Product Placement and the Entertainment Industry
Product placement is nearly ubiquitous in movies today. Heineken recently paid nearly $45 million to MGM and Sony Pictures entertainment so that it could be prominently featured in the 23rd installation of the James Bond film franchise, Skyfall. This amount, nearly one-third of the entire production budget, meant that James Bond would no longer suavely approach a bar and order a martini, shaken not stirred, as he’s done for more than forty years. Instead, he would now order a Heineken beer. Luxury automaker Acura signed a multi-year, multi-picture deal with Marvel Studios to have its cars featured in comic book-based films such as Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and The Avengers 2.
However, not all is great with having a product featured prominently in a movie. Take, for example, the 2012 film Flight. Throughout the movie, both before and after he crashes an airplane, Denzel Washington’s character is shown drinking heavily, with the Budweiser logo displayed prominently. This came as quite a surprise to parent company AB InBev, which was not given any form of advance notice that its product would appear in the movie. “We would never condone the misuse of our products, and have a long history of promoting responsible drinking and preventing drunk driving,” said Rob McCarthy, Anheuser-Busch Vice President. “It is disappointing that Image Movers, the production company, and Paramount chose to use one of our brands in this manner.” The company asked Paramount Studios to blur out or remove digitally the Budweiser logo from all DVDs, television presentations, and online streams of the movie.
Source: Instructor Manual, Chapter 17, page 15
- After reading the case study and Chapters 17 and 18, respond to the following questions in essay format.
- Your essay must include an introduction paragraph, a main section consisting of two or more paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph. You must address all relevant parts of each question. The essay must be at least 200 words in length.
Your essays must include cited materials from the textbook at a minimum. Additional resources may be used. Make sure to cite any references you use. Proper citation format for a reference includes the name of the author(s), the title of the work, the date of the publication, and the page number. Be sure to review the grading matrix before you submit your essay.
Essay Questions
- Summarize the key points of the case study. Be specific.
- Based on the information provided in the case and the textbook, what might be the disadvantages of product placement? What can organizations do to protect themselves against unauthorized product placement?
- Based on the details provided in Chapters 17 and 18 and the case, provide a minimum of two key lessons learned about marketing communication. Provide details to support your analysis.
Submit your assignment, which is Lesson 10 Case Study in the Gradebook.
Reference
Armstrong, G., & Kotler, P. (2015). Principles of marketing. New York, NY: Prentice Hall.
