Marketing Lesson: Product Placement in Movies and Television
Lesson Background
In 1982, Elliot lured an alien out of hiding with a bag of Reese Pieces, and a phenomenon was born. And no, I’m not
ET & Reese's Pieces = A Match Made in Product Placement Heaven
talking about the birth of the Summer Blockbuster.
Product placements in movies and television shows have become common thanks to Steven Spielberg and his inclusion of a little-known bite sized Hershey product into his movie, E.T. Since then, the practice of product placement has become widely adopted.
In this lesson, students learn the basics of product placement by:
- Participating in a classroom discussion that includes YouTube clips of popular product placement examples
- Watching the movie Transformers and identifying product placements
- Developing a product placement plan for an existing product
- Discussing the ethical advertising issues surrounding product placements
My main goals for this lesson are to:
- Have students identify product placement
- Have students understand why companies engage in product placement
- Have students look at existing product placements with a critical eye (are the effective or not)
Note: The PowerPoint discussion below contains hyperlinks to clips on YouTube. In presentation view, if you click on the photos, it will bring up the YouTube clip. (Links checked as of 4/19/10).
If you have any questions about this lesson (or any of the other ones posted), feel free to drop me a line at travis@travisrmartin.com or leave a comment below.
Lesson Resources
PowerPoint Discussion: Product Placements in Movies and Television
Worksheet: Transformers Product Placement Hunt
Instructions: Determining Product Placement Activity
Website: BrandChannel’s Product Placement in Movies
Article: “Transformers” a GM Ad in Disguise – MSNBC
Related posts:
In my opinion Transformers is an example of product placement prostitution. There is a very direct use of product placement and I could say that in terms of marketing it was executed well, but on the other hand the movie is really shallow.
You could also encourage students to find placemens that are subtle, but at the same time achieved the “I want to buy this product” effect.
Good luck.
Erik
http://www.brandsandfilms.com
Came across your lesson while looking for some materials for teaching product placement! Amazing resources! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for stopping by! I hope find some of the resources useful.
I’ll be posting more, so check back again. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to drop me a line…travis@travisrmartin.com
Thanks for the tip, Erik. And you are right…Transformers is basically a 2 hour commercial disguised as a movie.