Product Placement has followed us from childhood

 Anna Birk

ab383718@ohio.edu 

Childrens Ads, Instagram Ads

The way that advertisements have impacted our society has changed so greatly from the time we were children, and even more so between marketing towards youth and adults. Some of the most popular commercials that many of us can recall from our youth were the anti-smoking ads. Quite frankly, one of the main reasons many of us remember these is due to the disturbing images that flashed across our screen, of monsters and mutations that would come for us if we dared to put a cigarette in our mouth. On the flip side, many of us also were exposed, at a young age, to advertisements that featured beer and liquor.  

According to a New York Times article by Perri Klass M.D., titled, "How Advertising Targets Our Children," ads relating to alcohol consumption helped to increase levels of underage drinking. The article featured a study conducted by Dr. Jerry L Grenard, a health researcher at Claremont Graduate University. Grenard found that there was a link between alcohol advertisements, underage drinking and ultimately the consequences of drinking including academic issues. 

Another form of advertising that has followed us around since we were children is product placement. In a speech by Chris Moore, the former CEO of Ogilvy & Mather, product placement took up an entire portion of advertising tactics. Moore made the claim that, "Audiences like realism in movies. Made-up brands break the spell because they're obvious fakes." In action movies, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, car and food brands are a large portion of the product placement. For children, seeing their favorite superhero eating a specific brand of burger, could incline them to want to eat the same thing. What kid wouldn't want to be more like Tony Stark? 

Product placement doesn't only exist in movies. Real-life examples of product placement are included on social media as well too. Product placement on Instragram and Tik Tok specifically, exist in the form of paid advertisements and sponsorships from famous influencers.  Typically, when someone has a large following on a social media platform, they will receive message from brands asking for a partnership. This partnership includes benefits for both the brand and the influencer, because money is made on the influencers end for the sponsorship, and in turn, the brand receives new followers and more money made. Influencers are supposed to let consumers know that it is a paid ad, so their followers know that the influencer is making money off of the post. According to the Social Insider blog, Instagram stories have the most success with advertisement placement.  

                        Screenshot from Chiara Ferragni's Instagram post featuring "#ad" in the description.

Product placement on Instagram is one of the hardest forms of advertisement for many of us to avoid. Quite frankly, some brand companies have become too harsh in their posting.