Product placement all over us

As a sequel to ethos, pathos, logos I would like to talk about a nice type of advertising.

Product Placement.

Not the way its being done in Greece but generally abroad.

In Greece unfortunately it's bad. And it happens in two types.

1st: You view a video clip where Vodafone is the main star and not the artist...

2nd: You get the product placement label in the corner of your screen.

What I really love about the product placement in countries such as U.S. and U.K. is how much it perfectly fits, thus having much better effects.

I'd like to think I posses a personal Ad-block in my mind which allows me to filter bad ads and not see them. 

The first time my Ad-block got tempted was quite recently.

Not more than 3-4 years ago.

I was in college and a TV channel had all night long Sex & the City.

So many all nights longs than I've seen each season about 5 times each.

So I noticed one thing. Samantha was holding some kind of juice from Starbucks. An orange stuff.

And suddenly I wanted it. 

So the next day at college I begin to say this story to my friend Miltos. He also had seen the episode and wanted that orange thing too!

We almost  almost got to Starbucks to buy whatever that shit was. We didn't. But we were close.

So I believe its all about subtlety. Let the product be part of the scene. On the background. 

Don't make it the king of the show. It isn't! It's the show!

If you make it a king you just lost the game. Just blend it in and you've won.

There is a show in Greece sponsored by Ifantis.

It' all around the place.

I suppose you don't call that subtle.  

Generally that whole craze about putting the sponsor in front.

People don't like that guys. Lets turn it around. Let see what product placement is.

You just PLACE it. You don't promote it. 

So anyway I believe product placement is probably the best way to advertise on TV.

Its all about pop culture references now. Thanks to post modernism, television now has conscience such as the consumer (?). 

So when the Big Bang Theory has Alienware and Mac's (which you can barely see but you know they are there) you've succeeded in product placement.

Razer will be begging to place something.

So what is the point? We take value of advertising and we do not abuse it because it loses its power. Because what is Product placement in the end of the day?

Appeal to Ethos.


Ethos as we accept pop culture.    It's all about subtlety.