Product placement

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.

While references to brands (real or fictional) may be voluntarily 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. 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.

History

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.William Butcher (translation and introduction). ''Around the World in Eighty Days'', Oxford Worlds Classics, 1995, Introduction. Similarly, a painting by Edouard 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, 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 film makers.Gurevitch, L. (2009). "Problematic Dichotomies: Narrative and Spectacle in Film and Advertising Scholarship", ''Journal of Popular Narrative Media'', Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, Vol. 2 (2), 143-158. Segrave detailed the industries that advertised in these early films.

Movies and television

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 populer German brand of mouthwash, and his film '' M'' (1931) shows a banner display for Wrigley's PK Chewing Gum, for approximately 20–30 seconds.

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.

=Later films

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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 1984'', Dr Pepper was prominently placed into 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
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