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When Products Are the Stars
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18517 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
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4 / 1991 |
2,114 Words |
| Author
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David D'Arcy
David D'Arcy broadcasts on cultural matters on National Public
Radio. |
In Frank Capra's 1934 Hollywood classic, It Happened One Night, Clark Gable took off his shirt, revealing a bare chest. Almost immediately, undershirt sales in this country plummeted, as American men followed the lead of that leading man. After Annie Hall hit the theaters featuring Diane Keaton as an absent-minded WASP beauty who favored ties, big hats, and oversized jackets, outfits that beforehand would have been safe only at Halloween parties became fashionable. And let's not forget what Miami Vice did to upgrade the T-shirt and the three-day growth.
Pernicious Ads
For decades, consumers have imitated the styles and behavior they've seen on the movie screen (and on television, where many Americans see their movies these days) and often bought products that they've seen actors and actresses use in films. In the last five years, however, the competition to place products on the screen has intensified, creating an industry in itself. That industry is already coming under attack from critics who charge that product placements are pernicious advertisements intended to catch the attention of viewers who don't know that manufacturers paid to put those products on the screen. As the cost of paid advertising in virtually every medium rises, companies in growing numbers are eager to get their products into the movies, which for advertisers remain a largely unexplored medium.
By now the story that brought product placement to the attention of the general public is so well known it barely needs repeating. The script of Steven Spielberg's film E.T. called for a young boy luring an extraterrestrial creature into his house with a trail of candy. The first company approached to supply the candy was Mars, manufacturer of M&M's, which decided it had nothing to gain by having its product shown being eaten by an alien. Spielberg then wanted to use Hershey's Kisses as bait for the extraterrestrial. Hershey rejected that, but supplied an alternate candy, a new product called Reese's Pieces. The result was a marketing dream. Just months after the candy appeared in the tremendously successful E.T., sales of Reese's Pieces rose more than 80 percent.
Pioneering the Field
Product placement in the entertainment business is nothing new. It certainly didn't start with Gable, but it might have begun when Shakespeare needed a skull. In recent years, however, according to Gary Mezzatesta, whose firm Unique Product Placement represents such clients as Alfa-Romeo, Levi
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