Product Placement Bibliography

Compiled by Lesley Husbands and Matt Soar

-Acuff, Dan. "The Psychology Behind Licensing Successes." KidScreen. June 1999: 52. A brief study of why children find licensed characters like Big Bird and Barbie so appealing.

-Adams, W.J. and C.A. Lubbers. "Promotion of Theatrical Movies" in Susan Tyler (Ed.) Research in Media Promotion. Eastman, 2000. 231-263. A primer on movie promotion, analyzing roles of premiers, awards, previews, merchandising and product placement in the movie business.

-Anderson and Strate, ed. Critical Studies in Media Commercialism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

-Auty, Susan and Charlie Lewis. "Exploring Children"s Choice: The Reminder Effect of Product Placement". Psychology & Marketing, 21 (9): 697-713. September 2004. An analysis of whether children are aware of the brands placed in films. Their results show that implicit memory (i.e. repetition) is more important than explicit recall in terms of children"s brand choices.

-Babin, L. A. and S. T. Carder. "Advertising Via the Box Office: Is Product Placement Effective?". Journal of Promotion Management, 1996, Vol. 3 (1/2), pp. 31-51. As traditional media outlets become more fragmented, marketers are seeking alternative means of communicating with consumers.

-Balasubramanian, S. "Beyond Advertising and Publicity: Hybrid Messages and Public Policy Issues" Journal of Advertising, 1994, 23(4), pp. 29-46.

-Balasubramanian, S., J. Karrh, & H. Patwardhan. "Audience Response to Product Placements: An Integrative Framework and Future Research Agenda" Journal of Advertising, Fall 2006, 35(3), pp. 115-141.

-Baerns, Barbara. "Separating Advertising From Programme Content: The Principle and its Relevance in Communications Practice". Journal of Communication Management. Feb 2005, Vol. 9 Issue 3, pp. 101-113. This paper discusses the future viability of the principle of separating advertising and programme content in advertising, journalism and public relations.

-Bishop, Ronald. "Good Afternoon, Good Evening, and Good Night: The Truman Show as Media Criticism". Journal of Communication Inquiry, 24 (1), January 2000. pp. 6-18. The author disputes the idea that films like The Truman Show critique the power of the media but rather contends that entertainment producers actively exploit and at the same time dissipate our genuine desire to engage in media criticism, reducing media criticism to consumption.

-Blum, Stanford. "Merchandising." The Movie Business Book. Ed. Squire, Jason. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983. 379-384. An insider's account of business and financial workings within the film industry.

-Brehm, W. "Legal Restrictions on Product Placement and Sponsorship in Films and Television Programs". Journal of Media Law and Practice. 1993, Vol 14 (2), pp. 97-100. Due to restrictions placed on the amount of advertising permitted on German television, there is a strong trend to extend advertising by seeking loopholes such as product placements.

-Brennan, Ian; Babin, Laurie A.. "Brand Placement Recognition: The Influence of Presentation Mode and Brand Familiarity". Journal of Promotion Management, 2004, Vol. 10 Issue 1/2, pp.185-203. This study examines the impact of adding an audible reference to a visually prominent brand placement on recognition of the brand placed. Results indicate that brand placement recognition levels achieved by audio-visual prominent placements exceed the recognition rates achieved by visual-only prominent placements.

-Codrington, Andrea. "Reeling & Dealing: A close-up look at the fine art of the product placement deal." I.D. Magazine. May 1997, pp.70-73.

-Craig, Steve and Terry Moellinger. " "So Rich, Mild, and Fresh": A Critical Look at TV Cigarette Commercials, 1948-1971". Journal Of Communication Inquiry. 25 (1), January 2001, pp. 55-71. The authors trace the twenty-two-year heyday of tobacco advertising on U.S. television up until 1971, when it was banned by the U.S. congress. Similarities existing between cigarette advertising and contemporary corporate marketing practices in television and the movies can be observed.

-Donaton, Scott. Madison and Vine: Why the Entertainment and Advertising Industries must Converge to Survive. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. A marketing book written by the editor of Advertising Age.

-Elliott, Stuart. "Reruns May Become a Testing Ground for Digital Insertion of Sponsor's Products and Images". New York Times. 23 May, 2001. This article discusses technology known as "live-video insertion" used to add product placements to television programs post-production.

-Fierman, Daniel. "Where Hollywood Gets Its Guns." Entertainment Weekly. 4 June 1999: 49.

