ARTelevision

Well, as you know, I don't think we choose them. I think they are foisted upon us. We're talking about the most virulent and infectious memes on the planet here.

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ARTelevision

There’s a recent book that updates subliminal studies. It’s available from the site that’s watermarked on the image above.

It is an example from the book – it’s a new one for me and I thought I’d pass it on.
Here’s the author’s commentary with a close-up of the image below that.

“
August Bullock. From Highlights of The Secret Sales Pitch: An Overview of Subliminal Advertising.

This advertisement contains an optical illusion that will become dramatically obvious once it is pointed out to you.

The caption says “If you got crushed in the clinch with your soft pack, try our hard pack.” The play on the words “hard” and “soft” is difficult to overlook; the ad seems to be promising virility and potency to the prospective male purchaser of Benson & Hedges.

The picture portrays a young man and woman embracing each other. If you just glanced at the expression on the man’s face for a moment or two, you would probably assume that he is smug, as though he were thinking “If you smoked Benson &Hedges you too would have beautiful women chasing after you.” If you study the expression on his face, however, you will discover that it is somewhat ambiguous. He could be smug, but he also could be a bit nervous. It is possible that the aggressive advances of the lovely young woman are making him uncomfortable.

Some people have suggested the man shares a secret with male viewers that the woman doesn’t know about. I wondered what the man’s secret could be. I hung the ad on my wall for several weeks and looked at it every day, until one morning it suddenly jumped out at me.

Look at the man’s left hand, the lower hand in the photograph. It is resting gently against the lady’s backbone.

The lady’s backbone has been carefully airbrushed to resemble an erect, male phallus. It is six and a half inches long in the scale of the photograph. It is circumcised, and the tip of it is about to enter a cylindrical curl formed by the lady’s hair.


The longer you look at it, the more obvious it becomes. If you study the close up you will see that the man’s hand is clearly wrapped around a cylindrical object that can’t possibly be part of the woman’s anatomy.
On a conscious level the Benson & Hedges ad promises sexual excitement, but on an unconscious level it stimulates sexual anxiety. The reason for this is that anxiety is associated with maladaptive behaviors like smoking, drinking, and overeating. We all realize that people smoke more when they are nervous; therefore, if you make them nervous you induce them to smoke more. If they know you are trying to make them nervous, however, they will resent the ad and avoid the product. In order to be effective, the ad must present a dual message: one that is consciously understood and presents a socially acceptable theme, and another that resonates with powerful secret motivations the viewer remains unaware of.
“

Here’s the close-up


…….

As far as examples of subliminal imagery in advertising go, this is a good one – a classic.
As always, draw your own conclusions.

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Cynthetiq

good follow up...

I've been watching TV here and most hotels cater to German and Scandanavians.

there's a large amount of German tourism that there's several German TV channels. One noted thing.. before the advertisement section starts... it starts with a small bumper that reads, werbung, or advertisement/promotion. Almost like a wake up call to remind you that adverts will be foisted upon you.

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ARTelevision

Yeah - be sure not to get crushed in the clinch with your soft pack...but if does happen, not to worry, we can always try their hard pack...

heh heh

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biznatch

are you saying that even if we don't consciously distinguish a male penis at quick glance, it is what our subconcious perceives ?? That's pretty freaky.. Politicians could airbrush erect penises on their faces to make them look more masculine.
(just kidding). But it truly is frightening that most (and I mean 99%) of the people do not sense these strong messages.
Any way to train ourselves to not be fooled by these ads?

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ARTelevision

This thread - for me - is about raising the questions that are implict in my posts. IMO the best training is to train ourselves to think critically as regards media and to find out what may be going on in situations that are man-made for the purpose of influencing our behavior in some way.

I start out with the observation that - as social beings - we are highly susceptible to cultural influences. This makes me both curious, skeptical, and critical of media.

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biznatch

Pretty tough though. I mean, we can't always be on our guard..
Yesterday I watched TV for the first time in a looong while. But I wasn't in the mood to look critically at what they fed me and probably swallowed a huge heap of bs.
We might be able to discern some implicit messages in media..but its so overwhelming that we can't control the flow of info entering our brain. Its beyond us, IMO...I don't think people living in modern society can really keep a "clean mind" (if there is such a thing)...even if you do develop an awareness and a critical opinion for the influence these media have on people, you can't escape it. It's everywhere.

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ngdawg

Biznatch- I may have posted this quite a while ago, but it pertains to the recent direction as shown in the cigarette ad.
(you may have already encountered this in some other conversations as well)
What do you see?

ARTelevision

biznatch - I actually agree with you. I do the best I can - but my own view is that these forces happen to be far more powerful than an individual mind is capable of combating. This is a long thread - there's a lot of discussion and point/counterpoint to it. I'm glad you find it interesting.

ng, thanks. It is good to let a few posts go by before explaining things. More fun for all that way.

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Cynthetiq

constant critical thinking is the only defense.

it isn't just at the time of viewing but also at the times of procuring and purchasing. I try to think about the WHY I want a particular product over another... good examples are detergents, all of them get your clothes clean, while some do contain phosphates which some people are allergic to, what's the illusion of difference? brighter? cleaner? whiter?

