Product placement, or embedded marketing,[1][2][3][4] is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, the story line of television shows, or news programs. The product placement is often not disclosed at the time that the good or service is featured. Product placement became common in the 1980s. In April 2006, Broadcasting & Cable reported, "Two thirds of advertisers employ 'branded entertainment'²product placement²with the vast majority of that (80%) in commercial TV programming." The story, based on a survey by the Association of National Advertisers, said "Reasons for using in-show plugs varied from 'stronger emotional connection' to better dovetailing with relevant content, to targeting a specific group."[5] [edit] Early examples Product placement dates back to the nineteenth century in publishing.[citation needed] By the time Jules Verne published the adventure novel Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) he was a world-renowned literary giant to the extent transport and shipping companies lobbied to be mentioned in the story as it was published in serial form; however if he was actually paid to do so remains unknown.[6] Product placement is still used in books to some extent, particularly in novels. [edit] Placement in movies Although recognizable brand names probably had appeared in movies prior to the 1920s, the weekly trade periodical Harrison's Reports published its first denunciation of that practice with respect to Red Crown gasoline appearing in the comedy film The Garage (1919), directed by and co-starring Fatty Arbuckle.[7] During the next four decades, Harrison's Reports frequently cited cases of on-screen brand-name products,[8] always condemning the practice as harmful to movie theaters. Publisher P. S. Harrison¶s editorials strongly reflected his feelings against product placement in films. An editorial in Harrison¶s Reports criticized the collaboration between the Corona Typewriter company and First National Pictures when a Corona typewriter appeared in the film The Lost World (1925).[9] Harrison's Reports published several incidents about Corona typewriters appearing in films of the mid-1920s. Among the famous silent films to feature product placement was Wings (1927), the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It contained a plug for Hershey's chocolate. Another early example in film occurs in Horse Feathers (1932) where Thelma Todd's character falls out of a canoe and into a river. She calls for a life saver and Groucho Marx's character tosses her a Life Savers candy. The film It's a Wonderful Life (1946), directed by Frank Capra, depicts a young boy with aspirations to be an explorer, displaying a prominent copy of National Geographic. In the film Love Happy (1949), Harpo Marx's character cavorts on a rooftop among various billboards and at one point escapes from the villains on the old Mobil logo, the "Flying Red Horse". Harrison's Reports severely criticized this scene in its film review[10] and in a front-page editorial of the same issue. In the film noir Gun Crazy (1949), the climactic crime is the payroll robbery of the Armour meat-packing plant, where a Bulova clock is prominently seen. In other early media, e.g., radio in the 1930s and 1940s and early television in the 1950s, programs were often underwritten by companies. "Soap operas" are called such because they were initially underwritten by consumer, packaged-goods companies such as Procter & Gamble or Unilever. When television began to displace radio, DuMont's Cavalcade of Stars television show was, in its era, notable for not relying on a sole sponsor in the tradition of NBC's Texaco Star Theater and similar productions. Sponsorship exists today with programs being sponsored by major vendors such as Hallmark Cards. The conspicuous display of Studebaker motor vehicles in the television series Mr. Ed (1961± 1966), which was sponsored by the Studebaker Corporation from 1961 to 1963, is another example of product placement. Incorporation of products into the actual plot of a film or television show is generally called "brand integration". An early example of such "brand integration" was by Abercrombie & Fitch when one of its stores provided the notional venue for part of the romantic-comedy film Man's Favourite Sport? (1964) starring Rock Hudson and Paula Prentiss. In 1995 one of the most successful movie product tie-in was when Karen sortito created a BMW campaign for the film GoldenEye. The BMW car, a Z3, was a new model at the time.[11] Afterwards, while the film was number one at the box office, sales of the car spiked. For the next film in the James Bond franchise, Tomorrow Never Dies, Sortito created a $100 million promotional campaign that included tie-ins with Visa, L'Oréal, Ericsson, Heinekin, Avis rental cars and Omega watches. The film brought in more than $300 million dollars.