-Friedman, Ted. "Cast Away and the Contradictions of Product Placement." Journal of Promotion Management, Vol. 10 Issue 1/2, 2004, pp. 171-184. The author argues that Cast Away is a particularly valuable case study because of the conflict between its relentless product placement and its dark vision of contemporary global capitalism.

-Friedman, Ted. "The World of the World of Coca-Cola". Communication Research, 19 (5), October 1992. pp. 642-662. The author explores the newly-unveiled "World of Coca-Cola" exhibit in Atlanta, Georgia, and asks questions about the marketing of Coca-Cola as a product and who owns Coca-Cola.

-Friend, Tad. "Copy Cats." The New Yorker. 14 September, 1998: 51. "What if Shakespeare sued the producers of "West Side Story" for copyright infringement? He"d probably lose." Is it any coincidence that many Hollywood films tend to resemble their predecessors? This article is an examination of ownership and copyright, specifically dealing with the stories that eventually become movies.

-Fuller, L. K. "We Can"t Duck the Issue: Imbedded advertising in the motion pictures. In Frith, K. T. (Ed.) Undressing the ad: Reading culture in advertising. New York: Peter Lang, 1997, 109-130.

-Galician, Mary-Lou (Ed). Handbook of Product Placement in the Mass Media. New York: Haworth, 2004. Galician argues that so many aspects of the American culture have been connected to advertising, marketing, and consumption that it becomes difficult to find any other form of discourse or ideas that are not connected to consumption or branding. The intro to the book is called 'Product Placements in the Mass Media: Unholy Marketing Marriages or Realistic Story-Telling Portrayals, Unethical Advertising Messages or Useful Communication Practices?" Another chapter, "The Evolution of Product Placements in Hollywood Cinema: Embedding High-Involvement "Heroic" Brand Images" is a content analysis of the 15 top-grossing motion pictures of 1977, 1987, and 1997. It uncovered 546 product placements present in fully one quarter (24%) of the total running time of the 45 movies. The Handbook also includes interviews with various critics for and against the practice. (In the opinion of Mark Crispin Miller, for example, product placement is one way in which the forces of commercialization "domesticate" cinema and make it mundane. In the long run, the practice will only work against the interests of marketers as it worsens cinema. In Howard Rosenberg's opinion, marketing strategies are extensions of the way television can influence people and consumers should be made aware when they're watching an unidentified commercial in a seemingly non-commercial context. For Samuel Turcotte, moviemakers used to think that using brand names undermined the artistry of the cinema, but today we know that it undermines reality not to use them. In the early 1990s, Michael Jacobson denounced product placement as the most insidious form of advertising, and as the representative of Center for the Study of Commercialism he petitioned the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to ban it or at least to require movies to list all product placements during the opening credits.

-George, Lianne. "Is Kiefer Sutherland Trying to Sell You Something." Maclean"s, February 21, 2005, pp 30-35.This article discusses several examples of the "imbedded" or ads that appear in several recent television shows as well as the creative conflicts that can arise between TV creators and writers and advertisers.

-Gluckson. ""Casting" Products in Films." Boxoffice. December, 1985, p. 34-36.

-Gold. "Cool Summer for Film Merchandising." Variety. 13 June, 1985, p. 7, 22.

-Gould, Stephen J., Pola B. Gupta and Sonja Grabner-Kruter. "Product Placement in Movies: A Cross-cultural Analysis of Austrian, French and American Consumer's Attitudes Toward this Emerging International Promotional Medium". Journal of Advertising. Winter, 2000. Vol. 29 (4), pp. 41-58. This cross-cultural study expands on exiting research on the U.S. consumer and looks at the acceptability of product placements and on potential purchase behavior.

-Gray, Ed. "How To Watch A Movie." US Airways Attaché. March, 1999, p. 58.

-Gupta, Pola B. and Kenneth R. Lord. "Product Placement in Movies: The Effect of Prominence and Mode on Audience Recall". Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising. Spring 1998, Vol. 20 (1), pp. 47-59. This article looks at common product-placement strategies in Hollywood films and attempts to draw conclusions about the kinds of placements and the recall of products among audiences.

-Gupta, Pola B., S. K. Balasubramanian, and M. Klassen. "Viewers' Evaluations of Product Placements in Movies: Public Policy Issues and Managerial Implications". Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising. Fall 2000, Vol. 20 (2), pp. 41-52.

