When Product Placement Is NOT Product Placement

Abstract

The development of product placement in films and television shows can be readily observed by anyone who has devoted a significant part of their lives going to the movies. The first product placements were generic and fictitious and were hardly noticed by the movie-going public. But, as the placement of real products became more prevalent, it became apparent to the serious film buff that the presence of a fictitious or clearly disguised product became more of a distraction than the use of actual products. The attempt to make serious realistic films is sometimes sidetracked by a clearly fake product that strikes at the suspension of disbelief of movie goers, particularly when they have some familiarity with the product NOT being placed.     

Product Placement of Medical Products

Abstract

Product placement is a well-established marketing technique that nevertheless continues to provoke considerable criticism and debate. Likewise, direct-to-patient marketing of pharmaceuticals is legally acceptable but is controversial among ethicists and medical professionals. Little has been published regarding the ethical challenges and pitfalls involved in medical marketing, including the issues of whether medical products should be treated differently from consumer products and whether pharmaceuticals are distinct from medical devices. Discussed are examples of pharmaceutical marketing as well as an episode from the Chicago Hope television program in which a medical device was touted as a solution for a problem for which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved the use of the device. Legal and ethical considerations for product placement of medical products as they influence patient demand are also analyzed, as well as some of the pitfalls that may accompany direct marketing of medical products.     

On the Ethics of Product Placement in Media Entertainment

Abstract

This study examines the ethical propriety of current trends in product placement in television and film entertainment. Historical background for the product placement concept and practice is provided. Changes in the marketing climate that have provided a push for product placement are outlined. A characterization of the product placement industry as it stands today, and the ethical issues raised by the practice frame the analysis. Three distinct “genres” of contemporary product placement are analyzed: (1) Product Placement, (2) Product Integration, and (3) Video Insertion. First, the rise of Product Placement, strategic changes in use, and increased dependence on revenues in production will be discussed. The second section examines a newly mounted form of Product Integration, whereby product placement plays a key role in content development and support of production in television and film. Third, the origins of Video Insertion will be traced to the Princeton Video Image invention of its proprietary L-VIS product. The ethical efficacy ofplacing “virtual advertisements” in space and times that do not naturally exist will be examined. The article closes with summary assessments and consideration of recommendations for action. Ethical issues focused on in the assessment include deception, artists' rights, and excess commercialism. Recommendations consider the climate for full and advance disclosure of product placements in media entertainment, the prospects for a voluntary rating system, and the threat of reclassifying product placement infused media entertainment as commercial speech.     

传播学视野下的影视植入广告

在影视作品中植入广告的营销方式并不新鲜,当前的问题是很多广告的植入严重存在着盲目性。在传播学视野下,成功的广告植入必须保证编码的有效性,即针对特定的受众、特定的情节,特定的时机选择匹配的产品;注重产品品牌的符号信息与影视作品内容的相互构建,从中充分发挥符号互动的张力,使其影响的范围更广、时效性更长,从而达到潜移默化的宣传效果,实现最佳的营销目的。     

Virtual Product Placement as a New Approach to Measure Effectiveness of Placements

Product placement is a fast growing multi-billion dollar industry, yet measures of its effectiveness, which influence the critical area of pricing, have been problematic. Past attempts to measure the effect of a placement and, therefore, provide a basis for pricing of placements, have been confounded by the effect on consumers of multiple prior exposures of a brand name in all marketing communications. Virtual product placement offers certain advantages: as a tool to measure the effectiveness of product placements; as assistance with the problem in the lack of audience selectivity in traditional product placement; as a testing of different audiences for brands; and in addressing a gap in the existing academic literature by focusing on the impact of product placement on recall and recognition of new brands.     

When Fiction becomes Fact: Effect of Reverse Product Placement on Consumer Attitudes

ABSTRACT

This exploratory study investigates the persuasive effects of reverse product placement (RPP)—subsequent commercialization of fictional brands from entertainment media into real world products—comparing it with product placement (PP). Persuasion Knowledge Model and Attribution theory were applied to frame hypotheses of effects on brand attitudes along with the constraining effect of skepticism. A mixed test design revealed presence of persuasion knowledge, recognition of persuasive intent, and negative effect of skepticism for PP, but not for RPP. RPP also had a stronger, positive effect on consumer attitudes. Potential application of RPP in new product development and adoption is discussed.     

