Product placement and advertising

Product Placement in Entertainment

Product placement is a new burgeoning advertising trend in TV programs, video games, and movies. The primary reason is that it allows advancement of commercials without the use of traditional adverts. Product placement requires no advert since itself is an advert.

There are several episodes of product placements in movies. The film, "Wayne's World" is the most typical example of this (Myers, Royne & Deitz, 2014). The two protagonists ironically lament on the issue of product placement stressing that they would never allow the pressure of corporate sponsors to push them to do adverts and throughout out the plot the two eat Pizza Hut just direct from the box and smiling at the camera. Besides, the film "Josie and the Pussycats" takes product placement to a whole new level by ridiculing brand saturation by concentrating their play with brands (Myers, Royne & Deitz, 2014).. Imagine their trailer alone advances more than 24 brands captured in two minutes. The number of these brands is far too much in such a short time.

Positives and Negatives of Product Placement

This new mode of designing commercial advertisements has its positives and some negatives. It does not depend on numerous adverts which most viewers do not even bother to watch. Manufacturers can incorporate their products into the medium itself to positively influence sales of their commodities (Rowe-Cernevicius, 2011).

Additionally, the whole advertising experience is just interactive; the player, reader, or viewer is absorbed in the TV show/movie or video game, and at a particular stage an advert is brought forth in product placement format. On the negative part, in the case of product placement is poorly done and planned, the movie or TV show may feel like a long commercial show. Also, the product being marketed must flawlessly fit into the program; otherwise the intended purpose may not be achieved (Rowe-Cernevicius, 2011).

References

Myers, S. D., Royne, M. B., & Deitz, G. (2014). Programme–ad congruence: Integrating advertising and entertainment. International Journal of Advertising, 33(1), 61-90.

Rowe-Cernevicius, B. (2011). As Seen on TV: Brand Placement and Its Influence on the Identity of Emerging Adults (Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University).