Starcom, Turner refine booming product placement business
Geoffrey PrecourtWarc
The general public, for decades, has been convinced that marketers are willing to use deception as a means to surreptitiously deliver their messages.
Subliminal advertising – an ice cube supposedly retouched to read "Drink Me Now", for example – and product placement in movies, television shows and print advertising are thus perceived to be miserable offenders that hoodwink an unknowing public.
In fact, most ice cubes are simply chilling devices and the lettering is in the imagination of the audience. But product placement is a viable means of promoting brands,...