-Handy, Bruce. "101 Movie Tie-Ins: With merchandising money rivaling box-office intake, Hollywood is saying, Attention Shoppers!" Time December 2, 1996

-Hass, Nancy. "It"s Synergy, Baby. Groovy! Yeah! New York Times. May 2, 1999. "The Selling of Austin Powers, from the board game to the Madonna single, will all take place within Time Warner." An article describing synergy and its relationship to the film marketplace.

-Herzog, Charlotte. ""Powder Puff" Promotion: The Fashion Show-in-the-Film." Fabrications: Costume and The Female Body. Ed. Gaines, Jane and Herzog, Charlotte. New York: Routledge, 1990. 134-159. From the earliest days of cinema, fashion has made its way into commercial films. Outlines the intimate relationship that the fashion industry has with Hollywood. Costumes are just as carefully orchestrated as any other placement.

-Hudson, S., D. Hudson & J. Peloza. "Meet the Parents: A Parents' Perspective on Product Placement in Children's Films". Journal of Business Ethics.

-Jacobson, M. and Mazur A. "Product Placement." Marketing Madness: A Survival Guide for a Consumer Society. Denver: Westview Press, 1995. P. 67-72. A complete and highly critical review of product placement. This article explains the process, discusses costs, and lists examples of placements in feature films.

-Jacobson, Michael F. Ph.D. "Before The Federal Trade Commission: In the matter of Unfair and Deceptive Acts in the Placement of Product Advertisements in Motion Pictures." Washington DC: Center for the Study of Commercialism, 1991.

-Kaplan, David A. "The Selling of Star Wars." Newsweek. May 17, 1999. A cover story on Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Describes the film as both hype and cultural phenomenon. This issue also features an unfavorable review of "Phantom Menace" by David Ansen. Kirchdoerffer, Ed. "Keeping Up With Today"s Kids." KidScreen. January 1999: 41. On the popularity of licensed characters with children.

-Kretchmer, Susan B. "Advertainment: The Evolution of Product Placement as a Mass Media Marketing Strategy". Journal of Promotion Management,Vol. 10 Issue 1/2, 2004, pp. 37-55. This essay explores the issues implicated by entertainment vehicles created solely to spotlight specific advertisers. This study considers the nature and implications of perhaps the ultimate evolution of product placement and blurring of the lines between entertainment and commercial persuasion.

-Lees, David and Berkowitz, Stan. The Movie Business. New York: Vintage, 1981.

-Lester, Paul Martin. Visual Communication: Images with Messages. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 1995. P. 317-321.

-Linck. "Brand Names Go Hollywood: Props That Sell." Boxoffice. April, 1982. p.32-33. -Litman, Barry R. "Motion Picture Entertainment." The Structure of American Industry (9th Edition). Ed. Adams, Walter and Brock, James W. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995.

-Marich. "TV Commercials in the Next Century? 2010 offers peak." Ad Age. 3 December, 1984. P. 4, 98.

-Marshall, Norm and Ayers, Dean. "Norm Marshall and Dean Ayers In Rebuttal: Product Placement Worth More Than Its Weight." Brandweek. 9 February 1998: 16-17. Two industry insiders weigh the pros and cons of product placement in movies.

-McAllister, Matthew P. The Commercialization of American Culture: New Advertising Control and Democracy. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 1996.

-McChesney, Robert. Rich Media, Poor Democracy:Communication Politics in Dubious Times. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999. (A video based on this book is available from MEF).

-McLeod, Kembrew. Freedom of Expression: Overzealous Copyright Bozos and Other Enemies of Creativity (New York: Doubleday). Also available free under a Creative Commons License from McLeod's website.

-Meehan, Eileen. " 'Holy Commodity Fetish, Batman!' The Political Economy of a Commercial Intertext." The Many Lives of Batman: Critical Approach to a Superhero and His Media. Ed. Pearson, Roberta and Uricchio, William. New York: Routledge, 1991. 47-65.

-Miller, Mark Crispin. "End of Story." Boxed In: The Culture of TV. Ed. Miller, Mark Crispin. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1988. 186-246. Numerous examples of product placement are discussed with respect to their effect on scenes and plotlines.

-Miller, Mark Crispin. "The Media Nation: Publishing." The Nation. 17 March, 1997. Comprehensive table of networks of ownership.

-Miller, Mark Crispin. "The Media Nation: TV." The Nation. 8 June, 1998. Comprehensive table of networks of ownership.