[12] A recent example is HBO's Sex and the City (1998±2004), where the plot revolved around, among other things, Absolut Vodka, a campaign upon which one of the protagonists was working, and a billboard in Times Square, where a bottle prevented an image of the model from being pornographic. Knight Rider (1982±1986), a television series featuring a talking Pontiac Trans Am, is another example of brand integration. The earliest example of product placement in a computer or video game occurs in Action Biker (1984) for Skips crisps, a product by KP Snacks. Video games, such as Crazy Taxi (1999), feature real retail stores as game destinations. However, sometimes the economics are reversed and video-game makers pay for the rights to use real sports teams and players. Today, product placement in online video is also becoming common. Online agencies are specializing in connecting online video producers, which are usually individuals, with brands and advertisers. [edit] Self Promotion Twentieth Century Fox, a subsidiary of News Corporation, has promoted its parent company's own Sky News channel through including it as a plot device when characters are viewing news broadcasts of breaking events.[citation needed] The newscaster or reporter in the scene will usually state that the audience is viewing Sky News, and reports from other channels are not shown. One notable example is the film Independence Day (1996). [edit] Sports Product placement has long been prevalent in sports as well, from professional sports to college sports, and even on the local level with high school sports. This can be attributed to sports being prevalent on television, which increases exposure to these products. The Green Monster at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, was originally built to have such advertisements, but since 1947 has largely been devoid of such advertisements. The Citgo sign overlooking Fenway Park can also be considered a form of product placement, despite the Boston Red Sox having a sponsorship deal with Gulf Oil. Outside of baseball (which had long had sponsors), product placement in sports began to rise in the 1970s, when NASCAR began to allow sponsors to cover the cars they were sponsoring with their logos. (For instance, STP was a longtime sponsor for Richard Petty.) This has subsequently followed with the uniforms the drivers themselves wear having sponsor logos. The Arena Football League, NFL Europe, and several association football leagues eventually allowed sponsors of the uniforms. The National Hockey League began allowing sponsors to line along the interior walls of the ice rinks in the early 1980s. This, combined with new rules mandating players to wear helmets (though some were grandfathered), arguably gave the NHL a different look in the 1980s than compared with the 1970s. [edit] NFL While the now-defunct NFL Europe allowed liberal use of sponsors with the team's uniforms, the main National Football League (NFL) has long been more stringent. For instance, the league prohibits logos of sponsors painted onto the fields, although Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, does have a disposable razor painted onto the field in honor of naming-rights sponsor Gillette. In 2008, the league allowed sponsors on the practice jerseys of the uniforms, but not the game-worn uniforms. The NFL's strict policy contradicts several other policies on the uniforms. In 1991, the league allowed the individual uniform suppliers to display their logo on the products they made in conjunction with the rest of the sports world, and since 2002, Reebok has been the official uniform supplier for the entire league. In addition, two of the league's flagship teams²the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers²adopted some form of their identity from corporate sponsors. The Packers adopted the nickname "Packers" because they were sponsored by the Indian Packing Company, and later had "ACME PACKERS" written on their uniforms in the early 1920s after the Acme Packing Company bought Indian Packing. The Steelers adopted their current logo in 1962 as a product- placement deal with the American Iron and Steel Institute, which owned the rights to the Steelmark logo. The Steelers later were allowed to add "-ers" to the Steelmark logo the following year so that they could own a trademark on the logo. Going the other way, the league has been shown to place itself as the product. NFL Japan was a sponsor of the football themed anime series Eyeshield 21, which ran for 145 TV episodes and a handful of specials. [edit] Categories and variations Actual product placement falls into two categories: products or locations that are obtained from manufacturers or owners to reduce the cost of production, and products deliberately placed into productions in exchange for fees.[13] Sometimes, product usage is negotiated rather than paid for.