Product Placement in Movies and TV

[Goffe]

I mean, BO is a prime example of what I'm trying to say. If a movie doesn't look good to a big demographic, not even the best marketing campaing/the biggest draw/or whatever will save it from a failure. 

[baumer]

Yeah, product placement don't bother you...Do you know that people began to smoke just because they saw glamourous actors and actresses smoking tobacco and such cigarette brands all over the screen in the Hollywood golden era, the worming message that it was the coolest thing ever to smoke, then creating a surge in throat and lung cancers throughout the years?

 

There has been studies how movies and entertainment influence youth in starting to smoke.

 

See how Mad Men surf on that trend and all the idiots that try to be as "cool" as Don Draper

 

Corporate branding invading the movies contribute to shape the world we live in as people mirror the entertainment they're showcased. We're already living in Minority Report's world. Basically, a shallow world where everyone sports a polluting car just because x actor has a Chevy, diet on junk food and heavy calories because x actress is a Starbucks addict, surf the internet using devices made by slave workers in Asia because x actor is an Apple junkie. To indulge and allow that, you contribute to that.

 

That's such a one sided way of looking at it.  I agree that we are being programmed what to buy and such but it goes so much deeper than that and I won't get into it here because there's a conspiracy thread for that.

 

However, it's not like these products don't already exist, so I really don't see the harm in this.

[The Futurist]

I ll add to the debate that a lot of directors started out as commercial directors, Scott Brothers, Bay, Fincher and I am sute tons of others.

John Woo made a lot of commercials when he was in America.

Trust me, all these guys know when they make " a pack shot" ( search for it in google if you don t know what it is) in a movie.

 

Obviously the way our system works, you can t escape brands in movies but we are all a bit brainwashed weather you like(admit) or not or think you have some kind of free will.

You have to buy stuff for every aspect of life and marketing (produce placement in movies including) is an influence.

Big corporations don t spend billions each year in marketing for nothing, religions, Goebels and Lenine and Staline invented techniques still used by Apple, Samsung, Mars, Dior, Ford, BMW, Wallmart, McDonalds etc etc etc

[AniNate]

What Dash is saying is probably true, but we're humans, and this is the way we function. Trying to change that will just lead to some other form of subliminal corporate advertising that we'll still fall for. I mean, why do we even watch movies? Why do public theaters exist? On some level we all have a desire to be accepted by some outer authority and this is never going to change. 

 

The best you can do is try to sort out the good influences from the bad ones. Surely movies have inspired people to do productive things in their lives too.

[grim22]

[dashrendar44]

 

is it? So, if there was just one person in the world, that person wouldn't ever feel lonely because there was no society to influence him/her?

 

Because one is better than another? because x product appeals more to you than y? because you have been using that brand forever and you think it's perfect? you know the saying, If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

Do you seriously think that if Apple starts to make bad phones or if Starbucks coffee gets worse, people will still buy from them? look at McDonald's, despite all efforts, their sales are dropping so much that they are considering shifting their business model, and their food didn't even get any worse (or better) for that to happen.

 

the thought that someone will consume x product just because of a product placement or because someone out there consumes it, is so simplistic, so simplistic that it's mind-boggling to me

 

I won't even bother with the rest because it's just rehash of your earlier post

 

 

That's the illusion of choice. Do you think Starbucks do "good coffee" or better coffee than others (or that Apple phones are so much better than Samsung Galaxy or whatever)? That's exactly what I'm talking about. We're tricked to believe that, that they're the excellence and the others suck despite being all pretty much even.

 

This is marketing 101 we're talking here. Being oblivious to that is living in Teletubbies land. Obviously, you know better than marketing gurus that implicit self-identification doesn't exist and doesn't work on customers at all...

Edited June 10, 2015 by MADash Rendar

[AniNate]

I don't know if Starbucks' coffee is the best, but it is at least palatable and easy to find at one of your local strip malls, and they do indulgent sweet-tooth satisfying varieties that are more difficult to mix up at home. 

 

Personally, all coffee tastes the same to me; Starbucks just happens to be the closest merchant to where I work, and I only bought an Android phone because it was the cheapest available with my carrier.

Edited June 10, 2015 by tribefan695

[Jonwo]

Product Placement when it integrated well into a film is fine but viewers notice it when it's obviously blatant. I, Robot had pretty bad product placement with the Converse shoes, the Audi car I didn't have an issue with because it was done well and also was only a concept car. 

 

Bond is hit and miss when it comes to product placement, the scene with Bond and Vesper in Casino Royale when he namechecks Omega was cringeworthy as well as in Skyfall when Tanner was drinking Heineken beer. 

 

Television is worse at product placement, there's an episode of Hawaii Five-0 which has a blatant plug for Subway and Elementary has this not so subtle placement for Bing and Microsoft Surface:

[grim22]

 

That was pretty close to good product placement. Remove the exaggerated click of the keyboard and kickstand and that looks almost normal, like someone reaching out for their tablet to search information. The keyboard click sends it over the top.

[Goffe]

That's the illusion of choice. Do you think Starbucks do "good coffee" or better coffee than others

I wouldn't know, I have never drunk a Starbucks coffee before. I wasn't talking about my personal preference though. I said Starbucks's coffe was popular for a reason, or various of them, including the quality of it.

or that Apple phones are so much better thanSamsung Galaxy or whatever

I'm not saying that, at all. That's you simplification, black/white-ing mind working.

About the marketing gurus thing, all I know is from my experience and people around me (including friends, which I have btw). I never met anyone like you described in your original post.

And I've learned that extreme or/and doom and gloom lines of thinking are always wrong.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Goffe

[dashrendar44]

I wouldn't know, I have never drunk a Starbucks coffee before. I wasn't talking about my personal preference though. I said Starbucks's coffe was popular for a reason, or various of them, including the quality of it.

