Product Placement in the Entertainment Industry

        Every time you watch a movie or flip on your favorite TV show, you’re bound to see many different real-life products sprinkled throughout the characters’ lives. Always thought that was just to add a sense of realness? In some cases, maybe. But for the most part, the brand name goods you see appear in a TV show or movie are all very carefully calculated. Advertisers call this product placement.

Product placement can work in 1 of 2 ways, by trade-off or financial compensation:

•          With trade-off, the movie company will feature the product a certain number of times in the TV show/movie in exchange for an ample amount of the product (think Coca-Cola providing massive amounts of their beverages on set every day in exchange for being shown in the movie 3 times)
•          With financial compensation, the brand will approach the film company and negotiate a price in exchange for their product being shown in their TV show a certain number of times (Neer)

So why do companies use product placement? Do they really think we’re so easily swayed that we would be more inclined to purchase a product merely because we saw it in a movie or TV show? Well as it turns out, we are. According to psychologist Dr. Ian Zimmerman, product placement affects our implicit attitudes, meaning that we unknowingly associate the attitude or feelings we get from watching something with the products that are shown in them as well. If we have positive emotions towards a TV show or movie, we subconsciously will have positive feelings for the brands featured as well. Proof? After Red Stripes’ placement in the movie The Firm, the beer company saw a 50% sales increase, and after Reese’s Pieces were placed in E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, their company’s sales went up 65% (Zimmerman). Although we probably don’t outright choose our food and drink based on what we see on screen, it looks like advertisers’ mind-games work a lot better than we might think.

Next time you find yourself drawn towards a certain food item, drink, or gadget at the store, you can most likely thank product placement while tossing it into your cart.

By: Rachel Seyfarth

Sources:

"Film, Music, and Books That I Love." Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.

Neer, Katherine. "How Product Placement Works." HowStuffWorks. N.p., 04 July 2003. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.

Zimmerman, Ian. "Product Placement Can Be A Lot More Powerful Than We Realize." Psychology               Today. N.p., 25 Mar. 2013. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.