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ngdawg

Consumer reports actually did a comparison of major detergents quite a while back(and probably did again since). The main difference between them all? Scent. Not one failed to clean clothes. In this category, Tide is probably the biggest seller-but go to a Sam's Club or Costco and look at the huge tubs-Tide is several dollars more for the same amount as one called Gain, so i bought that. Makes my laundry smell like burned wood, though, so now I have to put in fabric softner. Did I save any money? Maybe a little, factoring in the purchase of the softner.
I like to think I'm a savvy enough consumer in that I try to never buy any product simply because of its advertising factors. Cost is the biggest issue with me, coupled with ease of use or convenience to me. On the other hand, if a store brand of, say, vegetables comes with wasteful stems or bad pieces, and we know that national brand does not, that needs to be a factor as well. I think Art's recent truck purchase is an excellent example of consumer thinking-why a pretty Chevy(although his dealing is admirable) and not a plain Ford F150? When we bought our first PT, we had no idea what we were getting into-we loved the look,price was excellent and ordered it without seeing one for real, plus we did the 'build a car' online and made only one change when we went to the dealer-I refused to fall for the 'but you need these heated seats' type of pitch. While many were paying over 25 grand for theirs, mine came in at under 20 grand. Only in buying a second one, did we do it with personal knowledge of the car, not only by a heartfelt desire for it. The ideal consumer never uses his/her emotional reaction to a product, but it's a conscious battle to not give in to the 'gotta have that' mentality. The powers that be know this and they have every intention of winning-I have no intention of losing.

ARTelevision

I do things for exclusively aesthetic reasons. That is my choice. Everything I have ever done is done for pure aesthetics. That's the reason why I do what I do.

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ngdawg

Aesthetics is why we get what we get as well-I wouldn't get the latest and greatest based solely on its being the latest and greatest. It's why I wear what I wear, use what I use. Balance between desire and practicality should be foremost.Sometimes, only practicality wins out-wanting some gorgeous jacket isn't practical if it doesn't keep me warm. Had our PT's been 40 grand, we certainly would not have gotten them. (in fact, the spouse's has more on his and came in at $2,000 less than mine 2 years earlier).
Consumerism banks on desire alone-sometimes not having extra cash floating around to fulfill those desires is a good thing-practicality usually wins the round once desire and aesthetics comes to play.
Good case in point: http://www.underconsideration.com/sp...es/002166.html

ARTelevision

Yes, of course. Good aesthetics involves good pragmatics IMO.
SO what's with the FedEx logo above?

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biznatch

OK...several things I have tried to see in the Fedex...I tried to look "unfocusly" at the picture, ...(if you know what I mean, not to look at the letters themselves..but rather the shape) and saw that the first F, the d and the final x formed Fox...(I dont think it means anything...or should I say a "trigger word" )...
Also Ex..x...X...everywhere...two S in "Express" ...well SEX basicly all around the damn letters...
and maybe the general shape of a gun formed by the whole thing...
in this kind of shape
****
**
Well reminds me of a gun [and that would be a trigger.(Shit! no pun intended. I swear!)]
Also...the arrow formed by "Ex" ?
I don't know...I have to admit it does puzzle me...
All these things I said above are really guesses that probably have nothing to do...
Well if you take the first "e" as an "o" and take the "d" after that as an "ol" you get something like Fool->x (which, granted, does not make any sense)
Waiiit a minute...why is the orange "Ex" formed of a lot of little "x" (plural..""x"s?)...is it pixellisation or on purpose?
Whatever. I give up. Give us some hints.

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ngdawg

The arrow between the E and X is deliberate, denoting moving forward.

biznatch

OK..but all the rest of the heap of confused thoughts I threw in that reply? are some close? Anyway, I guess most of BIG company logos are made to stay imprinted in the mind...So. yeah, moving on..what do you think about it Art?

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ngdawg

HEHE-I think that logo is done just for the purpose of getting you to wonder what is going on with it once the idea that something is there is put into your head. Now, you are going to notice that arrow on every Fedex truck or package you see, when you never noticed it before. Funny how the the mind works, eh?

ARTelevision

Thanks, ng.
biznatch, I think it's important to remind us that the creators of ads use techniques that operate below our particular thresholds of conscious awareness. Our projections become a part of the content we derive from our experience of the world.

This is an important point. The fact that we project the material of our own minds upon the "blank slate" of what we consider the "real world" to be, causes the contents of our minds to become an integral part of what we "read into" our experience of the world. For example, if our minds are filled with repressed sexuality - we see sex everywhere we look. It doesn't take much to manipulate brains like that by suggestive cues...

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ARTelevision

August Bullock, the author of The Secret Sales Pitch: An Overview of Subliminal Advertising was recently interviewed. The interview provides a good start toward thinking through many of the issues covered in the course of this thread.

Click the link below and scroll down to "The Secret Sales Pitch" to access a streaming audio version of the program.

Link to The Secret Sales Pitch audio file page

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kurtisj

This stuff is crazy, its wierd how you dont notice some of the subliminal messages until you sit down and look at them for the third or fourth time, sounds like a good topic for a paper in a psychology class to me...

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Cynthetiq

having just spent 2 weeks in Europe... watching British, Spanish, German TV... I can see that they are much more sensitive to advertising... Also, there just wasn't so much of it either at this point in time. While I didn't compare to see if a 30 min show was 22 minutes with 8 minutes of commercials, it was not in the same 7-8 minute bursts of show and then commercials.

German had the WERBUNG bumpers before the commercials and Spain had PUBLICIDAD.

Also the girls type phone chat stuff was topless nudity but only after 11pm.

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ARTelevision

This book documents the notion – blatantly obvious to me - that we are influenced by the media. Specifically, it describes the manner in which violent media messages propagate violent behavior and violent tendencies in populations exposed to these messages.

It is beginning to seem to me that our blinders toward the larger issues having to do with media manipulation are indeed a powerful form of denial. There seems no other explanation for the manner in which we submit to media and refuse to express alarm over its power to affect our thinking and behavior.

Anyone who observes young people can also observe the overwhelming power of pop-cultural suggestion acting throughout their lives. Likewise, anyone who observes people of any age – it seems to me - should be able to see the same thing. The fact that we tend to minimize this and also the strength with which we disavow its effect on us personally is always noteworthy. We have a great deal invested in our self-images – as impregnable and under our own control.

