After watching the Generation
Like documentary, I felt as if I had a heightened awareness of the advertising
going on in the media around me. It was all very fresh in my mind when I sat
down with my family on Friday night during the “blizzard” *insert eye-roll
emoji here* to watch Jurassic World. One
of the first things I noticed about the movie was that the main character
drives a Mercedes. And every time she drives it, the Mercedes logo can be
clearly seen more than once during the scene. I first noticed the logo
placement at the beginning of the movie, and I made a mental note to keep my
eyes open to any other subliminal advertisements… and by the end of the movie,
I had racked up a quite a long list. There was even a scene in the movie that
depicted the business aspect of the theme park where they discussed
advertising, something about naming a new dinosaur after Verizon Wireless. It
was an advertisement within an advertisement within a movie. Ad-ception, if you
will.
Now, it’s highly doubtful that someone is going to go out
and buy a Mercedes just because they saw one in Jurassic World. But, if someone
is considering buying a new car anyway, that product placement could definitely
have swayed them in that direction. Because hey, this car is fast enough to get
away from a dinosaur. What else can it do?
There were so many other advertisements all throughout the
movie, which you can find here: www.bustle.com/articles/89914-jurassic-world-product-placement-you-might-not-have-caught-while-running-from-the-dinosaurs-on-the,
some of which I didn’t even notice. Some smaller things that appear, like Jimmy
Buffett’s Margaritaville and a Pandora Jewelry store, are most likely intended to
give the audience a small laugh. Who wouldn’t want to commemorate their
Jurassic World vacation with some weird little $200 dinosaur charm bracelet?
Jurassic World as
a whole did a really effective job of product placement. Because even if it
seemed funny or ironic, it made an impression just the same.
Yeah I agree with you. When I see a product placement like that Mercedes I think "who's gonna see this and suddenly go "oh crap I need to go get myself that mercedes"? But when buying a car it'll definitely pop up into your head, especially after seeing it in a movie you like. Pretty weird when I think about it more.
ReplyDeleteAd-ception, haha. That's a research project waiting to happen. I agree with you and Edwin about the direct or immediate link to product placement and product purchase, but perhaps something like Mercedes is more about brand identity. They want you to associate Mercedes with this modern, stylish, adventure movie because that's what Mercedes is supposed to be too: modern, stylish, and I guess you could have an adventure, especially if you're on I-285. Other of the products make sense in the "theme park" context too like the Mike & Ike, the Margaritavilles that you find in tropical locations, and so on. Keep paying attention to product placements in other films and TV!
ReplyDeleteProduct placement is huge! Think about all the endorsements celebrities get just to use a product and post it on there Instagram feeds. Its ridiculous! I mean personally I've never been like ohh, Kim Kardashian likes this and uses this so I'm gonna go buy it. But think about the younger generation who looks up to them and most likely will go buy it!
ReplyDelete