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Product placement is an alternative strategy of marketing communications for firms wishing to inform, remind and pursue consumers concerning product offerings. Many consumers view advertising with suspicion. In an attempt to overcome this suspicion and communicate to consumers, firms have increasingly resorted to product placement to overcome resistance to traditional commercial communication. While many researchers have examined marketing communication in terms of hype and puffery, few have examined negative product placement using the legal and ethical frameworks of disparagement, unfair competition, and trademark tarnishment. This paper examines the practice of attempting to influence consumers' perception toward competitors' products through the use of product placement and examines the ethical and legal ramifications of such practices.
INTRODUCTION
Here's the deal: Remember how Snooki, drunk or sober, was never seen without that Coach bag dangling from the crook of her arm? Snooki and her Coach were as synonymous as The Situation and his six-pack. But then the winds of change started blowing on Jersey Shore. Every photograph of Guido-huntin' Snooki showed her toting a new designer purse. Why the sudden disloyalty? Was she trading up? Was she vomiting into her purses and then randomly replacing them? The answer is much more intriguing.
Allegedly, the anxious folks at these various luxury houses are all aggressively gifting our gal Snookums with free bags. No surprise, right? But here's the shocker: They are not sending her their own bags. They are sending her each other's bags! Competitors' bags! (Doolan, 2010)
The quoted celebrity news refers to negative product placement. Instead of a company seeking to create a positive image of their products in consumers' minds, negative product placement seeks to have consumers disassociate from competitors' products, by associating competitors' products with negative role models or negative reference group members.
Before delving into negative product placement, the reader should have some understanding of product placement. Then we will examine negative product placement. Finally we examine the legal and ethical implications of utilizing negative product placement.
PRODUCT PLACEMENT
Marketers use communication elements-the promotional mix-for the purpose of informing, reminding or persuading an intended audience. Broadly, the promotional mix consists of advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and personal selling. Specifically, product placement is the process of embedding products within media. As a component...