Agricultural Brand Placement in Film Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Scienc
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Agricultural Brand Placement in Film Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Brooke Wood Beam, B.S. Graduate Program in Agricultural and Extension Education The Ohio State University 2014 Master’s Examination Committee: Emily Buck, Ph.D., Advisor Gary Straquadine, Ph.D. Copyrighted by Brooke Wood Beam 2014 2 Abstract Product placement in films began to gain momentum as an advertising strategy in 1982, and has since become a multi billion-dollar business (Spurlock, 2011). Although agricultural companies are not likely to pay for screen time in films because they have such a small share of the general advertising market in the United States and typically advertise using print advertisements, agricultural products are still present on the silver screen when the plot of the film is agriculturally based. With the agricultural industry only directly connected to less than two percent of the population of the United States who live on farms (EPA's Ag Center, 2012), these products are only relevant to a few number of moviegoers. According to the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc., cinemas annually attract more people than attendance to theme parks and major United States sports combined (MLB, NBA, NHL and NFL), in 2011 more than two-thirds of the population of the United States and Canada attended a movie at least once, and in 2012 alone the United States film industry grossed more than nine billion dollars (Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. , 2011) (The Numbers, 2012). Because of the high viewing rate and marketing power of films, it is logical to analyze the agricultural brands present in films to determine which films are marketing the American pastoral image and which companies are reaping the benefits of free marketing services to millions of consumers. This study analyzed over 40 films from the past 25 years to determine how 26 ii agriculturally based brands were placed in the films from varying genres, ratings and production companies to represent the agricultural industry as a whole. iii Dedication For my parents, David and Susan Beam, for always believing and encouraging me to reach any goal I attempt to achieve. iv Acknowledgements Thank you to all those who have made this study possible, your assistance has been greatly appreciated. v Vita May 2008 ……………………………………………………… East Clinton High School June 2012 …………………………………... B.S. Agriculture, The Ohio State University August 2012 to present …………………… Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership Internships Spring 2011 ……………………………… Office of Research, The Ohio State University Summer 2011 ……………………………………………………………. News 5 WLWT Summer 2013 ……………………………………………… Clinton Community Fellows Work Experiences 1999 to present ………………………………………………………………. Beam Farms 2005 to present ………………………………………………. Full of Sap Maple Products Summer 2011 ……………………………………………….. Marvel Eastern Productions 2012 to present ……………….. Graduate Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University Fields of Study Major Field: Agricultural and Extension Education vi Table of Contents Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ii Dedication ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….... iv Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………………………………. v Vita ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. vi List of Tables …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ix List of Figures ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. x Chapter 1: Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Purpose of Study ……………………………………………………………………………………... 3 Definitions ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4 Chapter 2: Review of Literature ………………………………………………………………………...... 7 Cultivation Theory ………………………………....………………………………………………... 7 Product Placement ………………………………………………………………………………… 10 The Film Industry ………………………………………………………………………………….. 13 Agriculture in America …………………………………………………………………………... 15 Advertising Agriculture …………………………………………………………………………. 16 Agricultural Perceptions ………………………………………………………………………... 17 Chapter 3: Methods ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 25 Study Questions …………………………………………………………………………………….. 25 vii Research Design ……………………………………………………………………………………. 26 Film Selection ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 27 Data Analysis ………………………………………………………………………………………… 32 Limitations ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 33 Chapter 4: Results ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 35 Findings for Objectives One and Two ............................................................................ 36 Findings for Objective Three .…………………………………………………………………. 42 Findings for Objective Four ……………………………………………………………………. 