A reading of this particular work should help make the case – in at least one area of media influence.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

The Copycat Effect : How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headlines

by Loren Coleman

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly

According to Coleman, the media's attitude is "death sells... if it bleeds, it leads." The author, who has written and lectured extensively on the impact of media, mounts a convincing case against newspapers, TV and books that sensationalize murders and suicides, thus encouraging others to imitate destructive crimes. He traces the problem's roots to Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), which spotlighted a fellow who shot himself over a failed romance and inspired many young men to do the same. The novel encouraged widespread use of the term "the Werther Effect" when referring to copycat catastrophes. Coleman addresses Marilyn Monroe's 1962 death, pointing out that thanks to extensive coverage of the star's passing, "the suicide rate in the United States increased briefly by 12%." Other subjects include the 2002 Washington-area snipers John Muhammad and John Lee Malvo, whose actions spawned numerous sniper killings; suicide clusters among fourth-century Greeks; cult leaders Charles Manson and David Koresh, who attained gruesome glamour through melodramatic press perusal; Jack the Ripper—who created copycat killers from the late 1800s into the 20th century—and today's suicide bombers. Although readers may feel there's little they can do to muzzle media destructiveness, Coleman presents his advice to with enough punch to intrigue the public and possibly exert a minor influence on the press.
...................

(from the Publisher)

VIOLENCE BEGETS VIOLENCE BEGETS VIOLENCE...

A disturbed student shoots up his classroom -- and suddenly a wave of mass murder is sweeping through our nation's schools. A young child is taken from her home -- and for months afterward child abductions are frantically reported on an almost daily basis. A surfer is attacked by a shark -- and the public spends an entire summer fearing an onslaught of the deadly underwater predators. Why do the terrible events we see in the media always seem to lead to more of the same?
Noted author and cultural behaviorist Loren Coleman explores how the media's over-saturated coverage of murders, suicides, and deadly tragedies makes an impact on our society. This is The Copycat Effect -- the phenomenon through which violent events spawn violence of the same type.
From recognizing the emerging patterns of the Copycat Effect, to how we can deal with and counteract its consequences as individuals and as a culture, Loren Coleman has uncovered a tragic flaw of the information age -- a flaw which must be corrected before the next ripples of violence spread.

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ARTelevision

Here's a link that relates to the previous entry:

http://www.copycateffect.com/



The predilection we have for aping the appearance, content, and behaviors that are broadcast our way via cultural media is noteworthy and eminently discussable. Everything I learned as a youth about how to look, think, and behave I learned from mass media. I suspect that is simply the case with us all.

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Cynthetiq

I've never heard of this propanda guideline.... but found this article this morning.

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biznatch

Yeah, every 12 year old kid might wanna talk and act like Keanu Reeves after the Matrix series came out...
The copycat effect on violence is more frightening than the celebrity imitations, though.
But these effects only do take place on few cases...I mean the guys who shoot up schools or snipe out civilians are still kind of crazy to begin with, right? I don't see myself blowing up in a crowd of people because the media overexposes terrorist suicide bombings..
Even if the media pushes them (the crazy people) to use that destructive potential in a certain way, what tells us they wouldn't have killed people in a different sick and original way if the media did not over expose this violence?
Or maybe what pushes them to violence is watching(or rather seeing) CNN for hours and seeing those images repeating themselves for hours through and let them take over their system...
Its true that media, with a lot of close up images and videos of scenes of violence makes these horrible acts seem normal....they become a part of everyday life.
I dunno, its all scary. Even the TV news isn't safe anymore...

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Charlatan

Art... the copycat effect seems to contradict what most people are saying about videogames and kids (see the thread somewhere here on TFP)...

The link between violence and the violence we see on TV and video games, I would suggest, is not a one to one causal relationship but rather a big part of the problem. A Madge would say, "You're soaking in it."

It isn't just the violence, it is everything else, the ads, the news, etc. The general media cocophony from which we are supposed to derive meaning... A meaning that is often subtly imposed on our subconsciousness where it mashes up against other messages...

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ARTelevision

Yes. Personally, I hear the majority of individual consumers whose refutations of the copycat effect - and media influence in general - reflecting upon their own experience as strong assertions of denial. That is to be expected. We have our sense of inviolable integrity to protect.

Yes, Charlatan. We are soaking in it. We are immersed in it. We have become it and it has become us.

I'm attaching an ad here with no additional discussion just for the edification of those who've become somewhat sensitized to the many ways in which we're led by the noses via our powerful sex drives.

Sex drives us to take in all the visual innuendo we can. The union of showing us things and our need to read as much into them for the purpose of satisfying our endless prurience results in the confluence of media and perception - the final connection takes place in our minds. Being aware of it is not something that happens automatically.

Working through threads/discussions like this does, I think, give us some perspective on what may be going on here and elsewhere...

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spived2

Wow that's a great picture Art. What I see from left to right:
Guy on the left in yellow swim trunks has girl in white bikini bent over, the guy on the raft appears to be giving oral the the girl directly in front of him. The guy in the middle seems to have his hand somewhere on the girl that's bending over, and way in the background I see a man behind a girl that's bent over on all fours.

At first all I saw was a lot of skin, but it didn't really take long to notice all the subliminal sex in this photo. By any chance do you have a larger version of this photo?

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"This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." - V

ARTelevision

I don't spived2. But yeah. I also appreciate the yellow dong that extends between the girl's legs - sort of an extension of the guy in the yellow shorts behind her. (far left middle of the image). The girl getting paddled is another classic double entendre pose...

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BurntToast

This thread is amazing. I have read up to post #80 and skipped around a few pages and it really has me thinking. One of my first thoughts is how, when I read this thread, I was sort of awakened, like the people in The Matrix. I then realized that I just referred the likeness of my thoughts to a commercial franchise. Thats kinda scary.

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ARTelevision

Sometimes it's just good enough to let Ad people speak for themselves. The combination of utter seriousness, big buck campaigns, and the stupid products at the heart of this sort of thing does speak volumes about the kind of world we inhabit.

