Product placement in the entertainment industry is nothing new, in fact, most early radio and tv shows would not have existed without dish detergents and Ovaltine. Even an entire genre of television was named the “Soap” Opera. The early strategy was to attract people with content, then supply a captive audience for the sponsor. We can see this continuing today, even on this site!
Surfing the web, we are accustomed to seeing pages littered with ads, and most of us blank them out and are not bothered. I download an app on my iPhone for free and have the option of “removing” ads by paying a paltry sum to the app creator and getting an ad free app. This is a great monetization strategy, in my opinion. Get something you want for free, then pay a little not have those little scrolling ads you sometimes touch RIGHT in the middle of a rather intense in-game moment.
…and sometimes, we are given ads even after we paid. “Irked” is a word I would use, as I’m not necessarily angry (although sometimes I feel a little cheated) when I see products glamorized by my heroes in TV shows or at the cinema. Really people, no one needs sexy close ups of a Subway sandwich.
I don’t mind people getting paid in as many ways as possible for the hard work they have done. A movie will usually get money from the box office, rental agencies (online or otherwise), books, paraphernalia and more. What bothers me is that I will be in the middle of a movie, immersed in the reality of the film, and it shifts into commercial mode. I feel it detracts from the show or film I’m watching. For instance, there were a total of 16 different logos from NASCAR in the latest Transformer movie, not to mention the always present Chevy monopoly in all of the movies… more than meets the eye.
It’s like I’m enjoying a trip somewhere and someone wants to sell me a timeshare in Florida. It would be like buying a cd (yes, they still make them) and having an ad in between every track. You lose your suspended disbelief. Don’t even get me started on the commercials before the coming attractions commercials…
The Coca-Cola logo and Coca-Cola products have appeared in many films over the last 80 years, such as It’s a Wonderful Life, Jaws, Batman, Independence Day and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Moreover, Coke products have frequently become plot points of the film itself, as with The Gods Must Be Crazy and One, Two, Three. AnyClip [via Mashable] has put together this infographic about the dominance of Coca-Cola in movies. AnyClip was able to find a direct correlation between the size of a film’s budget and the frequency of a Coca-Cola product placement. As movie budgets have increased, so too have product placements for Coke products.
The Pickle flavoured popcicle: Bob’s Pickle Pops