Spend Another Day

In Die Another Day, the latest James Bond film, viewers can be forgiven if they have a hard time distinguishing the action from the ads.

Like its predecessor, Tomorrow Never Dies (which garnered the largest product-placement deal in history at that time - over $100 million), Die Another Day is more of a pyrotechnic-laden infomercial, than an action movie. With $120 million in marketing campaigns tied to the film, unofficial co-stars included Samsonite luggage, Omega watches, a Phillips heart rate monitor, Bollinger champagne, Heineken beer, Sony security systems, laptops, TV cameras and cellphones, and British Airways. In addition, in Die Another Day James Bond has traded in his famous BMW for an Aston Martin Vanquish - courtesy of Ford, which reportedly paid $35 million for the privilege of providing wheels to James and his foes. This kind of aggressive advertising campaign, which combines the allure of movies with product placement, is proving to be a potent advertising package that film producers and advertisers find hard to resist.

Product placement in movies and TV is becoming more and more pervasive. When the main character in a movie or a TV show touches, eats or uses a product, companies expect maximum returns. For example, Ray-Ban claims that sales of the Predator 2 sunglasses worn by Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in Men in Black, have tripled to almost $5 million since the release of the movie in 1997.

Product placement is not new to the movie and television industry. In 1982, ET: The Extra-Terrestrial made Reese's Pieces a household name. The Reese's Pieces deal involved no money, just free candy.

TV producers say product placement practices arose in the 1980s as a way to make sets look more realistic. Stephen Stohn, an executive producer for the CBC soap Riverdale, says realism is one of the primary reasons his show features over 250 brand name products.

"If people are going to believe they're inside a Canadian mall, they're not going to believe it unless there are real companies and brand names around."

Phillip Hart, President of MMI Product Placement in Toronto, which currently represents 19 major companies with more than 200 brands, says it is important that the studios portray these products in a favorable light.

"A lot of our work is making sure the product sits in environments where it really belongs, that it won't insult the company," he says.

"Not insulting the company" has taken on a special relevance after Reebok's breach-of-contract suit against TriStar Pictures over product placement in Jerry Maguire. Reebok had asked that the film contain a full-length commercial for Reebok, which was eventually edited out of the movie. However, a scene in which one of the characters shouts obscenities at Reebok remained on film, and Reebok's subsequent settlement of $10-million dollars sent a chill throughout the movie and television industries.

Precedents like these ensure that products used in movies and on TV will most certainly be presented in a positive light. For now, it's safe to assume that James Bond will not be seen crashing his Aston Martin Vanquish, after drinking a little too much Bollinger Champagne and Heineken beer.

Source for recent James Bond statistics: Globe and Mail, November 22, 2002

In 1998, BusinessWeek featured a Product Placement Hall Of Fame, that included:

• the Reeses Pieces in E.T (sales shot up by 65% after these candies appeared in the movie)
• Budget Rent-a-Truck in Home Alone
• Red Stripe Beer in The Firm (within a month of the film's release, sales of Red Stripe in the U.S. rose by 50%)
• the "Junior Mints Episode" of "Seinfeld"
• Pizza Hut Pizza and Nuprin pain relievers in Wayne's World
• the "Reebok scene" in Jerry Maguire
• Ray Ban glasses in Risky Business and Men in Black
• the product placement bonanza: Visa card, Avis car rentals, BMW cars and motorcycles, Smirnoff vodka, Heineken beer, Omega watches, Ericsson cell phones and L'Oreal makeup in Tomorrow Never Dies
• Chanel perfume in Anastasia (the first time product placement appeared in an animated picture)
• Hasbro action toys in Small Soldiers

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QUESTIONS

1. Write a 2 Paragraph summary of what this article was about.
2. How much money in marketing campaigns was tied into the movie Die Another Day?
3. What were some of the companies that advertised their product in the movie Die Another Day?
4. How much did Ford Motors pay to have their car be the one that James Bond drove?
5. How has product placement affected the sales of the Predator 2 sunglasses worn by Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in the movie Men In Black?
6. Why did Product Placement begin?
7. What can happen if a movie uses product placement to insult a company?
8. Do you agree that name brand products add realism to television shows and movies? Why or why not? (5 sentence minimum)
9. Reebok sued the movie Jerry Maguire over favorable representation. Do you think a movie has the responsibility to show a product in a favorable way, or should they be able to use the product any way they want to even if it is bad? What if a movie showed an overweight person eating a McDonald’s cheeseburger? Do you think McDonalds should be able to sue the way Reebok did?
10. There is another phenomenon of product placement through cross-marketing, where characters from children's movies are part of kids' "happy meals" and promote the hamburger chain in commercials. Is this similar to product placement? Why?
11. Do you think product placement is good for movies and TV? Why? (Minimum 5 sentences)