Product Placement

Product placement (also known as embedded marketing) is a form of native advertising. It is used in film, television, radio, video games and even books and plays. It is an attempt to integrate advertising by placing them within the context of the media, such as the main character in a film drinking a glass of a branded drink with the label on show. It is becoming a vastly popular form of advertising of late, for several reasons. There are different types of product placement and it is used in a variety of ways.

A big reason why companies are opting for product placement is because of the rise in skippable adverts. Many people use catch up services (which have less adverts) to watch television, or they record shows on their television service and can fast forward through the adverts. Consumers of media are also more likely to neglect watching ads during commercial breaks by leaving the room, or checking their phone, or muting their television. This means that it is better for companies to opt for product placements, as their ad will be embedded in the show itself.

The first documented example of product placement is in 1873 when Jules Verne wrote ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ and companies requested that he mention their products in his book. Now, product placement can be seen in a large variety of productions.

There are two forms that product placements can take – paid-for or props. In some cases, companies will pay to have their products appear in films, TV shows, films and so on. But sometimes, products appearing in shows and films are not paid for. In many cases, the products appear because the props department for the film or TV show needs to fill the background of scenes. Perhaps their character needs to be eating something, or they need to be surrounded by cans, or the actor needs clothes to wear. In these cases, the product placement is not paid for and is simply there to make the scene work. However, many product placements - especially more prominent placements - are paid for.

There are two types of ways that products are placed – basic and advanced. In basic placements, the product is just in the background, or featured in a minimal way. In advanced, the product is referenced to specifically or prominently featured. In advanced, the characters or people in the production draw attention to it in some way, or discuss the product. This could be characters discussing the new iPad they’ve bought on a drama show, or a game show prize of a new Toyota, or a character having a favourite brand of beer.

Product placement can also come in the form of location. For example, many people travel to Las Vegas because of CSI, or to the ‘Making of Harry Potter at Warner Brothers Studios’ after seeing the Harry Potter films.

There are also examples of entire shows and films that are product placement, such as the TV show ‘Mr Selfridge’ and the film ‘The Lego Movie’.

There are many examples of media making fun of product placement, as some examples can be ridiculous and obvious. It is notably ridiculed in ‘Wayne’s World’ where the main characters discuss how bad product placement is while enjoying a range of brands, and in ‘The Truman Show’ where products are placed in the TV show of Truman’s life, and he becomes suspicious.

There are also examples of so called ‘reverse placement’ where a fictional product is made into a real, tie-in product. This occurred when a sweet company called Wonka sold sweets as a tie-in to ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’. There are many examples of this with Harry Potter, such as chocolate frogs, wands, wizard robes and so on.

As of 2011, paid-for product placements are allowed on UK television. This is strictly regulated, however. It is not permitted to have placements of products you cannot legally advertise in the UK such as cigarettes. Also, product placement is not allowed during certain shows like children’s television, current affairs programmes and religious shows. The product placement must be disclosed with a ‘PP’ logo at the start, at the end and at the end of advertising breaks. The BBC is not allowed to place products for money as this is a form of advertising.

Recently

New advances in technology mean that you can now digitally alter videos in post-production to edit in product placements. This can be done by adding billboards in the background, or by inserting the product itself, or by changing an existing logo. This is often done so that the product can be tailored to different audiences such as different countries. This advance means that product placements can be highly tailored, and that product placements can be added in where there were none before.

There have also been tightened rules for video blogging product placement. The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has insisted that it needs to be made clear when content is sponsored and when products are paid-for product placements.

In our world of skippable ads, perhaps the way forward is with product placements.