 Drama: October 23, 2024 Issue [#12797] |
This week: Product Placement Edited by: NaNoNette  
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| Product placement creates explicit and implicit advertising effects. For example, viewers of product placement are more able to name a brand after seeing it used in the content. It can also create and cultivate different attitudes toward brands, as well as spur purchase intention. (Investopedia) |
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Product Placement
Product placement is more common in TV shows than in books. However, some brands are so iconic and hold such a strong place in the public's perception that the mere mention of them creates a specific feeling.
As a writer, you can use the brand image created to help with character building. It doesn't even matter whether your perception of the brand is positive or negative. The mere fact that you know it and it's likely known by the majority of people in your country or possibly in the whole world will give your characters facets that would take a lot more words to write.
Here are some examples:
A middle-aged white man driving a car from the brand named for Nikola Tesla on a long, lonely desert road.
A young Black woman piloting a Cessna plane in Alaska.
An Indian cigarette smoker leaning against a Mercedes Benz in the pick up lane at Los Angeles International Airport.
A South Korean woman making a coffee drink from Maxim powder that comes out of a slim tube while explaining to a friend that she always takes two because one doesn't have enough flavor.
You don't know any of these people, but adding a famous brand likely made you place them into a certain socio-economical class and profession. You can keep things simple and just run with the very first impression that comes to mind. Or you can corrupt the expectations by putting the characters into these roles for a specific reason that refutes stereotypes.
Is the Tesla driver a high ranking manager? Or is he one of these people who drive cars between dealerships?
Where did the young Black woman learn to fly a small plane? Was she in the military or was she born and raised in Alaska and her Cessna is to her what your bike is to you?
Is the Indian cigarette smoker leaning against his own car or is he a cab driver? (I know cabs are usually marked, but not the luxury kind.) Or isn't that his car at all?
Are the South Koreans drinking Maxim in the USA or in South Korea while they make coffee? What is the significance of it? Is the friend also South Korean or are they another nationality?
As writers, we always have to ask the copyright and trademark question. Can we even use these brand names? My use in the above examples is perfectly legal because I am using those brands in an educational/documentary setting. Generally speaking, you can use the names of well-known brands in fiction as long as you don't make false claims or defame them. When in doubt and especially if you want to put a negative slant on a character, steer clear from brand name mentions. You can always replace them with generic descriptions:
That big name electric car.
A classic propeller plane.
The pricy German luxury sedan.
Trendy single serve coffee sticks.
Those who know will recognize the brand without needing to see the name. For the others, the image is still painted.
Have you noticed actors mentioning the names of products while they use them? |
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Replies to my last Drama newsletter "Tone it Down" that asked Do you know how to reduce contact with others online?
W.D.Wilcox  wrote: Why would we want to hide bad reviews? You only learn from a bad experience. You learn nothing from a good experience.
I wasn't talking about hiding bad reviews. I wrote about blocking or ignoring people.
s  wrote: Yeah, I have a list of around 20 blocked members... and have been blocked by at least double that. Including a Mod. When I was on Twitter (not doing that again!) I had over 100 people blocked. My phone has 15 blocked numbers; my Gmail has 32 blocked emails. Blocking makes me feel like I am not going to be harassed and so there is a certain freedom that comes with doing it.
There is a certain freedom that comes from it. And at times, it's going to be the only way to handle things. At least for a while.
Turkey DrumStik  wrote: I was struck by this snippet from the About This Newsletter section: There might be an argument against blocking people for simple disagreements. I do think that blocking people for simple (or perhaps not so simple disagreements) is not always a good thing. It can be a sign that the blocker is too insecure to deal with being incorrect about something, and it leaves the person who disagreed with them in a strange spot. I actually try not to block too many people(even though I disagree with quite a few) to demonstrate more mature behavior. It's disheartening to not see others adopt a similar tactic.
I know Dr. Mike has had to deal with this kind of issue recently when he tried to pushback on potentially dangerous disinformation being spread by another doctor online (Dr. Charles). Dr. Mike initially wanted to leave a comment on one of Dr. Charles' post. He couldn't do so because Dr. Charles initially blocked his comments. It soon escalated into Dr. Charles blocking the accounts of Dr. Mike, his production crew, and even his dog. That was kind of wild, and Dr. Mike ended up having to make a video response to address the disinformation being spread. These kinds of things are why I feel like blocking is a tool I opt not to use unless I have no other choice.
I am not familiar with Dr. Mike or Dr. Charles, so I can't really fully appreciate the described conflict. However, I think that people who are so-called "public figures" have a duty to stay public. As none of us here is a public figure but just a user, blocking each other can sometimes be the best and even the most mature way to deal with each other. It definitely beats passive aggressive dirty laundry washing on the Newsfeed.
I try to keep my list of blocked members very short. There is only one on there right now and that is the best I can do because they don't even warrant me randomly seeing them around the site.
Sphere Writer  wrote: Inspiration should be taken from every where especially when it arise to something heart warming and educational.
I'm going to disagree here. Inspiration doesn't need to be taken from everywhere or everyone. If something is random and doesn't add anything to a conversation, it can be safely overlooked. |
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