-Morton, Cynthia R. and Meredith Friedman. ""I Saw it in the Movies": Exploring the Link Between Product Placement Beliefs and Reported Usage Behavior". Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, Fall 2002, Vol 24 (2), pp. 33-40. This study presents an exploratory examination of the correlation between beliefs about product placement and reported product usage following exposure.

-Natharius, David. "When Product Placement Is NOT Product Placement: Reflections of a Movie Junkie". Journal of Promotion Management, 2004, Vol. 10 Issue 1/2, pp. 213-218. The attempt to make serious realistic films is sometimes sidetracked by a clearly fake product that strikes at the suspension of disbelief of movie goers, particularly when they have some familiarity with the product NOT being placed.

-Nebenzahl, Israel D. & Secunda, E. "Consumers' attitudes toward product placement in movies." International Journal of Advertising 12(1) (Wntr 1993), pp. 1-12. Marketing research based on interviews with lines outside movie theaters. Found that movie-goers didn"t mind placement " based on higher ticket prices as the only alternative.

-Nelson, Richard Alan. "A Product Placement Resource Guide: Recommended Publications and Websites". Journal of Promotion Management, 2004, Vol. 10 Issue 1/2, pp. 259-268. A selective guide to useful resources for the person interested in doing research on the product placement phenomenon including product placement firms and websites.

-Nelson, Richard Alan. "The Bulgari Connection: A Novel Form of Product Placement". Journal of Promotion Management, 2004, Vol. 10 Issue 1/2, pp. 203-213. This paper presents an analysis of the controversy surrounding British novelist Fay Weldon's decision to accept financing from the famed Italian jewelry company Bulgari to prominently mention the firm and its products in her 2001 book, The Bulgari Connection.

-Office of National Drug Control Policy & U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Use In Popular Movies & Music. April 1999.

-Ohmann, Richard et al. (Eds.) Making and Selling Culture. Hanover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England [for] Wesleyan University, 1996. Includes a critical interview with Strauss Zelnick, the then current president and CEO of Twentieth Century Fox.

-Olson, Scott Robert. "The Extensions of Synergy: Product Placement Through Theming and Environmental Simulacra". Journal of Promotion Management, 2004, Vol. 10 Issue 1/2, pp. 65-88. Corporations use synergy as a way of conveying consistent brand messages through multiple venues. Those venues have expanded beyond our conventional notions of the mass media, however, and increasingly rely on physical environments such as theme parks, casinos, and even residential communities to communicate and reinforce brand messages. The transformation of space into a new advertising medium has significant cultural implications.

-Ong, Beng Soo. "A Comparison of Product Placements in Movies and Television Programs: An Online Research Study". Journal of Promotion Management, 2004, Vol. 10 Issue 1/2, pp. 147-159. Product placements in television shows differ from placements in movies in terms of (1) federal regulations, (2) greater vehicle choices, and (3) ability to embed brands into TV shows that have proven to be successful. An online survey was conducted with the purpose of examining attitudinal differences, if any, between product placement in movies and in TV programs.

-Ong, Beng Soo and D. Meni. "Should Product Placement in Movies Be Banned?". Journal of Promotion Management, 1994, Vol. 2 Issue 3/4, pp. 159-175. This study investigates the associations among moviegoer"s purchase evaluations, brand recall patterns and ethical judgments of the medium.

-Pardun, Carol J. and Kathy Brittain McKee. "Product Placements as Public Relations: An Exploratory Study of the Role of the Public Relations Firm". Public Relations Review. Winter, 1999. Vol. 25 (4), pp. 481-493. The findings of the research suggest that public relations practitioners are active players in choosing whether to use product placements to enhance a client"s product or service.

-Pechmann, Cornelia and Shih, Chuan-Fong. "Smoking Scenes in Movies and Antismoking Advertisements Before Movies: Effects on Youth." Journal of Marketing 63(3) (July 1999).

"Pepsi wins product placement at "Oscar"". Reuters, 20 February, 2005. PepsiCo Inc. may be only the world's No. 2 soft drinks maker, but in terms of product placement on the big screen it outranked every other brand on the planet in 2004.

-Roehm, Michelle L., Roehm Jr., Harper A. and Boone, Derrick S.. "Plugs Versus Placements: A Comparison of Alternatives for Within-Program Brand Exposure". Psychology & Marketing, Jan 2004, Vol. 21 Issue 1, p17-29. A study is presented that compares two forms of within-program brand appearances: product placements and celebrity plugs. Differences in presentation contexts may create differences in how memory for plugs and placements is organized.

