Product placement: The good, the bad and the ugly

An interesting conversation flew around the Velvet office the other day. In amongst the sweltering heat, the curious question of product placement was raised. Is it tacky? Is it cringe-worthy? At any rate, if it goes unnoticed surely this means it’s been successful.

For instance, one of our staff attributed their disappointment with the latest Jurassic Park blockbuster to due its overuse of product placement. There is certainly something jarring about noticing exactly what marketers are trying to achieve.

Rebecca Nicholson’s recent piece in The Guardian draws attention to the increasing trend of “advertainment” in music – noting a steep increase in product placement in recent years. Here we picked out some good, bad and down right ugly examples:

THE GOOD:

Risky Business

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezpBTbeN2aQ

Looking back, it’s tempting to consider the Ray Ban Wayfarer as an already iconic product by the 80s. Despite being sported the likes of Bob Dylan and the Blues Brothers, the brand had in fact entered a period of dwindling sales.

With a product placement campaign across a variety of films and TV programmes, Tom Cruise’s performance fully cemented the Wayfarer as an iconic pair of sunglasses and that year saw 360,000 units sold. 

Mad Men

Where else better to include product placement than a programme about advertising? Although Mad Men is set fifty years ago, the majority of the clients that Don Draper and his team handle still exist today.

From Smirnoff to London Fog, the attention these brands receive still generates a valuable identification with the viewer. The programme’s old-fashioned cool doesn’t hurt either, adding a touch of time-honoured elegance many brands desire.

Mike Vilensky article on Mad Men’s savvy placements is well worth a read.

THE BAD:

I, Robot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HpIZrOH4zc

The Will Smith sci-fi outing features not one but two shamelessly placed brands. In a painfully long sequence, Smith’s vintage-loving character expresses his undying love for Converse All-Stars – now a retro item. However, a preference for the inventions of yesteryear doesn’t stop from enjoying his shiny new Audi.

Transformers: Age of Extinction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Drc0Ey3m0UI

This one’s a real beauty. Marky Mark’s sip of Bud following his extravagant crash is simply hilarious. So much so that it almost seems less annoying. Budweiser make no bones about what they’re doing here. In effect, it’s a short ad break in a film that probably needed one.

THE UGLY:

Skyfall

Even our man 007 isn’t safe from the claws of brand placement. Martini – shaken not stirred? Nope, not this time Mr Bond. Have a nice cold Dutch lager instead.

We’re not quite sure what to make of this one. It seems like sacrilege for Bond to be something other than a Martini cocktail. Nonetheless, the change is certainly striking.

So is it all worth it? Well tacky and cringe-worthy or not, we’re talking about it and so did Marketing Week recently for its cover story (we got there first…) Ultimately, what’s not to love about a bit of big screen in your face, laughable product placement? Its shamelessness might remove some integrity from any film but ultimately it gets people talking and that’s what any brand wants.

By Isaac Rangaswami