................................................

www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3486781

Frito-Lay Urges "Millennials" to Seize the Moment
By Pamela Parker
March 2, 2005

In late January, billboards with the cryptic message "inNw?" began appearing across the country. Since then, the campaign expanded to TV, text messaging, and a Web site that reveals ... the mystery. The campaign's message: "If not now when?"

The mysterious effort is promoting a new Doritos flavor, Black Pepper Jack, to 16-24 year olds, a group PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division calls "Millennials."

"'If not now when?' is all about living life in the now and taking advantage of every single opportunity possible," said Lora DeVuono, advertising VP for Frito-Lay North America, in a statement. "This attitude is what is important to Millennials, and it's how they look at the Doritos brand."

The main agency behind the concept and the traditional advertising is BBDO New York. Tribal DDB Dallas created the Web site and online advertising. Hip Cricket, a Connecticut-based mobile marketing firm, designed the mobile marketing interaction. Spending on the effort wasn't disclosed.

The shorthand language of the campaign, including the central "inNw," is inspired by the way teens use text messaging and IM (define) to communicate. One billboard urges viewers to "Gt 2 Kno Jack," while the Web site urges people to "Speak UR Mind" and "Vote 4 UR Fave Music Videos." Text messages sent as part of the campaign tell people, "U culd win cul stuff frm Doritos, incl ipods, Digi Cams, DVDs + mor!"

"That's the language the Millennials speak these days, and that was a great fit for us to experiment with text messaging," Jared Dougherty, a spokesperson for Frito-Lay, told ClickZ News. Dougherty says it's the first time the company has tried text messaging in a campaign.

Text messages and billboards send users to the campaign's Web site, at innw.com. The site rewards people's curiosity by explaining that "inNw?" stands for "If not now when?"

"We were charged with taking that [concept] and making it come to life online," said Scott Johnson, executive creative director of Tribal DDB Worldwide. "We thought clearly the most important word in that phrase is 'now.' We wanted to design a site that really expressed 'now' in a completely different way."

To do that, Tribal DDB built a site whose main element is video of people walking by. As they stroll past, they seem to touch the screen, generating little icons with codes on them, such as "MYTUNE," "COWPOK," and "MATCHIT." Site visitors can drag those icons and enter the codes into the INNW? Instant Messenger alongside the video display. Different codes generate different rewards. Some link users to screensaver downloads, others to streaming audio, and still others to advergames.

"You have to act now if you want to take advantage of the code and unlock whatever is associated with that icon," said Johnson.

The video's background adds more immediacy: it's synched to the user's computer clock. A viewer checking out the site at twilight would see characters walking by at twilight.

"We're also planning on continually refreshing with new backgrounds and new people and new things you can unlock," said Johnson.

Online ads to drive users to the site include a sponsorship of Yahoo! Music's "Dig It or Dis It." The creative promotes a sweepstakes, the innw.com site, and the Black Pepper Jack Doritos.

The text messaging portion of the campaign began with the teaser billboards, which urged people to text "46691" on their mobile phones with the message "innw?" When they did, they received a reply from Doritos asking them to guess what "innw" meant. The intent was to get people to communicate with Doritos, but most messages simply encouraged users to visit the Web site. "Go 2 innw.com anytime 2 c whats goin on," read one message.

Though the campaign has been running since late January, Frito-Lay won't provide visitor numbers or provide any data that would measure success.

Dougherty would only say, "We're off to a great start."

..............................................................................

Remember we're talking about a piece of junk food here...

http://www.innw.com/

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Cynthetiq

I saw this billboard here in Times Square and scratched my head...

I recognized the short numbers as SMS text stuff... but I wasn't sure who the ad targeted.

I was actually thinking that it was for W Hotels... Inn W is what I got out of it...

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spived2

I think it's a pretty bad ad campaign myself. I fall into that age group and I know that no one that I talk to on IM EVER just cuts letters out to make words. It looks sloppy and almost seems offensive. And all that mystery over a new chip, whoop de do. They sound good, I'd probably try it if I saw it at the stores, but that's just the name of the chip that draws me in. Seems like they'll probably end up losing money over time.

__________________

"This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." - V

Cynthetiq

Product placement article in NY Times.

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ARTelevision

Product placement is, by definition, marketing on the periphery of awareness - in so far as the main focus of attention is not on the product. It enter our consciousness via our peripheral vision.

There is very little difference - if any - between peripheral perception and subliminal suggestion.

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biznatch

So how does it work, exactly? In a movie, one would place, lets say, a coke bottle someplace where it wouldn't seem out of place, and our brain would register it ? But we'd want go out and buy Coke?

ARTelevision

Here's an overview:

http://money.howstuffworks.com/product-placement.htm

..........................................
(see article above for photos)


How Product Placement Works

by Katherine Neer

The latest trend in advertising is to make it, well, less advertorial. The tendency is to move away from in-your-face ads, where the product is the star, to mini-movies or quasi-documentary vignettes that feature "real-life scenarios" with the product(s) hovering in the background. Some would argue it's a sort of "art imitating art imitating life" scenario -- where ads are imitating the practice of product placement.

Photo courtesy Amazon.com
The DeLorean played a prominent role
in the "Back to the Future" movies.

This may seem a bit confusing, but really, it's quite simple. The majority of us are getting tired of ads. Today's consumer is inundated with advertising eveywhere: television, radio, billboards, magazines, buses, newspapers, the Internet... And these are just the usual suspects. More and more ad-space is popping up every day. From people walking down the street wearing signs, to flyers on our cars and in our mailboxes, to ads on the ATM screen as we wait for it to dispense our cash -- we see ads all day, every day.

Even television networks that depend on advertising dollars to stay in business know that it can be useful to ditch the interruptions and present a show without ads from time to time. The ABC network did it for "Gideon's Crossing" in 2000 and for "Alias" in 2001. FOX did it for its hit series "24" in 2002.

