This post is in response to Daniel Trakulhoon’s post on product placement.

Normal advertisements like commercials, magazine ads, and pop-ups are annoyances as they tend to distract from what you really want to see. How do people react to these types of advertising?

They they change the channel, flip the page, or download an adblock on their computer.

Product placement though, puts the product right into what you want to see. While sometimes, it is quite obvious and forced. The Coca-Cola cups placed on the judges table in American Idol are a good example of this.

While this type of product placement does not really convince viewers to drink Coke, it still gets the brand advertised.

Great types of product placement though, link the product with the piece of entertainment the consumer is watching. Companies that do this well are able to get the attention of entire fan bases. For example, the Mini Cooper was extremely well advertised in The Italian Job, as it was a focal point of the movies plot.

In my opinion, good product placement acts like a fictional sponsor. If the product works well in the context, then viewers will see the product as it was used in the movie. Thus, if kids want to drive Transformers, they can just buy one at their local Ford dealer!