-Rotkin. "Product Visibility in Motion Pictures." Marketing Communications. July, 1982. P. 4-5.

-Schatz, Thomas. "The Return of The Hollywood Studio System." Conglomerates and the Media. Ed. Barnouw, Erik et al. New York: The New Press, 1997. 73-105. How Hollywood studios are geared to produce not simply films but "franchises," blockbuster scaled hits which can be systematically reproduced in a range of media forms.

-Schiller, Gail. "Product Placements in TV, Films Soar, Study Finds." Reuters/Hollywood Reporter. March 30, 2005. The findings of a six-month market research study by PQ media reveal film and especially television placements are increasing and that the practice of product placement is becoming an integral part of larger marketing packages for advertisers.

-Schiller, Herbert I. "Corporate Sponsorship: Institutionalized Censorship of the Cultural Realm". Art Journal (USA) Vol. 50, no. 3, Fall 1991. pp. 56-59. This article critiques the practice of product placement as the transformation of the cultural sphere and creative expression into a marketing apparatus that satisfies the needs of its corporate sponsors.

-Segrave, Kerry. Product Placement in Hollywood Films: A History.. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2004.

-Siegel, Paul. "Product Placement and the Law". Journal of Promotion Management, 2004, Vol. 10 Issue 1/2, pp. 89-101. This essay reviews the evolution of the Supreme Court's commercial speech doctrine and concludes that product placements would likely not be considered commercial speech at all; moreover, the essay argues, even if they were found to be commercial speech, the Court's evolving doctrine would likely protect the placements from regulation.

-Stanley, T.L. "More Hype to Come: Even with a rash of summer movie tie-ins, Tinseltown marketers say the end is nowhere in sight." Brandweek. April 3, 1995. P 26-27, 30,31, 34.

-Turcotte, Samuel. "Gimme a Bud!." The Feature Film Product Placement Industry. The University of Texas at Austin, 1995. http://www.utexas.edu/coc/adv/research/papers/Turcotte/ A business thesis analyzing the practice of product placement in Hollywood. Includes extensive interviews with practitioners. The writer believes placement to be beneficial to audiences, as well as to marketers.

-Turner, Kathleen J.. "Insinuating the Product into the Message: An Historical Context for Product Placement". Journal of Promotion Management, 2004, Vol. 10 Issue 1/2, pp. 9-15. The cozy arrangement of marketers embedding their products in mediated messages has its antecedents in radio and television, when sponsors often controlled the entirety of programs. This essay sketches the rise and fall of this system as it paved the way for contemporary product placement.

-Vaczek, David. "Pay to Play." Promo Magazine. June, 1999. P 106. About licensing and promotion of products via film and TV. Also has a sidebar about movie studios developing "new merchandise-minded creatures."

-Wasko, Janet. Hollywood in the Information Age: Beyond The Silver Screen. Austin Texas: University of Texas Press, 1995.

-Wasko, Janet, Mark Phillips and Chris Purdie. "Hollywood Meets Madison Avenue: The Commercialization of US Films". Media Culture 15 (2), April 1993, pp 271-293. This article examines the growth of advertising and marketing of Hollywood products, arguing that they enhance the general commodification of culture and thus the promotion of a consumer society. Includes an appendix of the top-grossing movies of 1990 and the products placed in them.

-Wasko, Janet. How Hollywood Works. London: Sage, 2003.

-Wenner, Lawrence A.. "On the Ethics of Product Placement in Media Entertainment". Journal of Promotion Management, 2004, Vol. 10 Issue 1/2, pp. 101-133. This study examines the ethical propriety of current trends in product placement in television and film entertainment. Three distinct "genres" of contemporary product placement are analyzed: (1) Product Placement, (2) Product Integration, and (3) Video Insertion.

-Williamson, J. Consuming Passions: Film Criticism: 1980-1990. London: Marion Boyars, 1993.

-Wise, J. Macgretor. "Mapping the Culture of Control: Seeing Through the Truman Show". Television & New Media 3 (1), February 2002, pp. 29-47. The author uses the Truman Show to theorize Deleuze"s "culture of control" and its cultural implications. He sees the film to be representative of themes found in contemporary society such as individualism, consumerism and surveillance.

-Wolf, Jamie. "The Blockbuster Script Factory." The New York Times Magazine. 23 August 1998: 32.

Last updated May 29, 2007