 

 

Quality is the last reason it is popular and comes at the very bottom of all criterias. People don't know any better about coffee quality anyway because otherwise they wouldn't go to Starbucks, they just follow the principle of the least effort and buying the way of life that Starbucks sell hence product placement helping to sell that way of life.

Edited June 10, 2015 by MADash Rendar

[Plain Old Tele]

...buying the way of life that Starbucks sell...

 

This is basically all advertising. Full stop. The industry is built around all of our collective insecurities, and the subtle hint in every commercial is if you buy/use this product, you'll be this-much-closer to living your vision of your perfect, cool life. Because your life right now isn't perfect, is it? But it could be, if only you used [Product X].

[dashrendar44]

This is basically all advertising. Full stop. The industry is built around all of our collective insecurities, and the subtle hint in every commercial is if you buy/use this product, you'll be this-much-closer to living your vision of your perfect, cool life. Because your life right now isn't perfect, is it? But it could be, if only you used [Product X].

 

I didn't say otherwise...We're just talking Starbucks and how it perviates into movies.

 

Hell, back in 2007 when I first visited USA, I went to a Starbucks for the first time in my life because there were none around my place and I only saw them in american entertainment, I wanted to taste what it was like and what the fuss was about. That's when I learnt that their coffee sucked balls and you'd rather buy anything but their coffee.

 

I bet a lot of tourists visiting USA just do that as well just to have a taste of american life by buying american brands. And you gonna tell me product placements have no bearing on this behaviour?

Edited June 10, 2015 by MADash Rendar

[AniNate]

I didn't say otherwise...We're just talking Starbucks and how it perviates into movies.

 

Hell, back in 2007 when I first visited USA, I went to a Starbucks for the first time in my life because there were none around my place and I only saw them in american entertainment, I wanted to taste what it was like and what the fuss was about. That's when I learnt that their coffee sucked balls and you'd rather buy anything but their coffee.

 

I bet a lot of tourists visiting USA just do that as well just to have a taste of american life by buying american brands. And you gonna tell me product placements have no bearing on this behaviour?

 

The real question is why should you care? I doubt my life will be improved that much if I drive all the way to downtown Cleveland every morning just so I can get a gourmet coffee you approve of.

[dashrendar44]

The real question is why should you care? I doubt my life will be improved that much if I drive all the way to downtown Cleveland every morning just so I can get a gourmet coffee you approve of.

 

My point is not me approving your favourite coffee brand or not...My point is what you think is unharmful actually has real consequences and shape the society we live in. Hence my exemple with tobacco or how children binged on shitty food and become obese younger because they're inundated with product placements. See Home Alone and Pepsi exemple. So why do I care? Because I'm not oblivious to mass manipulation that shapes our society through entertainment.

Edited June 10, 2015 by MADash Rendar

[AniNate]

My point is not me approving your favourite coffee brand or not...

 

But you're assuming that just because you hate Starbucks coffee that it's impossible for anyone else to actually like it. Maybe the life it's selling is part of its appeal, but advertising only goes so far. You're not going to keep buying a product if you don't at least somewhat enjoy it.

Edited June 10, 2015 by tribefan695

[Plain Old Tele]

But you're assuming that just because you hate Starbucks coffee that it's impossible for anyone else to actually like it. Maybe the life it's selling is part of its appeal, but advertising only goes so far. You're not going to keep buying a product if you don't at least somewhat enjoy it.

 

Well, American tastes (literally, taste buds) have already been shaped by decades of this sort of thing; if food isn't packed full of sugar and/or salt and/or tons of processed flavors, most Americans think it tastes horribly bland, which has had terrible long-term ramifications for health and dietary issues.

[AniNate]

Well, American tastes (literally, taste buds) have already been shaped by decades of this sort of thing; if food isn't packed full of sugar and/or salt and/or tons of processed flavors, most Americans think it tastes horribly bland, which has had terrible long-term ramifications for health and dietary issues.

 

Then I suppose we would need more product placement from health-promoting businesses to rectify this.

Edited June 10, 2015 by tribefan695

[dashrendar44]

But you're assuming that just because you hate Starbucks coffee that it's impossible for anyone else to actually like it. Maybe the life it's selling is part of its appeal, but advertising only goes so far. You're not going to keep buying a product if you don't at least somewhat enjoy it.

 

Ever heard of compliance? Once you buy into Starbucks way of life, you feel you owe them something that is part of you, an habit, a loyalty, it's cool to be a Starbuck customer around cool people like you in a cool environment. That kind of (fake) cosy ambiance and psychological feeling of being at home more than the actual taste of the coffee. It's harder to publicly admit that their coffee sucks as a regular consumer because that would mean you're kinda wrong and you've been making wrong decisions all this time by buying their shitty products or people will ask yourself why you're illlogical ("Why do you keep buying their coffee if you know it sucks?") so people prefer pretend they really like Starbucks coffee and get accustomed to it.

 

Tom Hanks character in You've Got Mail actually said himself and this movie was a giant product placement for Starbucks with a set piece entirely taking place in a Starbucks coffee. He said:

 

 

The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are, can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall! Decaf! Cappuccino!

 

That's what Starbucks sell, self identification to a product defining what you are. That's called alienation and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Edited June 10, 2015 by MADash Rendar

[AniNate]

Ever heard of compliance? Once you buy into Starbucks way of life, you feel you owe them something that is part of you, an habit, a loyalty, it's cool to be a Starbuck customer around cool people like you in a cool environment. That kind of (fake) cosy ambiance and psychological feeling of being at home more than the actual taste of the coffee.

 

I don't think you take to that if you don't actually like the coffee. You'd look for that cozy ambiance somewhere else.

Edited June 10, 2015 by tribefan695