Acceptability and Ethics of Product Placement in Sport Video Games

Product placement in sport video games is an emerging area of marketing and advertising communication, but it also raises controversial ethical issues. In order to investigate these issues from a consumer perspective, this study examines the perceptions of the acceptability of product placement in sport video games (SVGs). Data were gathered from 253 sport video gamers using an online survey. The results indicate that while sport video gamers generally have favorable attitudes toward product placement in sport video games, ethically-charged products such as alcohol, cigarettes, and guns are perceived as less acceptable than other products. Individual differences among sport video gamers are found based on their related attitudes, hours of playing sport video games, and gender. Also, sport video gamers who have favorable attitudes toward product placement, in general, are more likely to intend to purchase a product or brand which may be placed in sport video games.     

Product Placement: The UK and the New Rules

This article considers product placement as an advertising vehicle. The topic has been the subject of debate, consultation and policy making in the United Kingdom for several years, both as a matter of principle and as a requirement of EU Directive implementation. Product placement had been banned since 1954. It is now legal but limited. The article begins with a brief, historical and transatlantic view of this promotional activity. Despite resolute government statements about preserving the ban, the same administration later reversed its view. It is suggested that the change is not to obtain commercial advantage, but to avoid commercial disadvantage. It is submitted that despite the uproar these changes caused, they will only marginally affect audiences and revenues and that they amount to a reversal rather than a revolution.     

Insinuating the Product into the Message

Abstract

The cozy arrangement of marketers embedding their products in mediated messages has its antecedents in radio and television, when sponsors often controlled the entirety of programs, from writing to casting to pitches for the products within the program. This essay sketches the rise and fall of this system as it paved the way for contemporary product placement.     

An Exploratory Content Analysis of Product Placement in Top Grossing Films

ABSTRACT

The current study examines the prevalence and characteristics of brand appearances in the top grossing films broadcast in the United Kingdom (U.K.) and Hong Kong (H.K.). An average of 13 brand appearances per film was recorded and similarities and differences in brand execution features were revealed in the two cultural markets. Most of the films registered on the U.K. and H.K. top grossing lists are US production, which demonstrates that product placements are increasingly exported to other cultures. It suggests the importance of examining product placement effectiveness across cultures and provides valuable insights for brand practitioners.     

A Critical Realist and Multimethodology Framework for Product Placement Research

This article contributes to the existing literature by examining the appropriate philosophical and methodological foundations for research in marketing communication that has yet to be discussed. In particular, this article argues that the ontological, epistemological, and methodological underpinnings of a critical realist paradigm could be a meaningful alternative to the predominant positivism in product placement research. Under a critical realist framework, several unexplored areas in product placement research are identified and a multimethodology approach is proposed to expand the scope of knowledge in the field. The discussion ends with some ethical concerns and the major contributions to the discipline with regards to Habermas's three worlds: the material, social, and personal worlds.     

Audience Engagement and its Effects on Product Placement Recognition

This article explores the feasibility of examining, via self-reported measures, the relationship between audiences’ perceptions of the quality of their cognitive and emotional engagement with an entertainment piece and the memory trace created by a product placement. This field-based quasi-experiment uses a within-subject design and targets teenagers. Although limited by the viability of available, wholly suitable measurement scales, this exploratory study finds that audience engagement (which consists of pleasure, arousal, and cognitive effort) and star liking can be measured by self-reports after consumers watch a movie and that star liking, cognitive effort, and pleasure affect recognition for product placements.     

Examining the Covert Nature of Product Placement: Implications for Public Policy

As consumers become better educated and more skeptical of traditional advertising, alternate forms of marketing communication have emerged that aim to influence audiences unobtrusively. One such example is product placement. Product placement has attracted ongoing debate as to whether it is covert, unethical, and influences consumption. The current article examines the nature and practice of product placement in this light. This taxonomy of product placement attributes is based on current marketing practice and examines whether this is, indeed, a covert marketing strategy. Further, it presents a conceptualization of the influence of product placement on consumer welfare. We highlight that the many forms of product placement necessitate independent evaluation to determine ethical and regulatory standards. Operational solutions for developing public policy are offered.     

