Would you like to Super Size your product placement?

Morgan Spurlock is at it again with a movie on . . . product placement.

To be a bit more specific, the movie will delve into the effects of product placement in shows, films, &c ... and will be funded by product placement.

This is pretty much as meta as product placement gets.



Despite my qualms with Morgan Spurlock, I definitely think that this would be a good movie to see. Just as his other movies, however, this too shall probably fade into the background. It's not his fault though -- McDonald's fries are just so irresistible.

The Maddest of Men

Ah, Man Men. The show that made the 60's cool again. Apart from being AMC's only popular broadcast ever (seriously, no one wants to see Ben Hur AGAIN) and inspiring countless college students to trade in their Natty Ice for the "classier" choice of bourbon on the rocks, Mad Men has provided an interesting new outlet for product placement.

Rather than having the product covertly placed on screen (see: American Idol) or weaved into the storyline as a theme or joke (see: my last post about The Office and Parks and Recreation), the products in Mad Men are simply that; products. Since the show is about an advertising company, the writers, producers, directors, etc are able to go a little bit deeper when promoting the product at hand. By seeing how the fictional characters in the show would go about advertising the products, the promotion has a different angle. In a sense, it's even more secretive than typical product placement because as an audience we think that we are behind the scenes when, in fact, we are being advertised to as we watch.

This strategy is apparently very successful seeing as how Heineken and Cadillac have both signed major deals to be a part of the show's storylines. Much of the entertainment from the show comes from seeing how products were marketed to us "back in the day" but what many people don't realize is that the show is also demonstrating how products are being marketed to us now.



I'm pretty proud of myself for catching on to this little marketing scheme..... now if I only looked that good in a suit.

The Whole Town’s Getting Down… with Product Placement

Here is my second embarrassing confession since the birth of Getting It In:

I love country music.

I know, I’m ashamed too, but I’m from the South so it’s okay. Anyway, I was thinking about Grey Goose and rap, and somehow ended up thinking about country music, the genre associated with rednecks and hicks. Personally, I dig country music because it doesn't bombard me with sex, drugs, and alcohol. I mean, I love Top 40 radio and frat jamz that scream SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS! in my ear, too, but sometimes you need a break, and my break is country. Also, I tend to think of product placement in mainstream music as promoting products that fall into one of the three aforementioned categories. I guess because of this I figured I wouldn’t see as much product placement in country music. WRONG. And here’s one of my favorite examples, which may or may not accurately describe the town where I grew up.

In case you didn’t catch all of the products, they are Bronco Trucks, White Rain Hairspray, Pall Mall Cigarettes, Laura Ingalls/Little House, Amoco, and Kraco Speakers.

After going through my iTunes library and realizing many of my country faves include product placement, I was kind of amazed. Will we ever escape product placement in our music? Maybe. But we certainly won’t by changing the dial on the radio to another station in hopes that maybe the (insert genre here) station won’t throw a product at us.

XOXO, Product Placement

In case you didn’t understand the above reference, my blog post is about our favorite Manhattan socialites. I’m talking about the infamous Gossip Girl book series. Yes, the hit television show is actually based on an equally juicy set of novels. It’s hard to believe the sheer magnitude of product placement in each book; the first few pages alone are a bewildering array of elite brand names and foreign designers. Takashimaya, Barneys, Campari, Henri Bendel, Christian Louboutin, Hermés, Cristal, Manolo Blahnik. Excusez-moi?


The allure of the series is its portrayal of society’s upper echelon. And for Gossip Girl fans, nothing spells elitism quite like expensive brand names. As Serena and Blair waltz around the Upper East Side clad in haute couture and triple digit footwear, author Cecily von Ziegesar carefully details every last frill of their outfits to her eager readers. Ziegesar’s young audience laps up the glamour and sophistication associated with these fabulous outfits and grows to value designers and brand names. Why else would hoards of suburban girls demand Northface fleeces, So Low sweatpants, Tiffany’s jewelry and Ugg boots? (Note: Back in 2005, this blogger was guilty of owning quite a few of the aforementioned items.)

