A “novel” way to advertise?
March 4th, 2007
Product placement in the movies is one thing - from James Bond driving a BMW to a Ferrari but ever imagine Sherlock Holmes recommending brands of pipes in his literary classic?
Well prepare for it - product placement and other subversive alternative advertising techniques have hit novels and popular literature.
Also known as product plugging - this type of advertising while controversial, is effective and proven.
One of the best-known instances of product placement appeared in 1982 movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which increased sales of Reese’s Pieces 65 percent. (Source wikipedia.org)
Other examples in movies and other media include:
- In Desperate Housewives, a popular American television series - three of the characters drive Nissan branded cars with camera view often focused on the Nissan symbol on someone’s car.
- The 1974 film The Man with the Golden Gun featured extensive use of AMC cars, even in scenes in Thailand, where AMC cars were not sold, and had the steering wheel on the wrong side of the vehicle for the country’s roads.
- or the example of exclusive Hewlett Packard computer placements in Ikea furniture catalogs
These inclusive examples are well known and common in most of today’s blockbuster films.
And while literature has always included examples of well known brands to help build scene or maintain a certain setting - new agreements between publishers, writers and brands showcase how novels have jumped on the popular product placement wagon.
The latest example is Cathy’s Book, a teen novel that debuted in October 2006 in the United States and relates the story of a teen who is determined to find out why her boyfriend dumps her before she mysteriously disappears.
Procter & Gamble wrote a deal with the writer’s of the book to include product placements for products such as Cover Girl’s “Shimmering Onyx” eye shadow and “Metallic Rose” lipstick.
While examples of in book product placement are rare - such deals are not unprecedented. Five years ago, Bulgari, the Italian jewelry company, paid Fay Weldon an undisclosed amount to feature the brand prominently in her novel, entitled — what else? — “The Bulgari Connection.”
In that instance, Bulgari actually commissioned Ms. Weldon, a well-known British author, to write the novel. But with “Cathy’s Book,” the authors had already written it when Mr. Weisman’s agents at Creative Artists Agency showed the manuscript to Maurice Coffey, a marketing manager at Procter & Gamble.
Other disturbing and in our opinion tasteless examples include questionable product placement in the controversial math textbook, “Mathematics: Applications and Connections,” published by McGraw-Hill which uses brand names like Nike sneakers and Nintendo games, and junk foods like Cheez-Its, to make algebra and geometry. (Source - Boston Globe).
New Agency Niches Emerge
In novel product placement is creating specialized agencies. One of which includes Fabula, a Russian agency that works with some of the best-selling pulp-fiction and sci-fi authors on product placement deals. The company provides data on upcoming publishing cycles, profiles on target audiens and offers a range of advertising opportunities include less controversial page inserts, product samples, branded bookmarks and to also developing entire plots and brand-related characters in novels.
Consumer Reactions Not everyone is pleased with the corporate takeover of fiction.
Commercial Alert - an American consumer watchdog wrote letters to more than 300 book editors asking for “Cathy’s Book” to not be reviewed and quotes on its website:
“Cathy’s Book is in the form of a novel. But in reality it is an adjunct of a corporate marketing campaign aimed at impressionable teenagers.”
“We are working to stop the creep of product placement into the publishing industry. It is a threat to the cognitive commons and our ability to read and think without being bombarded by commercial messages.”
Other critics of the practice include Thomas Kostigen, a popular ethic’s columnist for MarketWatch who cautions:
“”Text” product placement cannot be flipped by like a display ad. It’s just like in movie theatres when 30 minutes worth of commercials play with no ability for you to change the channel; the only choice is outright abandonment! And at least in movie theatres you can try and time it to miss the pitches so your only consequence might be being late to the show. With novels, the ads can sneak up on you anywhere, anytime.
This isn’t fair. ”
Kostigen goes so far to state:
“There should be no place for ads in books. We pay big enough cover prices for the right for them to be excluded. Publishers, please make our beaches safe again.” (Source)
Maybe Kostigen is right about paying already too much for them [ads] to be excluded but in defense of the practice, author Bill Fitzhugh argues:
“No this [product placement in literature] doesn’t fundamentally cheapen the novel as a form of literature? No, of course not. You want to know what does? The pitiful advances so many novelists get. That’s what cheapens the novel.”" (Source)
Our take on product placement in literature?
Well at Aap!Global we believe a simple disclaimer inside the novel or text would suffice to inform (warn?) the reader of the included placement. Another solution possibly would to offer 2 versions of a text - one with product placement @ a discounted rate and without?
Will the consumer choose the advertiser free version? Do they really have a choice?