Photo courtesy Isabella Vosmikova/FOX
Apple laptop computer on "24"

Wait a minute -- networks turning down cold, hard advertising cash? That doesn't sound quite right, does it? Of course they don't drop the advertising dollars all together. If you watched that "ad-free" version of "24" you know what we're talking about. Ford sponsored the show with two three-minute spots opening and closing the episode. And, Ford vehicles have been integrated into the show -- the main character, Jack Bauer, drives a Ford Expedition.

So, when is an ad not an ad? When it's a product placement. Once mainly found only on the big screen, product placement has been making quite a few appearances on television -- not to mention in video games and even books. In this article, we'll explain what product placement is and examine how it is used in movies, television shows and other media.

What is Product Placement?
Have you ever watched a television show or a movie and felt like you were watching a really long commercial? If so, then you've been the victim of bad product placement. There's certainly a line that can be crossed when presenting brand-name items as props within the context of a movie, television show, or music video. Clever marketing folks try never to cross that line. They want their products to be visible within a scene, but not the focus. The product needs to fit, almost seamlessly (almost being the key word here) into the shot and context of the scene.

When done correctly, product placement can add a sense of realism to a movie or television show that something like a can simply marked "soda" cannot.

Photo courtesy Isabella Vosmikova/FOX
Perhaps the producers of "24" did not find a phone company that wanted to sponsor this episode.

Product placement is something that dates back to at least the early 1950s when Gordon's Gin paid to have Katharine Hepburn's character in "The African Queen" toss loads of their product overboard. Since then, there have been countless placements in thousands of movies.

Think about it. You can probably remember quite a few examples. One of the most commonly discussed is the placement of Reese's Pieces in the movie "E.T." Originally intended for another product (they melt in your mouth, but not in your hand), this prime spot essentially catapulted these tiny peanut butter morsels into mainstream popularity. A slightly more recent and easily as effective example is the placement of Red Stripe, a Jamaican-brewed beer, in the movie "The Firm." According to BusinessWeek Online, Red Stripe sales saw an increase of more than 50% in the U.S. market in the first month of the movie's release.

Now that you have an idea of what product placement is, let's take a look at some of the basics involved in leveraging a product placement arrangement.

Product Placement Basics
A worldwide trend in advertising, product placement is a vehicle for everything from foodstuffs to electronics to automobiles. So, how does it work, exactly? It's actually pretty simple. Basically, there are three ways product placement can occur:

It simply happens.
It's arranged, and a certain amount of the product serves as compensation.
It's arranged, and there is financial compensation.
If the Shoe, Shirt, Car or Soda Fits...
Sometimes product placement just happens. A set dresser, producer, director, or even an actor might come across something he thinks will enhance the project. Usually this has to do with boosting the level of credibility or realism of the story being told. One example can be found in the surprising use of a can of RAID -- an ant killer made by the SC Johnson company -- in an episode of the popular HBO series "The Sopranos." The poisonous prop was used in a particularly violent fight scene in the show. According to an article in USA Today, Therese Van Ryne, a spokeswoman for SC Johnson, said the company was not approached about the use of their product and they would not have given it a thumbs-up.

For illustrative purposes throughout the rest of this article, we can create a less controversial scenario. Let's say the main character in a program or movie is an unmarried, successful, well-travelled architect in his thirties. From this description, it's easy to start thinking up things to enhance the feel of this character. Maybe he'd drive an SUV -- the four-wheel drive would come in handy when visiting building sites. He'd read particular magazines, drink certain wines, eat certain foods... In making the character's life seem real, products necessarily come into play.

Repo Man

Photo courtesy Amazon.com

In the 1984 cult classic "Repo Man," genericized foodstuffs and other consumables rule. With plain blue and white labels that simply read "Food," "Cigarettes," "Whiskey," and "Beer" appearing in most scenes, it's obvious that the producers had almost no luck with product placement deals.
The one uber-evident product that is placed in frame after frame are tree-shaped air fresheners. These fragrant props hang in just about every moving vehicle in the movie -- even the police motorcycle has one. According to The Internet Movie Database, the company that makes the air fresheners was one of the sponsors of the movie.

Let's Make a Deal
As we mentioned earlier, arranged product placement deals fall into two categories:

Trade-off of integration or placement for a supply of product
Financial compensation for placement or integration
The most common type of deal is a simple exchange of the product for the placement. Using our existing example, let's say the production team wants The Architect to display a quirky affinity for a particular type of beverage. This will come across rather strongly over the course of the program (because the character even collects the drink's labels) -- which means the chosen product could get a lot of air time. It turns out that someone on the crew knows someone who works for Honest Tea. The movie people approach the Honest Tea folks with a proposal and a deal is made; in exchange for the airtime, the cast and crew are provided with an ample supply of various Honest Tea drinks at work.

Sometimes, a gift of the product isn't an appropriate form of compensation, so money powers the deal.

It's a Miss!
Like lots of advertising methods, product placement can be hit or miss. One particular example of product placement gone awry is the Reebok/Jerry Maguire fiasco.
Reportedly, Reebok had a placement agreement to integrate one of its commercials at the end of the film "Jerry Maguire." The commercial didn't make it to production -- but something else regarding Reebok did. In a pivotal scene, Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character makes disparaging remarks about the company.

Imagine that the marketing team at Tag Heuer has heard about this project and feels that, given the starpower of the actor playing The Architect, this project would be a great vehicle for showcasing its product. Someone from Tag Heuer approaches the set dresser with a financially lucrative proposal. Eventually, they come to an agreement. Consider this scene: Our male character (The Architect) stands outside a movie theater waiting to meet a friend. The camera pans down to show a slight tap of the actor's foot. Next, it moves up and zooms in to show him checking his wristwatch for the time. After switching from the actor's face to the face of the wristwatch, the camera pauses just long enough for you to really see the wristwatch. He's wearing a link-style, stainless steel Tag Heuer luxury sports-watch. The camera pans out and swings around, introducing a beautiful woman into the scene... During the next hour of the program, the wristwatch casually appears in several scenes.

