Product placement has been a valid marketing tool and used in various movies and television serials. The Jim Carey starrer "The Truman Show" showcased the use of product placement very well. In the movie the truman show is a 24/7 reality show based on the life of Jim Carey, who is actually unaware of the same. Being continuous, there are no commercial breaks in the show so all advertising has to be through product placement and the actors of the show promoting the products as well from time to time.
Hindi movies have also started using product placement and two examples I'd like to illustrate are the Big B starrers "Viruddh" and "Cheeni Kum". I did not see "Viruddh" completely but I saw three products being promoted quite blatantly. We had Sanjay Dutt promoting the products of "Elf" by not only wearing their uniform but also giving advice to a customer to use Elf engine oil. There is also a scene where the various characters are painting the house and the products of "Nerolac" are quite visible. The icing on the cake is the "Nerolac" jingle playing in the background as the gentlemen get to work. Then there is "Navratan" oil, which Sharmila Tagore is applying to the head of her daughter-in-law.
"Cheeni Kum" used a slightly different approach. The movie had situations interleaved which were used by companies in their usual promotion. ICICI used it for their insurance advertisements and Cadila Healthcare for "Sugar Free Natura". Infact the tag line for the movie itself is "a sugar free romance" and even their website features a scene from the movie (where the product placement is quite apparent). This is in a way akin to the context sensitive advertising used by companies like Google etc.
My view is that product placement works when the viewer does not realize that the product is actually being advertised to them, "Viruddh" seemed to take it a little too far by being so explicit. "Cheeni Kum" had an innovative approach but once again the product placement became a little too apparent.
Hindi movies have also started using product placement and two examples I'd like to illustrate are the Big B starrers "Viruddh" and "Cheeni Kum". I did not see "Viruddh" completely but I saw three products being promoted quite blatantly. We had Sanjay Dutt promoting the products of "Elf" by not only wearing their uniform but also giving advice to a customer to use Elf engine oil. There is also a scene where the various characters are painting the house and the products of "Nerolac" are quite visible. The icing on the cake is the "Nerolac" jingle playing in the background as the gentlemen get to work. Then there is "Navratan" oil, which Sharmila Tagore is applying to the head of her daughter-in-law.
"Cheeni Kum" used a slightly different approach. The movie had situations interleaved which were used by companies in their usual promotion. ICICI used it for their insurance advertisements and Cadila Healthcare for "Sugar Free Natura". Infact the tag line for the movie itself is "a sugar free romance" and even their website features a scene from the movie (where the product placement is quite apparent). This is in a way akin to the context sensitive advertising used by companies like Google etc.
My view is that product placement works when the viewer does not realize that the product is actually being advertised to them, "Viruddh" seemed to take it a little too far by being so explicit. "Cheeni Kum" had an innovative approach but once again the product placement became a little too apparent.
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