The mysterious relationship between advertisers and movies

BY DANIEL BARTLETT

When American directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez announced they would be screening fake trailers between their double feature homage to exploitation movies, Grindhouse, other filmmakers jumped at the chance to make their own faux commercials. But for Dr. Matt Soar, a communication studies professor at Concordia University, the study of real ads in film, particularly product placement, has been something he’s examined for several years.

Working out of the university’s Loyola campus in NDG, Soar teaches his students the impact product placement has on different forms of media. He noted that last year the product placement industry in film was worth $3.6 billion and should reach $9 billion by the end of the decade.

This, along with 30 to 35 Hollywood agencies that specialize in product placement, has lead some directors to respond to the industry by creating their own faux products that they place in their films. “People like Tarantino and Kevin Smith have invented brands that they use again and again in their movies, which is kind of fun,” Soar said. “When people see Rodriguez or Tarantino with fake brands, it’s all part of the culture of that director and their oeuvre, which makes it acceptable.”

Despite the large numbers of revenue that product placement brings into Hollywood, Soar said it’s often difficult to get mainstream directors and actors to give their opinions on the industry. He said he finds it a bit problematic when agencies state that product placement adds a level of realism to fictional media, especially when you consider that a high level of placement is put into movies that aren’t supposed to look realistic. “It gets back to the point about realism; do people really stand up in movie theatres and say, ‘(Forget) this, I’m out of here because you just showed me a no-name brand and that’s not realistic and that’s not like the world I live in, so I’m out of here?’ It just doesn’t happen that way.”

Soar said the way product placement generally works is that agencies that specialize in the industry will seek out scripts that have the potential to introduce products and begin an informal discussion between interested advertisers and movie producers. The relationship is often friendly, he said, but leaves moviegoers on the outside looking in. “One of the things I was trying to do with (my website) Brand Hype, and I still try to do, is just get into that conversation, just try and open that up just a little bit, because the people who don’t get involved in that conversation, of course, are the moviegoers,” Soar said. “Fans, or consumers of movies, we just don’t get a say in it.”

Noting that some critics trace this trend back to the earliest days of film, Soar said it’s still possible to make a movie without any product placement despite the industry’s growth. Nevertheless, the business’ success could have severe implications for future moviegoers. “It’s abundantly clear, if we’re paying attention, that it’s having an effect on the types of movies that get made,” Soar said. “Dialogue and the characters and the scenes are all going to be developed, promoted, pumped, emphasized, for their ability to carry a product, to carry a brand name. So long term, it’s kind of scary really. “I think very soon, we’re going to have a new generation that is acclimatized to that amount of branding in movies, and before long we’re going to end up with movies looking not dissimilar to high-end commercials.” • For more information on product placement, visit Soar’s website at www.brandhype.com.