Licence to Shill
Written by Mark Brennan
The name’s Placement. Product Placement. And it’s been around for just about as long as cinema.
With Amazon’s acquisition of MGM Studios, and therefore the rights to exploit the world’s most famous Martini drinker on any screen size they choose, does this mark a new advent in the way companies will now market to movie-goers and TV-lovers?
The first documented example was seen in Washing Day in Switzerland in 1896 when the Lumière brothers showed off some Sunlight Soap. Since then, we’ve been treated to everything from more subtle tie-ins such as Ray-Ban Aviator sunglasses in Top Gun (1986) or Nokia phones in The Matrix (1999), to a slap in the face with a Chevrolet in Transformers (2007), and the obvious wink-to-the-camera mentions of Pizza Hut, Pepsi and Reebok in Wayne’s World (1992).
Wayne’s World (1992) directed by Penelope Spheeris
Bond himself has always been partial to a bit of suave shilling (Omega watches, Bollinger champagne, Aston Martin cars – he’s essentially a walking GQ advert), but with streaming giants now owning entire production pipelines from script to supermarket shelf, there’s a new frontier in content monetisation. Why sell advertising space around your show when the characters can do the hard sell within it?
Imagine this: Bond, clad in sleek tactical gear from Amazon’s in-house fashion line (AmazonBasics: Espionage Edition), escapes a villain’s lair using a drone available for £49.99 with free shipping. He neutralises a henchman with a Kindle Paperwhite to the temple (shockingly durable, we hear), then signals MI6 using his Ring doorbell. “Q, I’ve spotted them,” he whispers. “Also, my package from last Tuesday still hasn’t arrived. Can you escalate?”
Meanwhile, M sips a cup of Tetley, side-eyeing the camera just enough to be ominous and brand-appropriate.
No Time To Die (2021) directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga.
Of course, Amazon is not the only retailer now blending art with commerce. Apple TV has a plethora of critically acclaimed shows boasting the latest of their products at every appropriate turn. Ted Lasso and The Morning Show in particular make sure every character is armed with an iPhone, iPad or MacBook whenever a gadget is required, but this is almost entirely seamless as these are items that would naturally play a part in everyday life and can slip by unnoticed.
Ted Lasso on Apple TV
What happens when an online retailer that sells every kind of product under the sun decides they want to push a product that has no organic business featuring in a scene into which it has been forcibly shoehorned? There’s a fine line between sleight of hand salesmanship and cynical, sledgehammer selling that undermines artistic integrity and derails any interest in the show that’s been created to showcase it.
Done right though, it’s a money-spinner that keeps the cameras rolling and the viewers mildly thirsty - perhaps for a Suntory Whiskey, as seen sipped by Bill Murray in 2003’s Lost in Translation.
Lost In Translation (2003) directed by Sofia Coppola
And speaking of thirsty, let’s not forget that AI advertising has also entered the chat. Imagine AI-personalised placement: romcom characters sipping the exact wine you were Googling last week. Romantic and unsettling. Or Amazon takes a look at your Wishlist on your account and then tempts you to pull the trigger on that purchase of a new washing machine as Bond pulls the trigger on the bad guy.
Who knew that a television station in Chile back in 2003 would have been so far ahead of the game when they spliced ads for Cristal beer into actual scenes of the original Star Wars trilogy? What was probably seen as a humorous yet brazen cash in at the time, could soon be a stark reality where your favourite Jedi is boasting new Hi Top trainers as well as having the high ground.
Personally, the only marketing in film My Heart Will Go On for is the good old days of pop songs accompanying a film’s release. It Must Have Been Love But It’s Over Now. If you see what I did there, you know what I’m talking about. You Didn’t Miss a Thing… That last one doesn’t quite work but (some of) you get the point.
The truth is, product placement has entered a new age. Here’s hoping that it, like Bond, remains charming, stylish, and just subtle enough for us to pretend we didn’t notice the ad for luxury swimwear during a high-speed chase through Venice. That said, it would be quite fun keeping an eye out for Easter Egg discount codes while the gondolas explode…
