i Placement

Today’s post is going to be a bit unconventional – I’m going to examine product placement in a speech by a print media executive. I attended a journalism conference last weekend at Harvard and heard Alan Murray, deputy managing editor and executive editor, online of the Wall Street Journal, speak about his experiences in the media industry. I was taken aback when he specifically mentioned the iPhone 4 on multiple occasions during his talk. “We’re pushing iPhone 4s to our [reporters].” He waxed on about how the phone’s video capability is superb and comparable to that of a video camera, which is essential for on-the-ground reporting. He repeatedly mentioned the specific model iPhone 4, rather than the iPhone or smartphone. Maybe I’ve been thinking about product placement for too long, but his (un?)intentional use of the iPhone 4 distracted me from his actual lecture.

wrong apple.

Murray then went on to discuss the iPhone 4’s sister, the iPad. He praised the iPad for filling the void between print and online content, especially because of its alleged ability to engage readers. Yeah, I guess a bigger, shiner new gadget is more engaging than the smaller version. There are a million of tablets like the iPad, but he once again chose to name the Apple product. My favorite part was when he said that the iPad application for the Wall Street Journal gave him a “sense of completeness” that he doesn’t get from reading the website. What’s the deal here: free Apple products for product placement? Hmm...I bet I know what company has the back page ad in tomorrow’s WSJ.

That's Product Placement?

You'd be surprised to find out how many things can ACTUALLY be considered product placement.

When thinking of product placement, most people might assume that it would be the glorified presentation of a certain product. After all, if a company is paying to star in your movie, you had better give them their money's worth.

Accomplishing a smooth transition into product placement, however, is no easy feat. As a result, the placement in films isn't always what you would expect.

Placements Produits Pour BMW Dans Fight Club - Awesome video clips here

This scene from Fight Club is actually a form of product placement. Rather than glorification, it's treated like crap. I'm not too sure that that's what companies pay for.

You would think that if a company were going to give money to a film that they would at least ensure that they were properly represented ... I suppose any publicity is good publicity.

The Commercials Are Getting Longer

Last month one of the UK's top public networks, Channel 4, announced that it would be airing a new show. Pretty standard, right? Wrong! The show includes a partnership with New Look, a British clothing retailer where the show is essentially branded by the business. The plot of the show is similar to many other reality/competition type shows where contestants are eliminated while completing challenges en route to a prize. Channel 4's new broadcast will be based around seeking out young fashionistas and rewarding them with....... a job at New Look.

As for the product placement specs, according to The Guardian much of the clothing featured in the style competitions will be made by New Look, the brand will be prominently placed and the show (obviously) will be partially funded by New Look.

Anyone who knows me knows that I literally could not care less about fashion, so needless to say I'm moving towards a bigger point here. That being, isn't this just a huge commercial? New Look is essentially buying up a half hour or hour of airtime weekly in order to hock their clothing and try to fool people into thinking it's natural. Sounds very similar to other companies buying up 45 seconds twice a week to do the same. From the sounds of it, despite the fact that it will be a "competition", everything leads back to New Look. There can't be serious consideration about the clothing because only part of the market is displayed. One also can't take the opinions of those on the show seriously because the company essentially controls their ability to stay on the show. Lastly, the reward for winning puts the company on a pedestal yet again. This is a bit too much for me to handle. I find it hard to believe that this type of shenanigans is going on on a huge publicly owned network.

The Product Placement Game

Are you a Guitar Hero? Or a kick ass drummer on Rock Band? Or are you more of a dancer, showing off your mad skillz on Just Dance? Personally, I'm a Guitar Hero and lead guitarist/singer when I Rock Band. I've been playing these games since high school, yet I never realized their product placement value until now. Think about it, every song you're playing is exposing you to the artist if you didn't know them before the game and if you did know them, you're playing the song so much you'll end up liking it by familiarity. These games even have features that allow you to "unlock" or purchase newly-released songs and even band-specific song packs. Others have entire discs devoted to a specific artist--everything from the venues in the game to the songs you must master relate to the band's artistic journey.

These games pose the question, is everything a vehicle for consumption? Were they created to sell us artists or to legitimately entertain us? Think about it next time you innocently pick up that guitar-shaped controller.