Topic: Recently a form of advertising called product placement has become the talk of the town. This technique refers to the companies arranging for the products to appear in television programmes or films. Some found it misleading, while others saw it as the best form of advertisement. I think product placement is a great technique when used correctly. The reason could be summed up with the acronym ‘NET’.
The N in NET stands for ‘natural’. The natural emergence of advertisements in shows through the employment of the product placement technique means that our viewing experience as the audience would not be abruptly disrupted by sudden advertisements. With limited resources on hand, companies may choose to put more resources into product placement advertisements than in traditional ads. Therefore, there would be fewer ads in the middle of two sections of the show, and the agonizing wait could be shortened. Just imagine you are watching Harry Potter on TV. Voldemort and Harry are duelling to the death. You are excited, you are nervous, your adrenaline levels are rising, and your heart is beating so fast that it might jump out of your chest. Then an advertisement, ‘this scarf is made with the finest cashmere, only sold at $199 today…’, pops out in the middle of the epic duel. How would you feel? I’m sure the audience would no longer be excited, or at least not as excited as before. All the buildup for this moment and the emotional rollercoasters you must go through to get to this climax of the show are for nothing. Even when the show comes back on, it is nowhere near what you felt like before the ad. But what if the scarf was tied to Harry’s neck instead? Indeed, you wouldn’t mind if he had a scarf, as it would not affect the movie’s flow. Product placement means that ads could now be shown in another light, not as a source of irritation but as a natural part of the movie welcomed by the audience, just like me.
The E in NET stands for practical. Not only is product placement a more natural form of ad, but it is also a more effective one. This is great for the companies. Surveys have shown that most people prefer to buy things advertised by product placement more than those by traditional ads. There are psychological reasons supporting this result. People associate the feelings that they feel while seeing the products with the value it has. Interrupting the flow of the shows, ads are generally seen as a source of annoyance. For example, the famous supermarket jingle of the app, Yuu, has faced much criticism due to its irritating lyrics and melody. Lots of people dislike the app due to the song, even when they have never tried the app. How would people buy your products when they are seen as annoying? Thus, product placement is a more effective promotion than blasting your product into everyone’s face, minus the annoyance.
The T in NET is for ‘technique’. Product placement would not be misleading when used with the correct technique. Some think product placements are arranged into the programmes and films as part of the show. Therefore customers may not be able to recognize such ‘disguised’ ads and become misled. However, this problem could easily be solved with the correct techniques and regulations. The companies should declare the ads in the show. For instance, YouTube now has a function of declaring advertisements in your videos. Under this function, a statement stating that the video is made in collaboration with other companies would be shown at the start of the video. Take the girl group, Aespa, as an example. They made a video in collaboration with Givenchy, showcasing their new bags in various parts of the video. As the declaration was added, a statement showed that this video was made with the placement of Givenchy products. Thus, I, as the audience, would not be misled as I can recognize the placements as advertisements. Such techniques could also be employed in television programmes and movies. The government may even set up new regulations requiring companies to make such declarations before making product placements to better protect the people from being misled. Product placement is still a relatively new method of promotion. Thus it takes time for the method and related regulations to perfect themselves. The recent controversy about the product placement in the film Chris Wong’s Love had also prompted a rise in awareness of the advertisement techniques of ads, especially in the use of product placement technique. With the raising awareness and gradual employment of correct techniques (declaration of ads and such), product placement would no longer remain as a source of confusion.
With NET (natural, efficiency and technique), it could easily be seen that product placement is better than traditional ads for both the consumer (audience) and producers (companies), and its problems could easily be solved. In conclusion, I firmly believe that product placement is a great way of advertising and it would continue its rise in popularity in the future.