Product Placement

What is product placement?

•Product Placement is the process which integrates an advertiser's product into movies and TV shows for clear, on-screen visibility. It is part of the rapidly expanding entertainment industry reaching millions of people daily through movies, television, and video. (Source: MMI Product Placement)
•Product placement, or embedded marketing, is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, the story line of television shows, or news programs. The product placement is often not disclosed at the time that the good or service is featured.
•Product placement is an advertising technique in which companies pay a fee or provide services in exchange for a prominent display of their products. It is primarily used in connection with the movie industry, although other venues such as concert halls, convention centers and high-profile nightclubs may also agree to some form of product placement.

One infamous example of product placement occurred in Steven Spielberg's movie ET. Originally the alien creature was supposed to be lured out of hiding by following a trail of M&M chocolate candies. The company which produces M&Ms, however, did not wish to have their product associated with an unproven and potentially unmarketable movie. A rival company agreed to provide a similar candy called Reese's Pieces. The movie became a huge financial success, and the product placement boosted sales of Reese's Pieces substantially.
The use of product placement in movies has proven to be controversial. Some film makers see the practice of product placement as too commercial. Others, particularly those with severe budget restrictions, welcome any company willing to invest money in exchange for product placement. The debate often centers around the necessity for a particular brand name product in a scene. In our hypothetical chase sequence, the use of one Federal Express truck establishes the bad guy's cover. Placing a fleet of Federal Express trucks on the street, however, may be an obvious case of product placement and considered too commercially motivated.

Despite the debate between artistic integrity and practical commercialism, there is no doubt that product placement is effective in most cases. Moviegoers may not even be aware of all the examples of product placement in an average Hollywood film, but they might remember enough details to boost sales after the fact. If nothing else, the company benefits from the use of their brand name or logo in connection with an exotic locale or exciting action sequence. If James Bond shoots out a Coca-Cola display, for example, the audience will remember that sequence long after the movie ends.

Types of Product Placement
The most basic form of product placement is the inclusion of a product name or logo in the foreground or background of a scene. Payments are based on exposure, including the number of times the product is shown or mentioned, the duration of that exposure, and the degree of inclusion of the product in the story line. If the product is actively used (such as when a leading character can be clearly seen to take a drink from the bottle or can), placement fees are higher. Producers seek out companies for product placements as another revenue stream for the movie, and in exchange for advertisements tied in with a film's release, a show's new season, or other event.
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. Since the dawn of television automobile companies have been providing their vehicles to be used in shows.
A variant of product placement is advertisement placement. In this case an advertisement for the product (rather than the product itself) is seen in the movie or television series. Examples include a Lucky Strike cigarette advertisement on a billboard, or a truck with a milk advertisement on its trailer.
Product placement is also being used in books (particularly novels) and video games.



Categories and Variations of Product Placement
Actual product placement falls into two categories: products or locations that are obtained from manufacturers or owners to reduce the cost of production, and products deliberately placed into productions in exchange for fees.
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.
A variant of product placement is advertisement placement. In this case an advertisement for the product (rather than the product itself) is seen in the movie or television series. Examples include a Lucky Strike cigarette advertisement on a billboard or a truck with a milk advertisement on its trailer.
Another variant is the widespread use of promotional consideration in which a television game show would award an advertiser's product as a prize or consolation prize in return for a subsidy from the product's manufacturer.
Product placement companies work to integrate their client company brands with film and television productions. Jay May, president of Feature This!, a branded entertainment company, explains the process: “The studio sends us the script. We break it down. We look for our clients’ demographics and then we tell our client this movie is available with this actor, with this director, with this producer, do you want it?”


Controversy
Some believe product placement is out of control and has become all-pervasive in today's society. One group known as Commercial Alert asks for full disclosure of all product placement arrangements. They feel that most product placements are deceptive and are not fully or clearly disclosed, advocating notification of embedded advertisements before and during a television program. One justification for this is that it allows greater parental control for children, who are said to be influenced greatly by product placement.

Subliminal Message

What is Subliminal Message?
•A subliminal message is a signal or message embedded in another medium, designed to pass below the normal limits of the human mind’s perception. These messages are unrecognizable by the conscious mind, but in certain situations can affect the subconscious mind and can negatively or positively influence subsequent later thoughts, behaviors, actions, attitudes, belief systems and value systems. The term subliminal means "beneath a limen" (sensory threshold) This is from the Latin words sub, meaning under, and limen, meaning threshold
•Subliminal Messages are words, images, or sounds that might appear in television or radio commercials, TV shows or movies, print ads or recorded music. Usually when subliminal messages are seen or heard, they’re not recognized for what they are. In fact they may be ignored by the conscious brain and be beyond the level of conscious perception.
The theory holds, and it is getting less popular, that subliminal messages are perceived by the subconscious or unconscious mind. Since the conscious mind doesn’t have time to rationalize or analyze these messages, people might more easily accept them. For instance, the use of red in commercials for Target® is at least partly subliminal. The red itself really has nothing to do with the company, but persistence in using it for most commercials means advertisers hope that the color red, whenever seen, will remind people of Target and convince them to shop there.
There’s disagreement on the degree to which subliminal messages are used, understood, or accessed. The idea of these messages has been around since the late 19th century, and by the mid 20th century, the use of subliminal messaging in advertising was considered standard fare, especially visual messages where something would flash for a split second on a screen that would subliminally convince the viewer to act in a certain way. People became afraid that subliminal messages could be used to “brainwash” themselves or others. This fear became so great that by the 1970s, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned the use of subliminal messages in advertisements.

Yet it’s never really been proven that subliminal messages work to any great degree. The ban also only exists for advertisement and does not affect film or music recordings. Rock music, especially, came under fire as possibly containing messages of words or phrases recorded backwards that people thought were intended to corrupt youth. There have been a few backward-recorded messages in rock music, but not so many as people might think. Further, they may not always have evil intent. There’s no consensus on whether a person could actually perceive such a message, and usually the big thrill is playing the music backward so a backwards recording is understood.
Another type of subliminal message that has endured strong criticism is certain animations in Disney® films that spell out specific words. Perhaps the most famous of these is the word, sex, appearing as clouds, in The Lion King. You actually can see this if you pause your DVD player, but Disney did not place it there on purpose. Instead, it’s been attributed to a capricious animator, and would almost certainly have been edited if it was discovered. This also suggests that subliminal messages may not work since they may never be consciously perceived. There’s no indication that the word sex, which has numerous connotations, could be read or understood by three or four year olds.

Perhaps a more obvious form of subliminal advertising is the idea of hiding things in plain sight, like the use of product placement in films. In several action scenes in the film Spider Man, the action takes place around buildings hung with ads. If you’re conscious of it, you’ll notice the backdrop of ads, but if you don’t realize they are there, they might be considered a form of subliminal advertising. It’s unclear the degree to which these ads might influence buying choice, but they are likely to be taken in by the unconscious mind, while your conscious mind is absorbed by the story action. It can be a matter of how acutely aware you are that product placement exists in many modern films and television series.