Product Placement Advertisements

Product placement appears in plays, film, television series, music videos, video games and books. It became more common starting in the 1980s, but can be traced back to at least 1949. A Product placement advertisements are promotional ads placed by marketers using real commercial products and services in media, where the presence of a particular brand is the result of an economic exchange.

When featuring a product is not part of an economic exchange, it is called a product plug.

Product placement occurs with the inclusion of a brand's logo in shot, or a favorable mention or appearance of a product in shot. This is done without disclosure, and under the premise that it is a natural part of the work. Most major movie releases today contain product placements. The most common form is movie and television placements and more recently computer and video games. Recently, websites have experimented with in-site product placement as a revenue model. Product placement One of the best-known instances of product placement appeared in 1982 movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which increased sales of Reese's Pieces 80 percent. Product placement A very early example of product placement in film occurs in the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life by Frank Capra where a young boy with aspirations to be an explorer displays a prominent copy of National Geographic. Another is in the 1949 film Love Happy, in which Harpo Marx cavorts on a rooftop among various billboards and at one point escapes from the villains on the old Mobil logo, the "Flying Red Horse". Product placement Another very early example potentially occurs in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days in which transport and shipping companies lobbied to be mentioned as it was initially published in serial form. Product placement Still another example is the conspicuous display of Studebaker motor vehicles in the television show Mr. Ed, which was sponsored by the Studebaker Corporation from 1961 to 1963. Product placement The earliest example of product placement in a computer or video game occurs in the 1984 game Action Biker for KP's Skips crisps. The earliest example of product placement in a cartoon occurs in the Comedy Central show: Shorties Watchin' Shorties. Product placement As of 2007, product placement in online-video is becoming more and more common. Online agencies are specializing in connecting online-video producers, which are usually individuals, with brands and advertisers. The year 2008 should show an increase in this practice.

Sometimes, product usage is negotiated rather than paid for. Some placements provide productions with below-the-line savings, with products such as props, clothes and cars being loaned for the production's use, thereby saving them purchase or rental fees. Barter systems (the director/actor/producer wants one for himself) and service deals (cellular phones provided for crew use, for instance) are also common practices. Producers may also seek out companies for product placements as another savings or revenue stream for the movie, with, for example, products used in exchange for help funding advertisements tied-in with a film's release, a show's new season or other event. Product placement The most common products to be promoted in this way are automobiles. Frequently, all the important vehicles in a movie or television serial will be supplied by one manufacturer. For example, The X-Files used Fords, as do leading characters on 24. The James Bond films pioneered such placement. The 1974 film The Man with the Golden Gun featured extensive use of AMC cars, even in scenes in Thailand, where AMC cars were not sold, and had the steering wheel on the wrong side of the vehicle for the country's roads. Other times, vehicles or other products take on such key roles in the film it is as if they are another character. Product placement Examples of this practice include Bad Boys 2, in which almost every car was made by General Motors (besides the Ferrari driven during the chase scene). In Desperate Housewives three of the characters drive Nissans, and the camera view often focuses on the Nissan symbol on someone's car. Also the character Gabrielle Solis can also be seen driving an Aston Martin DB9 Volante prominently. In The Matrix Reloaded, a key chase scene is conducted between a brand new Cadillac CTS and a Cadillac Escalade EXT. The chase scene also features a Ducati motorcycle in the getaway.

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