Cast Awayand the Contradictions of Product Placement

Abstract

This essay looks at implications of product placement in Cast Away, the 2000 film in which Tom Hanks plays a Federal Express executive who is stranded on a desert island before making his way back home. It argues that Cast Awayis a particularly valuable case study because of the conflict between its relentless product placement and its dark vision of contemporary global capitalism. The article investigates four aspects of global capitalism addressed by Cast Away: the compression of time, the compression of space, the rising influence of multinational corporations, and the dominance of consumer culture.     

Promoting Brands through Product Placement in Successful and Unsuccessful Films in Emerging Markets

ABSTRACT

This article examines the nature and role of the product placement in film as an alternative strategy for better brand recall. For this study, four films, two successful and another two un-successful based on box office reports, are selected. Clippings of the films are shown to 119 respondents. The article concludes by arguing product placement in film can be an alternative to advertisements for better brand recall, purchase intentions and changes in perceptions toward the brands as well as improving attitudes toward the brand. It also gives direction on developing the consumer as a brand spokesperson for global brands.     

Measuring the Impact of Product Placement on Children Using Digital Brand Integration

Recent marketing literature has called for more research that focuses on the influence of new media on children and, specifically, the use of product placement. The objective of this study was to analyze the impact of food and beverage product placements on children of different ages. Using an experimental approach, groups of children viewed the same television program, but with either healthy products or unhealthy brands digitally inserted. A detailed survey then measured aided and unaided recall and immediate choice behavior. In total, 225 children from two schools took part in the experiment. The results indicated strong recall for the products placed, especially for the unhealthy products, and particularly among older children. However, the placements had only a modest influence on immediate behavior, with regression analysis suggesting that the packaging was more significant in influencing choice. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Brand Placement Recognition

Abstract

This study examines the impact of adding an audible reference to a visually prominent brand placement on recognition of the brand placed. Facilitated recognition scores were used to control for the effects of brand familiarity on brand placement recognition. Subjects exposed to one of two complete movies were asked to indicate recognition of brands that were or were not placed in their movie. Results indicate that brand placement recognition levels achieved by audio-visual prominent placements exceed the recognition rates achieved by visual-only prominent placements. Additionally, familiar brands achieve higher levels of recognition than unfamiliar brands, even when the recognition scores for familiar brands are adjusted for the guessing and constructive recognition that may result from inferences associated with familiar brands.     

植入式广告对游客记忆和行为意向的影响及其启动效应

传统植入式广告多以实体产品为对象,体验性产品的植入对受众记忆和行为意向的影响缺乏足够的关注。文章以旅游景点为例的实验研究表明,（1）受众对植入景点的记忆与其对精彩程度、喜爱程度评价存在“U”型关系;（2）受众对植入景点的旅游偏好和推荐意愿在影片播出后即时效应很高,一周后呈现显著下降趋势;（3）路线设计及报价的平面广告较好地启动了受众的比较和计算,从选择自己最大程度可实现的旅游决策方案;图片和口碑传播启动了受众对景区精彩和喜爱元素的记忆,从而表达出更高的旅游偏好和推荐意愿。（4）旅游偏好和推荐意愿具有类似的启动效应,受众自己向往的旅游景点也乐意推荐给他人。     

Product Placement Versus Conventional Advertising: The Impact on Brand Choice of Integrating Promotional Stimuli into Movies

ABSTRACT

Despite the increasingly favorable environment enjoyed by product placement, the question of whether this technique produces stronger behavioral effects than conventional advertising remains largely unexplored. Based on the transportation-imagery model, we hypothesized that, among users of well-established products, promotional stimuli produce stronger effects on brand choice when integrated into movies than when presented as independent ads, while among nonusers, no differences are expected. Our hypotheses were confirmed in a field experiment that compared the effects of a Coca-Cola placement within the movie Ways to Live Forever with the same Coca-Cola stimulus shown as a usual commercial.     

交叉与嬗变：韩国广电行业发展趋向解析

本文从韩国广电产业的总体构架、韩国手机电视的开发和应用、韩国广电立法等几大板块介绍了韩国广电行业的发展趋向。为我们了解国外同行的最新研究打开了一扇窗。