Vince Damico
vd058216@ohio.edu
Advertising is everywhere in modern times. From traditional advertisements like commercials, billboards, and ads on the side of your screen all the way up through product placement and native advertising; it's impossible to truly avoid advertising. According to Forbes, in 2017 most Americans were exposed to somewhere between four thousand and ten thousand ads a day. As time passes the advertising industry keeps growing more lucrative. Statista reports that, Facebook made $69.7 billion in advertising revenue in 2019, a new record year for the company.
Product placement is when specific products or brands are incorporated into a different type of media, such as television or film, with the intent of promoting said product or brand. Examples of product placement would be the brand of car the main character drives or the brand of clothes the main character wears. Not all product placement is that subtle, however. If one is watching a movie or show and a character is shown sipping a Coca Cola, for instance, that's product placement as well.
Placing these products or brands in our media makes viewers more likely to have a higher opinion of these brands if they like what they are watching. In the 1955 film, Rebels Without a Cause, James Dean is shown using an Ace Comb, and suddenly many teenage boys wanted to own an Ace Comb too. This results from the brain associating the Ace comb with being cool and fitting in with the popular crowd. The "James-Dean-uses-this-comb-so-I-should-too" mentality.
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| James Dean in Rebels Without a Cause (Picture source: ACE) |
Children are especially affected by product placement. A study conducted by a Stanford professor found children believed a meal set on a McDonald's wrapper was tastier than the exact same meal not placed on a McDonald's wrapper. In this example, the McDonald's advertising has created the belief for these children that the food from their restaurants will always be tasty, creating a recurring customer for years and years to come.
Native advertising is a type of ad that matches the platform it's being viewed on, oftentimes appearing as an article or something similar. While the purpose of native advertising is not to fool people, per se, it can happen if one isn't aware they're viewing an advertisement. Journalist's core value of transparency dictates that native advertisement feature language like "include paid-promotion", "contains sponsored content", or something likewise to bring awareness to the fact that one is viewing an advertisement. Be aware of hidden advertising, it closer than you may think.
Thank you for explaining some of the jargon involved with advertising and the marketing world. I'm a fan of old films and didn't know about the Ace comb and James Dean. That aside, I appreciated the statistics you used. I had no idea that Facebook made so much from advertising.
ReplyDeleteAds truly are inescapable and have been for a very long time and the way that they're placed in media has become more and more latent. It, as seen through the McDonald's study, literally changes how perceive things. This was a very informative blog post and I was happy to read it.