If there’s one topic related to film and television that can promote both high praise and scathing vitriol, it’s that of product placement – or branding, as it’s called.  When done right, branding can (and should) be innocuous — a glimpse of a product here, or a mere reference there.  Truly masterful branding, of course, goes beyond simple product recognition, and actually instills in the audience a desire to possess the item in question as soon as possible.  Branding has, after all, always been an extension of advertising.  But there are those unique individuals who are able to embrace both the business aspect of product placement, and the creative side as well.  It is these people we applaud, because the contrast is often too glaring, and ends up deserving of our criticism.  Obvious instances of branding can actually end up turning an audience against a product.  Certain films and television shows have been guilty of this throughout the years, and have paid the price in the court of public opinion.  That’s because, at the end of the day, audiences respect creativity and ingenuity; what they don’t like are “sell-outs”.  They don’t mind being sold products, they just don’t like it when the intent is so blatantly obvious.  And that is why proper product placement in films and television is such a fine line to walk.

One of the first (and seemingly most innocent) branding opportunities came in the film “ET”, when Reese’s Pieces were used to entice a cute little alien out of hiding.  In the hands of a filmmaker like Steven Spielberg, the simplistic use of candy as a device in the film propelled the brand into new levels of popularity.  The importance of that one scene cannot be overstated: in the back of the audience’s minds, then and now, it is firmly rooted that Reese’s Pieces can transcend time and even space (if an alien ET likes them, then surely all of us will).  All these years later, and the candy is a part of the film’s lasting impression; like the film itself, it is a part of our childhood, intertwined in one large mess of products (the film itself, and the countless toys and stuffed animals and movie posters that came after).  Ask children of the 80s, and it’s almost as if the candy were created for the film (or because of it).

Again, that was simply a type of candy, used in the hands of a very talented director.  That was advertising done outside the box.  Advertising executives are a creative lot in their own right… they know that in order to sell a product in an increasingly saturated marketplace, there are times when one must think bigger, and times when one must think outside the box.  Bigger, however, is not necessarily better, as seen in the films “I, Robot” and “The Island” – two movies that were so blatantly saturated with product placements that they at times distracted from the actual plots (such as they were).  The best branding, as mentioned before, uses subtlety; these films did not.  And while the films themselves didn’t particularly suffer, the products that were placed in the films will always be remembered for “trying too hard” (during “I, Robot”, there was actually a scene in which the film’s main character is complimented on his Chuck Taylors; as the movie is set in the future, the sneakers were referred to as vintage – though in real life, they are available right down the street at your local store).

“I, Robot” serves as an example of what not to do.  However, in the next part of this examination, we’ll look at two companies that have re-thought the idea of product placement…