OMG He Uses Nivea Lip Balm!
In the Frontline episode "Making Cents out of Teens: Merchants of Cool" they talk about how some programs are just really long commercials. They make the plot specifically to advertise the product.
I personally have not encountered any movies or programs that I have been able to tell that they are just made to advertise the product, but I have seen many products placed in these movies or programs. A good movie that shows this (as a joke) is the Truman Show. It's a movie about a guy who has his entire life on a live television show, and you can see the producers placing the products, and Truman has to endorse them.
I watch Korean dramas, and I notice that while food is a product placement (like it mostly is in America), they also have a lot of makeup and skin care products as product placement. And it is super obvious, while I see American food placement a bit more subtle. The drama will show the main female lead washing her face, then sit in her chair and complete the full routine with products from one line. They spend at least three minutes on this, which is quite a long time. But what I find interesting that Korean dramas do that American TV shows do not do, is name their sponsors. Either at the very beginning or the very end, there will be a card with the Korean sponsors.
A lot of celebrities have to be careful with what they say and do because they are usually paid to endorse products, so they do not want to endorse any products that they are not getting paid for. For example, I like this Korean boy band named BTS. They have 'Bangtan Bombs' which are little clips into the boys' lives. One time, the youngest member Jungkook accidentally endorsed a Nivea lip balm. He was joking around about how soft his lips were, said oh I use this lip balm and showed the Nivea lip balm on camera. After that, the sales for Nivea lip balm rose significantly.
Product placement, endorsement, and "programs" that are just really long commercials are weird and very manipulative.
I personally have not encountered any movies or programs that I have been able to tell that they are just made to advertise the product, but I have seen many products placed in these movies or programs. A good movie that shows this (as a joke) is the Truman Show. It's a movie about a guy who has his entire life on a live television show, and you can see the producers placing the products, and Truman has to endorse them.
I watch Korean dramas, and I notice that while food is a product placement (like it mostly is in America), they also have a lot of makeup and skin care products as product placement. And it is super obvious, while I see American food placement a bit more subtle. The drama will show the main female lead washing her face, then sit in her chair and complete the full routine with products from one line. They spend at least three minutes on this, which is quite a long time. But what I find interesting that Korean dramas do that American TV shows do not do, is name their sponsors. Either at the very beginning or the very end, there will be a card with the Korean sponsors.
A lot of celebrities have to be careful with what they say and do because they are usually paid to endorse products, so they do not want to endorse any products that they are not getting paid for. For example, I like this Korean boy band named BTS. They have 'Bangtan Bombs' which are little clips into the boys' lives. One time, the youngest member Jungkook accidentally endorsed a Nivea lip balm. He was joking around about how soft his lips were, said oh I use this lip balm and showed the Nivea lip balm on camera. After that, the sales for Nivea lip balm rose significantly.
Product placement, endorsement, and "programs" that are just really long commercials are weird and very manipulative.
Comments
Post a Comment