Sneaky Advertising

[dashu1]

Interesting piece on the BBC about how products are being placed into film & TV in post production to make sure the viewers see the products rather than skipping the adverts:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22066153

I can imagine TV programs & films becoming over the top in terms of advertising with brands stuffed in at every conceivable moment.

 

[DaveLeeds]

The other day I watched 'The day the earth stood still' and their reference to McDon*lds isn't subtle.
It almost made me want to go out and buy a horse.

Interesting piece on the BBC about how products are being placed into film & TV in post production to make sure the viewers see the products rather than skipping the adverts:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22066153

I can imagine TV programs & films becoming over the top in terms of advertising with brands stuffed in at every conceivable moment.

 

[Darren]

I can imagine TV programs & films becoming over the top in terms of advertising with brands stuffed in at every conceivable moment.

Have films not always been funded this way?

 

[dashu1]

Have films not always been funded this way?

Not overtly, but what they can do now is take a TV series or film and add products relevant to the different markets (e.g. countries), so rather than seeing a Hollywood film in a UK cinema with someone eating something we don't have here like twinkies or drinking a beer that isn't that popular they can replace it with something that is.

I guess since they can even take a product like a phone that is being held by an actor and change it to another model, they could retrospectively promote products, so you might see Eddie Murphy in Trading Places having his brick of a mobile phone replaced with an iphone, etc.

 

[cm1975]

The best product placement has to be in Wayne's World.

I think the most interesting aspect is that this is done post-production, so in theory, you could tailor the advertising to the country you are in.

For example, one of the products mentioned in the BBC article was Lancia. If that programme was shown here, then they could obviously change that to Fiat, as Lancia doesn't sell cars in the UK.

I imagine one of the places you'll see it fairly soon would be sporting events. Imagine how much more money that UEFA / FIFA / IOC could make by selling advertising rights on a country by country basis.

 

[newguy]

Don't forget billboards in racing games etc. With many future games consoles moving towards an 'always on' internet connection model, I suspect we'll be seeing even more of this kind of thing too.

 

[dashu1]

Yes there are examples on the websites of some of the companies doing it where they have a big logo superimposed on a cricket pitch for example, and that could be different in every country giving them lots of advertising fees for the same program.

 

[Edwin]

Interesting piece on the BBC about how products are being placed into film & TV in post production to make sure the viewers see the products rather than skipping the adverts:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22066153

I can imagine TV programs & films becoming over the top in terms of advertising with brands stuffed in at every conceivable moment.

Yes, I guess the future PEPSI of movies is going to be very GOOGLE brand-friendly. Not only gratuitous MERCEDES mentions of brands at various KIT-KAT random plot turns, but also product ARIEL placements crudely ADIDAS shoe-horned into the film.

Ultimately, we're going to end up with film titles like "Star Wars 9: The Red Bull Extreme Wars"

 

[dashu1]

The other thing they're talking about (which ironically was banded around right back when digital set top boxes were being designed) was the ability to tailor ads to the person watching the show.

So with this technology one person might see a bus stop with beauty products advertised on it, while another might see pet insurance, and another might see Pizza Hut depending on their demographic.

 

[fresh79]

So with this technology one person might see a bus stop with beauty products advertised on it, while another might see pet insurance, and another might see Pizza Hut depending on their demographic.

Or an advert saying "find local singles tonight" or "mature dating" - how embarrassing would that be if it came up at a bus stop! lol

 

[Edwin]

Or an advert saying "find local singles tonight" or "mature dating" - how embarrassing would that be if it came up at a bus stop! lol

Or during Cbeebies...

 

[Admin]

The bus shelter even looks totally fake.

On other shows, like X-Factor, they actually fuzz out the Coke logos on the judges drinks etc. so technology allows them to have it either way.

Ads are here to stay.

I just wish FB wouldn't recommend dating sites to me everytime I log in, is it that obvious I need a new GF?

Admin

 

[Aegean]

I'm not sure how many people realise it but the BBC itself is absolutely covered in ads when viewed from abroad.

When I look at the main BBC news website, (the uk not .com) which I do every day, its covered in ads including video ads, a bit like the youtube ones, on most stories in the BBC news section.

There is also Google ads all over the place. I was trying to go down the most popular videos list on BBC news and had to endure a 30 sec "invest in singapore" advert on every video except one. You cant skip it.

The same goes for BBC world news on my satellite TV, it has lots of ads as does BBC knowledge and BBC entertainment.

 

[dashu1]

I'm not sure how many people realise it but the BBC itself is absolutely covered in ads when viewed from abroad.

When I look at the main BBC news website, (the uk not .com) which I do every day, its covered in ads including video ads, a bit like the youtube ones, on most stories in the BBC news section.

There is also Google ads all over the place. I was trying to go down the most popular videos list on BBC news and had to endure a 30 sec "invest in singapore" advert on every video except one. You cant skip it.

The same goes for BBC world news on my satellite TV, it has lots of ads as does BBC knowledge and BBC entertainment.

Wow I didn't realise the BBC were at it, that's quite shocking it surely leaves the question of impartiality in doubt.

I find it really annoying when the vids have ads you have to watch first, I often just don't bother.

The other one that really annoys me is on newspaper sites where it starts playing videos whether you want it to or not.

 

[GreyWing]

I don't think BBC worldwide is owned 100% by the BBC in the UK, I think they are in partnership with others if memory serves me correctly. I'm almost certain it istreated as a "for-profit" organisation.

 

[Aaron Clifford]

Most major film studios have deals with large companies to feature their products, often it pays for a fair bulk of the film budget. Morgan Spurlocks documentary "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" is well worth a watch if your interested in finding out more information on product placement.

To add... http://www.brandchannel.com/brandcameo_films.asp?movie_year=2012 provides you with a list of most films with the product placements, you'll see several companies on some, it all adds up to big money.

The laws in the UK changed at the end of 2011 allowing TV programmes to feature product placements. (Reference).

So to comment on the title of your thread, its not really sneaky, most are aware of product placement,and as said in the article above a big P is displayed on UK shows.

 

[Aaron Clifford]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc.com/faq/