Poll: Does product placement work?

By Derek Fung on 20 November 2008

So, umm, have you driven a Ford lately?
Photo credit: Ford

Commentary After watching the latest Bond film, we're beginning to wonder whether Bond's so angry just because of all the products he's meant to spruik. We wonder whether he's reading this story right now on his Intel-inside PC...

So last night Sony held a press screening of the latest James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace. Before you ask: it's okay, not a patch on Casino Royale but still better than anything from the Pierce Brosnan era. It wasn't the comical excuse for a story, the rapid fire action scenes nor the plot holes so large that you could drive a small sultanate through them that really got our brain juices flowing — well actually they were, but I'm neither David nor Margaret — but product placement.

You see, when the movie was introduced by the folks at Sony, we were told to keep an eye out for the Sony Ericsson phones used by the guys and gals at MI6. That's all well and good, but instantly my mind dropped back to the ignominous scene in GoldenEye where 007 tools away in a four-cylinder BMW Z3. As a Q special, I couldn't think of a car less fitting of Bond's martini-swilling, femme fatale-wooing image. And all this because BMW drove up to EON headquarters with a stretch limo filled with cash.

Have you ever bought a product on the strength of product placement?

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There's a lot about paid product placement that gets under my skin, especially if it contrevenes either the spirit of a film, or in the case of Bond or the Transformers, the characters themselves. But this commentary piece isn't a rant about that and people, like myself, who like to dream about some mythic, more innocent era where marketers stayed the hell away from entertainment would do well to remember the US quiz show scandals of the '50s; if that doesn't ring a bell, borrow a copy of Quiz Show.

Rather, the purpose of this piece is to find out from you, our dear readers, what you think of product placement. Do the products spruiked become cooler and linger in your subconscious, do you actively staw away from obviously placed items, or does it not make one scintilla of difference?

If you need any help recounting, here's a less than exhaustive list of placements:

And if you want to stretch things further, feel free to consider whether anyone has ever jumped from one fee-sucking bank to another because their favourite footy team plays at ANZ Stadium?

Please leave your comments, as well as your product placement lowlights, in the section below and don't forget to take our less than scientific poll to the right.

Topics: bond, james bond, product placement, transformers, cast away, so you think you can dance?, minority report, Quantum of Solace, casino royale, goldeneye

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Comments (11)

  • schmitty76 commented on 09/03/2009 17:14 Report abuse

    With all due respect to the high and mighty Loqi, tilting at windmills, it is in no small part because of those movie product placements, et al that the movies you watch get made. I will agree with rawmark that targeted direct advertising is a much more effective method, even if I disagree about the level of intelligence or thought being generated by the average consumer. Let's face it folks, without extra money coming in from whatever angle the studio and the producer can find, there will less of your favorite talent, special effects, etc. in those films you so adore.

  • Loqi commented on 23/12/2008 16:55 Report abuse

    It most certainly does have an effect on me. I truly despise product placement. I refuse to let them pass without scrutiny. When it happens in a film that I paid money to see, it makes me angry toward both the advertised brand, and even more toward the film. I try to cultivate a negative association toward anything that comes to me over an antisocial channel, such as billboards in public space, religious cult recruiters on my doorstep, telemarketers, spammers, advertising embedded in a film. They are not welcome in my life. There is such a thing as bad advertising. No thanks to whatever they're selling, and any future films that smell similar.

  • rawmark commented on 13/12/2008 23:54 Report abuse

    In my opinion from knowledge gained in over 30 years of marketing both the claims made for the effectiveness of product placement and other forms of non direct marketing such as sports ground signage are over stated. The consumer is far more intelligent and selective than they are given credit for. They are able to see beyond the hype and make informed decisions something that the purveyors of these forms of promotion will not admit and go on taking their clients cash and selling them it as a value proposition. Direct forms of advertising targeted effectively have far greater impact and are more cost effective.

