ADVERTISING TECNIQUES ENGLISH

ADVERTISING TECHNIQUES

PRODUCT PLACEMENT

To promote their products, companies spend billions of dollars. The film industry who receives a lot of that money put products in movie scenes. Today, this marketing degree strategy mutated into a terrible affliction: films grow into long commercials. Nothing is able to escape from advertisements: taxis, newspapers, magazines, television, movies and particularly YouTube which invades us with ads each time. There are 5 tasteless products forced by marketing degree holders in film.

The first one, the nonexistent:

It is the best kind of product placement. It’s when a product appears accidentally in a movie and it doesn’t have to be here, but it’s not serious. Some movies advertise accidentally a product or an item as the red stapler which appeared in Office Space. The film has become an influence for people because after it diffusion, the demand of the item became so important. Swingline which is the maker of this stapler decided to manufacture them. Moreover, the stapler in the film was red but the company who produces it had never made red staplers at that time. So it was an accidental marketing. Because of the naturally of the situation, character was attached to the stapler: if the stapler had been bought, the relationship between them will probably not be the same. So, nonexistent is not the worst degree: since real stories can be appreciated without feeling we are trying to sell you something.  

The second one, the subtle:

The subtle degree is a tolerable one since we may not notice it at all. The product can be successful depending on how it is featured in the film. If the product is goodly used in the movie that is what we call a subtle one.

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The third one, the reasonable:

The viewer doesn’t mind so much the marketing aspect of the product placement. The product placement is not completely noticeable in the movie because viewers don’t take care of the product: as if it was natural. They don’t think of the marketing: they just find it normal. Such as in the film Castaway in which Tom Hanks played a FedEx employee who had to go in deserted island with packages to deliver. People don’t note the name of the company: it’s like it was evident. By the way, the movie had been a success worldwide. So it’s why we can say it’s a reasonable one.

The fourth one, the commercial:

The commercial one is clearly here to encourage people to buy the product placement. In fact the product is too noticeable: we see it immediately. It’s something which is placed here intentionally to see and notice it. For example, in the film The Hangover, the first scene opens focused on a big monster energy drink.

The fifth and last one, the slanderous:

The slanderous can also be called the “anti-promotional”. This one is the worst because it’s a misleading publicity and it’s also illegal in many countries. Usually, consumers and holders are negatively affected by this concept. There is a film which is a perfect example of this fifth one: Sideways.

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