Mercedes-Benz that refused to allow their products to be used in non-flattering settings. While Mercedes did not mind having a gangster driving their cars, they objected to their products being shown in a slum. The makers removed logos digitally in post-production, costing "tens of thousands of pounds". When such issues are brought up in advance of filming, production companies often resort to "greeking", the practice of simply covering logos with tape, but one of them driven by Latika is shown to have the logos on the car keys. Similarly, in The Blues Brothers (1980), portions of the defunct Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois, were reconstructed in façade and used as the scene of an indoor car chase. Signage belonging to mall tenants was replaced with that of other vendors; for instance, a Walgreens would become a Toys "R" Us. Cars (2006) parodies NASCAR, an advertising-heavy sport which controversially had long allowed alcohol and tobacco sponsorships. NASCAR's sponsors were replaced with fictional or parody brands; Dinoco Oil takes pride of place, followed by a string of invented automotive aftermarket products marketed in a similar means to pharmaceutical products. "Dale Earnhardt Inc." displaced "Junior #8"'s sponsor Budweiser to avoid advertising beer in a Disney & Pixar feature. The racing series portrayed in the film is also known as the "Piston Cup", as a pun on the NASCAR Cup Series' past sponsor of Winston cigarettes (during which time it was known as the "Winston Cup Series"; it has since been succeeded by phone carrier Sprint and energy drink Monster Energy).

Audio vs visual

Placements can be sound-only, visual-only or a combination of both. The Russian television show дом-2 (phonetically Dom-2) (similar to Big Brother) often features participants stating something along the lines of, "Oh, did you check out the new product X by company Y yet?" after which the camera zooms in on the named product, explicitly combining an audio mention with a visual image. In The Real World/Road Rules Challenge participants often make a similar comment, usually pertaining to the mobile device and carrier for a text message. An experiment from 2002 tested the relationship between auditory vs visual product placement and if the product had higher or lower connection to the plot to how well it was remembered by viewers. The results of the experiment concluded that regardless of if the product had higher or lower connection to the plot, in either circumstance an auditory product placement was more likely to be remembered by viewers than a visual product placement.

Branded content

Branded content refers to works that are funded or produced by an advertiser as a vehicle for their brand. Some forms of branded content do include self-placed product placement (such as a series of made-for-TV movies produced by Walmart and Procter & Gamble, which featured placements for P&G products and Walmart store brands), but some (such as, most prominently, the media operations of energy drink brand Red Bull) are focused more upon producing content that appeal to their product's demographics and image, rather than being a promotion for their products first and foremost.

Cross-promotion

Larger, vertically integrated conglomerates may include placements of their own products and services in works as a form of corporate synergy. Owing to its common ownership, Sony Pictures films have featured placements of Sony's consumer electronics products, particularly Xperia smartphones. The James Bond films Skyfall and Spectre depict Bond using Sony Xperia T and Z5 smartphones respectively, and the Xperia T was bundled with James Bond-themed content (including ringtones, wallpapers, and behind the scenes photos from the filming of Skyfall) as a tie-in in some markets. Similarly, some 20th Century Fox films depicted the then co-owned Fox News Channel as a source of in-universe news programming.