Although product placement in black and white print may seem more obvious than quick glimpses of the Coke logo on television shows, it manages to hide from many consumers under the guise of fiction, and it is in books like Gossip Girl that product placement can have the biggest impact.

Juno What Makes Products Cool?

. . . the sad thing is, that was one of my better puns . . .

Moving on!

When I watched Juno in theaters, I remember viewing the scene where Michael Cera gulps down a box of orange flavored Tic Tacs. I don't know how many people share my thoughts but at that time and place I was thinking, "Man, I should start doing that again."

In addition to Tic Tacs, Sunny Delight has its nice 15 seconds (or scenes) of fame throughout the movie (and trailer!), all of which are targeted at people just like me.

Rather than spending money advertising their products in large budgeted films, Tic Tacs and Sunny Deligt made their appearances in Juno, reminding the other Mervetts of the world that "Hey, we're cool and hip too. See how we're helping to pay for this super independent film?"

I say "cool" and "hip" because the audiences that watch these types of movies are the kind that would avoid the mainstream. For lack of a better term, these indie kids are the selective consumers that companies would love to get a hold of because being "in" with the indie crowd pretty much ensures a cool spot with the mainstream in the not too distant future.

Yay for indie kids and their implicit support of big companies!!!

Free Publicity

While reading the insights of one of my esteemed colleagues I began to think about the ways that products are weaved into modern sitcoms, dramas and other scripted television shows. Despite the fact that many people consider product placement to be an instance where a company pays to have their product displayed, I agree with Veronica that product placement should also include instances when the performer/writer includes the product as part of their own message. This is more common in popular TV shows nowadays (as far as I can tell). Shows that utilize pop culture references often end up referencing products with no intent to promote them.

If you know me at all you know that I'm a pretty big fan of NBC's Thursday night line-up. In my mind The Office, 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation can do no wrong (jury is still out on The Community. I just don't like Chevy Chase). These shows are great examples of how pop culture references are often unintentional commercials because some of their humor is based on poking fun at society. When I sat down to write this post I didn't have a particular instance in mind, but as I have been writing I have thought of multiple times that these 3 shows have utilized brands or products to help tell their story.

Here are a couple of my favorite examples:

The Office: Andy can't remember the Kit-Kat jingle

Parks and Recreation: Crazy twilight guy

Basically products like Kit-Kat or the Twilight book series are getting free promotion just because they are a part of pop culture. This type of product placement is more and more prevalent in scripted TV nowadays and especially in shows like these that draw humor from mocking or referencing culture.

Expect some opinions on product placement (or lack thereof) in reality television in the future. Also expect more Office references. Believe me, I've got millions of them.

No Grey Goose If You Don’t Get Loose!

So I had my genius boyfriend read my Britney Spears post and we got into a discussion/argument about what exactly constitutes product placement. He considers product placement when companies pay for their products to be included in a song, movie, TV show, or even in print media. I beg to differ.

I personally believe that product placement is any product placed in media—whether the company paid for it or not. Why? Because they re-enforce cultural views of the product, get consumers/listeners thinking about the product, and/or indirectly influence our purchasing decisions.

Have you heard T.I.’s “Get Loose," Fergie’s “London Bridge,” or Jamie Foxx’s “Blame It”? All of these songs reference the premium vodka, Grey Goose. Personally, I can easily sing, “No Grey Goose if you don’t get loose,” “That Grey Goose got your girl feeling loose,” and “Blame it on the Goose, got you feeling loose” from memory. Genius boyfriend argues that this reference cannot be counted as product placement because the point in mentioning the brand is not to promote it, but rather to highlight the status the brand signifies. Thanks for the support, bro. But by naming the brand, the artist is reinforcing society’s view that Grey Goose signifies status and money and getting the public to sing about the drink, thus ingraining a positive image of the product in our minds. The effect must be increased revenue for the brand. I’m no alcohol expert, but if I went into a liquor store without a budget and saw Grey Goose and Zyr vodka on the shelf, I’d sing “NO GREY GOOSE IF YOU DON’T GET LOOSE!” and you know what bottle I’d reach for. Oh, and what’s that bottle currently sitting your room, genius boyfriend? Not Zyr vodka!