  • ash commented on 03/12/2008 09:04 Report abuse

    I think we all *VAIO* just need to accept product *ROLEX* placement in our day-to day *McDONALDS* lives as a good thing and *COCA-COLA* not intrusive or annoying at *NIKE* all. If we all just *MICROSOFT* pretend it's not there then *JOIN THE ARMY* surely it will just go away, *NOKIA* right?

  • Patanjali commented on 30/11/2008 15:19 Report abuse

    I find Apple placements annoying because they are just so often out of place. Most Police departments, if not all, wouldn't be using Apples, but that doesn't stop them turning up in many cop shows. However, the baddies are NEVER shown using them, which is the part that grates, because criminals must use [or steal] Apples as well. Mind you, CSI (Original and Miami), both have Dells wih their obvious labels, but that would not be as unlikely as ANY of the non-US brands, except maybe, Acer. Or the hacker in Die Hard 4.0 using Apples. Yeah, really? Pull the other one. Just because he is the Apple ads! And then who provides 30" Apple monitors to their receptionists as in The Devil Wears Prada? More likely 15" Dell. If anybody was going to spread 30" monitors around, they would most likely be the much better value Dells.

  • andrewhuynh commented on 26/11/2008 06:39 Report abuse

    Product placement is a great way for companies to show and advertise their products. The number of people that said "wow" when the Camaro appeared in Transformers is spectacular. I'm not saying it's a good car, but it allows companies to advertise the car in a way that isn't legally allowed in advertising. For example, cars cannot be depicted in advertisements doing excessive speeds. Ever see the "new Lancer with new Mivec engine" ad? Where the sheer acceleration of the car sucks the driver into the seat? A flash at the speedo, showed that they were only travelling at 50-60. I sometimes do find it excessive, but I generally do not have a problem with product placement. Why must bad product shown in product placement be shoddy? I don't think so. Sony makes brilliant laptops (with brilliantly excessive price tags) and Coca-Cola uses product placement excessively. Doesn't mean that these products are inferior. Now, I want to buy a Camaro. I like the idea of my car transforming into a robot to squash the people above me, and all those who are against me =]

  • Ben commented on 22/11/2008 22:23 Report abuse

    I was just thinking back to when Vista was first released. Product placements in movies doesn't annoy me nearly as much as a reputable (apparently) news website dedicating their entire interface to advertising a new operating system for a whole month. I suppose the line can be drawn where the placement becomes the feature and not just an added extra. If you notice it in a bad way, it's gone too far.

  • iconfess commented on 21/11/2008 18:33 Report abuse

    No company would dedicate squillions of dollars to this sort of thing if it didn't work. Nor would the Bond Franchise ever equip Jimbo with an Acer laptop and a pair of Dunlop Volleys — so the product has to have some cred in its own right. But I do find it off-putting when it's as gratuitous as, say, 'Cast Away'. I'm equally disturbed when the CNET homepage is occasionally embedded in a massive Samsung billboard. But it doesn't seem to stop you bagging them when deserved, which is admirable and I guess it helps pay the bills. This post was typed on the new ACME 3000 keyboard. They're Ace!

  • bioxide commented on 21/11/2008 09:38 Report abuse

    Product placement is the equivelent to me off saying "we have to associate our product with something/someone else, an endorsement if you like and get as many people as possible to see this because we are not sure this is a good product" I agree with you in all ways possible, if companies have to fork out hundreds of thousands of dollars to get their product dubbed "the James Bond watch", i feel just the same as you in that the company may not be entirely confident with their product.

  • emile commented on 20/11/2008 22:40 Report abuse

    The synic in me is suspicous of product that a company goes to any length to promote. To me product placement smacks of desperatism, a lack of confience in their product. Product placement is the equivelent to me off saying "we have to associate our product with something/someone else, an endorsement if you like and get as many people as possible to see this because we are not sure this is a good product"

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