Both teams are happy -- the integration of the Tag Heuer product is a success. Remember, the advertised product's role is to be part of an ensemble cast rather than the (obvious) star. Tag Heuer manages to reap the benefits of conventional advertising without being overly obvious or intrusive to the audience/consumers.

Getting the Job Done
Before product placement really saw a surge in the mid 1980s, it was pretty much a DIY effort. Now there are specific corporate positions and entire agencies that can handle the job. Some larger corporations will dedicate personnel to scout out opportunities for product integration or placement within films, television shows and even games and music. This site provides suggestions on how to pick a product placement agency.

Product Placement in the Movies
The next time you watch a movie, try to keep an eye out for products or brand-names you recognize. It's highly likely that you'll see one of the major soft drink companies represented. Is it Coke? Pepsi? Snapple? Once you've spotted something, see how many other scenes include that product. You'll start to see a trend. "How," you'll wonder, "can the actor hold the Coke can just the right way every time so that the logo is perfectly visible?"

Take a minute to comb through your movie memories. You'll probably recall at least a few of these now-famous product placements:

Risky Business - Ray-Ban sunglasses
Back to the Future - Pepsi products
Demolition Man - Taco Bell (In the future, everything is Taco Bell...)
You've Got Mail - America On-Line (AOL), Apple, IBM and Starbucks
Austin Powers - Pepsi and Starbucks
Cast Away - FedEx and Wilson
Men in Black II - Ray-Ban sunglasses, Mercedes Benz, Sprint, Burger King
Product placement in movies is so ubiquitous that it's even become something to parody on the big screen. Two movies that do a good job of this are "Wayne's World" and "Josie and the Pussycats." In Wayne's World, the two main characters hawk a variety of stuff, including Nuprin, Pepsi, Pizza Hut and Reebok. The amusing part about this is that the product placement vignette takes place while the characters Wayne and Garth are lambasting the very thing they're doing. As Wayne says "Contract or no, I will not bow to any corporate sponsor," he is opening a Pizza Hut box and pulling out a slice of pizza. The camera lingers on the Pizza Hut logo and Wayne, holding the slice of pizza lovingly beside his face, smiles straight at the camera.

The movie "Josie and the Pussycats" takes the joke several steps further. A send-up on the music industry, "Josie and the Pussycats" manages to satirize name-brand integration throughout the film. To get an idea of just how saturated with brands, logos and products this movie is, here's a taste of what you can see in just the trailer alone (Keep in mind that the trailer is only two minutes and twenty-five seconds long!): America Online, American Express, Bebe, Billboard Magazine, Bugles, Campbell's Soup, Coke, Entertainment Weekly Magazine, Evian, Ford, Gatorade, Kodak, Krispy Kreme, McDonald's, Milky Way, Motorola, Pepperidge Farm Cookies, Pizza Hut, Pringles, Puma, Ray-Ban, Sega, Starbucks, Steve Madden, Target, and T.J. Maxx.

Cars in the Movies
Movie Car
Herbie, the Love Bug Volkswagen Beetle
RoboCop Ford Taurus
Back to the Future DeLorean
Smokey and the Bandit Pontiac Trans Am
The World Is Not Enough BMW Z8
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Jeep Wrangler Rubicon

Photo courtesy DaimlerChrysler
According to a 2003 Chrysler press release, "The Jeep Wrangler Rubicon is the most capable Jeep ever built, so the heroic and extreme environment in which Lara Croft uses her custom Wrangler Rubicon in Tomb Raider is accurate... This is more than just a product placement. We have created a 360-degree integrated marketing campaign around the movie and the debut of the Wrangler Rubicon Tomb Raider model."

Product Placement in the Movies: Audi RSQ
In 2004, product placement reached a new level with Audi's involvement with the movie "I, ROBOT."

Photo courtesy Audi.com
Will Smith and the Audi RSQ

The Audi RSQ concept car plays a central role in the futuristic action film. So how is this different from the placement of the BMW Z8 in "The World is Not Enough" or the DeLorean in "Back to the Future"? Audi didn't just place the RSQ in the movie; Audi created the RSQ for the movie.

Photo courtesy Audi.com

The Audi automotive brand has been involved in movies before. Audis have been featured in such movies as "Ronin," "The Insider," and "Mission Impossible II." This time, though, it wasn't just a question of promoting the right car in the right movie. It was a full-blown custom job. And since this custom job was also a product-placement job, the car had to fit seamlessly into the movie world while still screaming "Audi."

Photos courtesy Audi.com

The RSQ is not just a movie car -- those have been done before, with movie designers creating a car and simply attaching the highest-bidding car logo to the hood. Audi put the same amount of thought and detail into designing the RSQ as they do into designing any other concept car. It has a fully developed interior and exterior.

Photo courtesy Audi.com

The carmaker worked with the director of the movie, Alex Proyas, and with set designers to achieve a concept that both Audi and the movie people were happy with -- Audi designers toured the movie sets and got their hands on the futuristic props used in the film. The result of the collaborative effort is the futuristic RSQ sports coupe, featuring, most notably, spherical wheels, mid-engine design, butterfly-action doors, a color-changing, luminescent paint job and a low, sleek profile.

Photo courtesy Audi.com

In the creative partnership between a carmaker and Hollywood, we may be looking at the future of this type of advertising -- name-brand products that are not simply chosen to fill a role that benefits both parties, but products that are created to fill that role.

Product Placement on Television
Back to Basics
Radio and television dramas known as soap operas acquired their moniker from the products advertised during their shows. In addition to the standard 30-second spots -- and now a word from our sponsor -- the products were often integrated into the story line.
One of today's most popular soap operas, "All My Children," recently managed to revisit its advertising roots. But, instead of soap, the folks at AMC opted for cosmetics. In a story-line that spanned several months, famous cosmetics company Revlon was front and center in Pine Valley's plotline.