51 Findings for Objective Five .……………………………………………………………………. 56 Chapter 5: Conclusions …………………………………………………………………………………….. 59 Recommendations for Practitioners ……………………………………………………….. 67 Recommendations for Future Research ………………………………………... 68 References ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 70 Appendix A: Agricultural Brands ……………………………………………………………………… 85 Appendix B: Film Evaluation Form …………………………………………………………………. 111 viii List of Tables Table 4.1. Brands are listed with the films the brands appeared in along with the length of appearance in seconds. …………………………………………………………. 37 Table 4.2. Table 4.2 lists the films in chronological order providing the rating and genre of each film studied in the study. ………………………………………………. 51 Table 4.3. Films studied are listed chronologically and each film's box office rank, production company and number of theatres shown in are included. ………. 53 Table 4.4. Films are listed with earnings generated, box office opening date, and running time. ……………………………………………………………………………. 55 Table 4.5. Actors who were in multiple films studied are listed with the films they appeared in. …………………………………………………………………….. 57 ix List of Figures Figure 4.1. Bobby Boucher, portrayed by Adam Sandler, shown in the right foreground, approaches the John Deere mower featured in The Waterboy (Coraci, 1998) (Internet Movie Cars Database, 2006). ………………………………………… 43 Figure 4.2. Ray Kinsella and his daughter, Karin, ride on the John Deere 8640 during the film Field of Dreams (Robinson, 1989) (Internet Movie Cars Database, 2012). .. …………………………………………………………………………………... 45 Figure 4.3. Crawl operates the Massey Ferguson 8460 with ease while learning to become a farmer in Son In Law (Rash, 1993) (Internet Movie Cars Database, 2014). …………………………………………………………………………... 46 Figure 4.4. The farmer and his family emerge from the storm cellar at the end of Twister. Notice the farmer's hat, which features the Pioneer Seed logo (de Bont, 1996). … …………………………………………………………………………………... 48 Figure 4.5. Fern, portrayed by Dakota Fanning and wearing a 4-H shirt, holds Wilbur while admiring Charlotte's newest web in Charlotte's Web (Winick, 2006). ….. 50 Figure 5.1. Funny Farm poster shows Chevy Chase and Yellow Dog riding on a Wheel Horse lawn mower, which is featured for 18 seconds in the film (Hill, Funny Farm, 1988) ...…………………………………………………………………... 62 x Figure 5.2. and 5.3. Grant Wood's "American Gothic" painting and Son In Law's promotional poster share a striking resemblance in order to match viewer perceptions of rural American lifestyles, and include humor in the film's advertising (Basinger, 2005: Rash, Son In Law, 1993) ………………………... 65 Figure 5.4. John Deere produced a 1/16 model toy tractor of the 2640 tractor driven by Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams (Robinson, Field of Dreams, 1989) (Ebay, 2014). …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 66 Figure 6.1. Ace Hi Feed logo (Manchester Feeds, Inc., 2010). ..………………………. 86 Figure 6.2. The modern logo for the Carhartt company (Carhartt, 2014). ..…………… 87 Figure 6.3. Although the Castrol logo has changed since 1909, this is the 2012 version of the company's logo (Castrol, 2012). …………………………………………… 87 Figure 6.4. Caterpillar Inc. logo (Caterpillar, 2014). …………………………………... 88 Figure 6.5. The Cub Cadet logo is correlated with the company colors: yellow, white and black (Cub Cadet, 2014). ………………………………………………………. 89 Figure 6.6. The DEKALB logo (Monsanto, 2014). ………………………………….… 90 Figure 6.7. The USDA logo (National Agricultural Library, 2014). ……………….….. 91 Figure 6.8. Farmall logo featured on many tractors (Wisconsin Historical Society, 2014). …………………………………………………………………………………... 92 Figure 6.9. International Harvester logo, prior to the merger with Case in 1985 (Koenig Equipment, Inc., 2012). ………………………………………………………… 92 Figure 6.10. The FFA emblem (National FFA Organization, 2014). ………………..… 93 xi Figure 6.11. Ford Tractor logo, featured on tractor models from the 1950s (Ganzel, 2007). …………………………………………………………………………... 94 Figure 6.12. The John Deere logo, which was last updated in 2000, features a leaping deer. Previous logos used a landing deer (John Deere, 2014). ………………… 95 Figure 6.13. Justin Boots logo, as shown on their website (Justin Boots, 2014). ……… 96 Figure 6.14. Kent Feeds remains a family owned company after 87 years of operation (Kent Nutrition Group, 2014). …………………………………………………. 97 Figure 6.15. Kenworth trucks are designed for optimum driver comfort and efficiency (Kenworth Trucks, 2014). ……………………………………………………… 98 Figure 6.16. The Komatsu logo was previously a "little pine tree," but was changed in the late 1990s to the current logo (Komatsu America Corporation, 2014). …………99 Figure 6.17. In 1932, the first bulldog adorned the hood of a Mack truck (Mack Trucks, Inc. , 2014). …………………………………………………………………… 100 Figure 6.18. The current Massey