Product placement is not quite as widespread in TV land as it is in the movies, but it is a rapidly growing industry. More commonly referred to as product integration in this medium, this process has to share its advertising space with traditional advertising, also known as the 30-second spot. Since the beginning of televised programming, advertisers have shelled out the big bucks to promote their products and brands. The 30-second spot has been the reigning champion for a very long time. Does that mean there can only be one winner in the television advertising arena? Not necessarily.

There's a big difference between product integration and a standard 30-second advertising spot. Yes, both are a means to a similar end, but that doesn't mean there's only room for one of these vehicles on the advertising block. In fact, the current trend is a combination of the two. This trend can in large part be attributed to many of today's reality-based television shows, which seem to be a perfect match for product integration. The very best example of this is the popular talent show "American Idol." Not only are segments of each episode sandwiched between ads for Coca-Cola, AT&T Wireless, Old Navy and Ford, but some of these companies' brands and products are evident (REALLY EVIDENT) in each episode. Here are some examples:

Coca-Cola - Each of the three judges sits behind large red cups emblazoned with the Coca-Cola logo.

Photo courtesy Ray Mickshaw/FOX
L-R: Judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson


In the "elimination episodes," contestants nervously await their turn in the Coca-Cola room, perched on a Coca-Cola sofa.

Photo courtesy Ray Mickshaw/FOX
Contestants in the Coca-Cola room, on the Coca-Cola couch


AT&T Wireless - Host Ryan Seacrest mentions AT&T wireless each time a contestant finishes his/her song. Fans can submit their vote as a text message if, and only if, they have AT&T wireless.
In a recent article for the New York Times, Bill Carter writes:

Searching for ways to thwart any trend toward skipping commercials on programs recorded on personal video recorders like TiVo, the networks are increasingly integrating their sponsors and their products into the shows themselves, rather than limiting their presence to commercials. Ford Motor and Coca-Cola, for example, are two of the advertisers that have paid millions of dollars to have their logos prominently displayed during episodes of "American Idol."
According to AdAge magazine, the phrase "millions of dollars" mentioned above actually refers to about $26 million per integration/sponsorship deal. Yes, that means that EACH of the companies -- AT&T Wireless, Coca-Cola, and Ford -- dished out 26 million dollars.
These companies do get a lot of bang for their bucks, though. In fact, after visiting the "American Idol" Web site, it makes you wonder if the product placement there is included in that bill. Now, you may be wondering "product placement on a Web site?" "Isn't that just an ad?" Well, no, not exactly. There are actual sections of the Web site that integrate the brand or sponsor's name entirely:

Coca-Cola Behind the Scenes
AT&T Wireless
Old Navy Fun and Games Section
Herbal Essences Music Section
Product placement isn't just for movies and television anymore. You'll find it in books, music videos, video games and on the Internet. Let's take a look at how product placement is being used in these other arenas.
Cars on TV
TV Show Car
Miami Vice Ferrari Testarossa
The Prisoner Lotus 8
Magnum P.I. Ferrari 308i
Starsky & Hutch Ford Grand Torino
Dukes of Hazzard Dodge Charger
Knight Rider Pontiac Trans Am
Charlie's Angels Ford Mustang Cobra
Hardcastle & McCormick DeLorean Coyote
24 Ford Expedition

Product Placement in Books
Acapella Advertising
The headlines might have read "Product placement takes Broadway by storm" when Baz Luhrmann (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!) decided to perform a little product placement, Puccini style. Luhrmann surprised many in the theater community by displaying billboard-style ads for Montblanc pens and Piper-Heidsieck champagne in his stage production of "La Bohème."
To some, especially if you haven't seen it, product placement in a book or a video game is pretty difficult to imagine. Where exactly would they place the products? It turns out there's plenty of opportunity for this manner of advertising. Let's start with books.

Read All About It!
Imagine a well-known company commissioning an equally renowned author to write a book that prominently features its brand and products. Sound a bit far-fetched? It's not. The world-famous jewelry company, Bulgari, paid noted British author Fay Weldon to write a novel that would feature Bulgari products. The commissioned work was to be given as a present to an elite group of Bulgari clientele. Not only did Weldon agree to the deal, but she eventually took her work public. "The Bulgari Connection" has met with skepticism and praise from Weldon's colleagues and fans alike. Undoubtedly, Weldon has set a precedent that other authors and publishers will follow. For more information regarding Weldon's Bulgari book, see Salon.com: Your ad here.

It turns out that even a modest amount of investigation can unearth several other product-prominent published works. Actually, one of the largest genres to feature product placement is children's learning books. Here are just a few examples of what you can find at your local library or bookstore:

Skittles Riddles Math, by Barbara Barbieri McGrath, Roger Glass
The Cheerios Counting Book, by Rob Bolster
The Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar Fractions Book, by Jerry Pallotta
The Hershey's Kisses Addition Book, by Jerry Pallotta, Rob Bolster
More M&M's Brand Chocolate Candies Math, by Barbara Barbieri
The M&M's Brand Counting Book, by Barbara Barbieri McGrath
The Crayon Counting Book, by Pam Munoz Ryan
Twizzlers Percentages Book by Jerry Pallotta, Rob Bolster
The Cheerios Christmas Play Book, by Lee Wade
Reese's Pieces: Count by Fives, by Jerry Pallotta, Rob Bolster
After reading these titles, you may be assuming that the companies are merely sponsoring the book and that the content is pretty standard fare -- possibly not even incorporating the product into the content of the book. Think again. In "The Oreo Cookie Counting Book," the back cover reads:

Children will love to count down as ten little OREOs are dunked, nibbled, and stacked one by one...until there are none!
A quick flip through the pages confirms that Oreo cookies are indeed featured prominently on every page!


Product Placement in Video games
As they continue to become more and more realistic, it's actually pretty easy to understand the advertising possibilities available within today's video games. The USA Today article What's in a name: Product placement in games states:

Play Crazy Taxi and a lot of your passengers will ask you to take them to Pizza Hut or KFC (both owned by Tricon Global). Dive into Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza...and you'll see Zippo lighters and Motorola cell phones. UbiSoft's Surf Riders has G-Shock watches and banners for Mr. Zog's Sex Wax, a surfboard wax.
According to USA Today, product placements in video game software have been around since the 1980s. Back then, Sega was placing banners advertising Marlboro in its auto-racing arcade games. Apparently, Sega's still onboard with product placement. In Sega's Super Monkey Ball, the bananas sport Dole Food Company stickers. Surprisingly, this kind of product integration isn't about the cash. Just as product placement in movies promotes credibility and realism in the movie, it does the same thing in the video game -- making the "environment" of the game more lifelike.

Product Placement in Songs
On the Flip Side
In an interesting turn of events, music artists who have been promoting products on television are using those promotions to their own advantage.
According to AdAge.com, artists such as Dirty Vegas and Phil Collins are clueing consumers in on their product-endorsement pastimes by placing "as seen in TV commercial" stickers on their albums.

One of the earliest examples of product placement within a song can be found in Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Not only did it have its little toy surprise going for it, Cracker Jack also had a memorable mention in the chorus of this (now) immortalized melody. Written in 1908 by Jack Norworth and later scored by Albert Von Tilzer, the chorus goes like this (feel free to sing along...):

Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don't care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game.
Since then, many products have popped up in tunes around the world -- some have even garnered top billing, appearing in the title. Consider Run-DMC's track "My Adidas" from their multi-platinum album, Raising Hell. Long before Biggie Smalls and Jay-Z were giving props to Cristal champagne, Run-DMC was giving a lot of air time and screen time to the fashionable footwear. They weren't only singing about their Adidas; the tennis shoes were a prominent element in their dress.

While Adidas didn't commission Run DMC, and Norworth and Tilzer weren't paid to promote Cracker Jack, many of today's music professionals are striking deals and getting paid. According to AdAge: Marketers Explore Product Placements in Music:

In an attempt to further leverage its diverse artist roster, Island Def Jam Music Group [incidentally, Def Jam Music was founded by Russell Simmons, brother of Joseph Simmons -- Run of Run-DMC] is in formal talks with Hewlett-Packard Co. in an unprecedented paid product-placement deal.
AdAge also reports:

In almost all cases, a brand has found its way into a rap song because of artist preference or through an organic, creative predilection and not because of a record label dictate to appease an advertiser. For example, not until Busta Rhymes' recent single "Pass the Courvoisier Part Two" moved a healthy number of units was a promotional deal with Allied Domecq completed. This relationship has had a significant boost on sales of the Allied Domecq brand, according to the company.
As products are finding their way into movies, television, music, books and video games, it would seem like there's nowhere else to go. But with digital technology continuing to skyrocket in both form and function, there's a seemingly endless stream of new and innovative ways to put products in front of potential consumers. Whatever the future holds, there's no doubt you'll continue to see many of your favorite stars holding, handling and using products of all kinds on the big and small screens for years to come.

For more information on product placement and related topics, check out the links on the next page.



Lots More Information

Related HowStuffWorks Articles


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Entertainment Resources & Marketing Association (E.R.M.A.)
Feature This!
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Cynthetiq

simply put product placement raises awareness... thus when you are shopping for something to drink, when you see coca-cola again, you make recognition, which can make the difference to a few hundred people in actually purchasing the product.

to summarize Art last Howthingswork post, think of movie tie ins... Bond movies in particular had some really blatant and sweeping movie tie-ins along with product placement. Bond drives a BMW, wears a Tag Hauer watch, uses a Nokia phone to remote control the BMW...

the biggest coup of the product placement for Bond was the brand of alcohol he drank for his Martinis. I don't recall that brand for some reason... but I'm sure if I looked it up it would be easily recognized.

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ARTelevision

peripheral learning

Because there is resistance to terms such as "subliminal," "manipulation," and other words that seem to some to load the discussion, I'd suggest an intial study of the concepts of brain-based learning and especially "peripheral learning."

An understanding of all this is crucial, IMO, to this entire thread.

Here are some links to get you started.
I find just the section titles as listed below the first link to be quite illuminating. Statements such as "Learning Involves Both focused Attention and Peripheral Perception" go a long way toward giving us a clue as to what happens when humans and media meet.

........................................................................

http://www.unocoe.unomaha.edu/brainbased.htm


Principles of Brain-Based Learning
Developed by the Combined Elementary Task Forces of the Metropolitan Omaha Educational Consortium (MOEC), Omaha, NE: University of Nebraska at Omaha, 1999

Table of Contents

Introduction
The Brain is a Parallel Processor
Learning Engages the Entire Physiology
The Search for Meaning is Innate
The Search for Meaning Occurs Through "Patterning"
Emotions are Critical to Patterning
The Brain Processes Parts and Wholes Simultaneously
Learning Involves Both focused Attention and Peripheral Perception
Learning Always Involves Conscious and Unconscious Processes
We Have at Least Two Ways of Organizing Memory: A Spatial Memory System and a Set of Systems for Rote Learning
We Understand and Remember Best When Facts and Skills are Embedded in Natural, Spatial Memory
Complex Learning is Enhanced by Challenge and Inhibited by Threat
Every Brain is Uniquely Organized
Additional Resources on Brain Research and Learning
Websites
Classrooms and Schools Practicing Brain-Based Learning
Brain-Based Learning Committee

.....................................

Here's another fascinating way to state some of the items covered in this thread:


http://www.progressiveawareness.org/...Reference.html

......................


When I started this thread, I titled it suggestively because this is journalism.

Those of you who are interested in understanding the many ramifications of media and its effect on the human brain, human perception, and human behavior can find endless links via search engines on the subject of how we learn.

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