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Robert McNay.
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June 8, 2008 at 8:04 pm #71584
AlexGKeymasterSomething of a continuation of my picking the brains of our creative story tellers who patronize our forums. 8)
Link: Smoking Characters – Would you include one?
Link: Substance-using Characters – Would you include one?
This thread will focus on the concept of what is normally called "product placement" in stories and the question of whether you would or would not include such in your story. This is commonly, even notoriously, done in movies, but is not unheard of in stories, too.
(Robert Heinlein comes most readily to my mind for having done so in some of his sci-fi novels.)
Full disclosure requires that I have to say that I've mentioned real world products in my stories and in some cases even made up plausible sounding ones that might not exist in our reality, but could in another one. I feel doing so, when appropriate, lends a gentle touch of familar tangibility for the reader to associate with when reading a story – that it's just a little bit more closer to the real world, even if it isn't ours.“I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
~ Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens (1907)June 8, 2008 at 11:07 pm #71585Fonk
ParticipantYes, without hesitation. There are two rules, though:
1) It must be relevant to the story. I'm not going to hock some products just for the sake of hocking some products.
2) It must not be overdone. That is so important – I've been to a few films where product placement is so prevalent that it ends up distracting from the actual film as you count the brand names that fly past. 🙁June 9, 2008 at 3:55 am #71586JimmyDimples
ParticipantBig question… do fan fictions count as product placement? After all, Wonder Woman and Power Girl ARE trademarks of DC Comics.
Me, I'm guilty as charged. Shoot, China Will Grow Larger pretty much showcases EA Games' Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour. And I threw in a mini-fridge with Coke as a bonus.
Also, The Stray plugs the rock band Consortium of Genius.
Dyna Meets M15+4 H4X0R shows Deena and Scott craving Krispy Kreme, and mentions TiVo and Krazy Glue.
Dyna: Mezaros Surfaces shows Powerade in the first sentence, and mentions Dr Pepper and Walt Disney/MGM Studios.
My Tetsuko fanfic Like a Weed? Yeesh, it's got Waffle House, a Chevrolet pickup and police interceptor, music from the game Lunar Silver Star, Lever 2000 soap, Vans shoes, Krispy Kreme dougnuts and coffee, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and Cokes. (And Staples, Oreos, Lane Bryant, Kool-Aid, and Microtel Inn get mentions.)
And my alien invasion story For Their Own Good: oy, gevald. Dr Pepper T-shirt, Outback Steakhouse, iMac computers with Firefox browser, the Drudge Report, Weird Al Yankovic's music, a bunch of media companies I'm too lazy to list, Exxon, the London Times Online, Lexus, Hummer, Macaroni Grill, a Jeep Wrangler, Borders Bookstore, Wal-Mart, a GMC Yukon, a VW Microbus, and a New Zealand All-Blacks ball cap.
Mentions: AutoZone, Nabs crackers, Namco's Time Crisis 4, Buick, and Warner Bros.' Yosemite Sam and Fuzzy Lumpkins.
Wow. Lately I'd added on a lot more brand names than I'd expected. I guess it goes with writing what you know… and like.
I guess that's the key. If you use it regularly, and mention it enough day-to-day without consciously being prompted or thinking about it, I guess it's fine. It's more like living your life.
But there is a cut-off point. I mean, if you're just foisting something out there strictly for the purpose of putting it in the reader's view in the name of shameless promotion… man, that's just crass. 😛
June 9, 2008 at 6:33 am #71587
TC2ParticipantNothing wrong with product placement as long as it fits within the context of the story.
I wouldn't want to see pepsi and internet related "product placement" in a medieval story. As long as it's within the context of our world, our present time or future, then I see nothing wrong with product placement.
June 9, 2008 at 10:16 am #71588David
ParticipantI tend to mention specific brands as such that I like or do it to lend a sort of reality to the story. Someone might have a Diet Coke or drive a Mustang or a Viper and I'll get specific about weapons. I like to get things as realistic as possible in current stories to flesh them out as I add flesh to the characters. For instance…
Bia took a final sip from her Red Bull. She was surprised at how it didn't have the kick it used to. She tossed the can over the Pathfinder hoping the noise would draw fire from the sniper. She cursed at his patience and lept over the vehicle and landed with an unearthly grace despite her mass.
The Barret barked and a .50 caliber round slammed into her massive thigh with enough force to knock her off her feet. "You know this is really pissing me off." She snarled.June 9, 2008 at 3:00 pm #71589AlexGKeymasterBig question… do fan fictions count as product placement? After all, Wonder Woman and Power Girl ARE trademarks of DC Comics.
That's one hadn't considered. Now that you've raised it . . . taken within the context of my question – as an element within the storyline – if the character was reading a Wonder Woman or Powergirl comic book, then that would be a case of "product placement". By contrast, I'd have to say for the real-world reader, a fan-fic about Wonder Woman or Powergirl would probably qualify as in-general unsolicited advertising.
“I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
~ Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens (1907)June 13, 2008 at 5:44 am #7159010-4
ParticipantSure. I'd do it. It might even make this sort of art a little bit profitable.
June 14, 2008 at 3:41 pm #71591Hunter S Creek
ParticipantThe motivation, context, and degree of use make the difference between acceptable and annoying product placement.
One key point about product placement, whether it is a fan-fic or a soft drink, is that product placement depends on familiarity.
However, relying on character/product familiarity is a two-edged sword.
The first edge:
A certain amount of familiarity with characters or products can make writing more succinct and reading more effortless.
One does not have to explain as much about a given, familiar character or product or how a familiar object works.That is one of the problems that I have with some "other world" stories. In some of those the writer gets bogged-down in explaining what a frazzlestuck is and what it does and how it works in order to show how creative he/she is instead of just calling the thing a toaster. Like AlexG, I try to use plausible-sounding products in an attempt at humor and as a tangibility link for the reader.
Does it matter which brand-named soda pop a character drinks in a scene? Probably not.
Does it matter what kind of car he drives? Possibly; because for many of us that bit of information lends insight into the character's personality and socio-economic status. The reader imagines a much different character if they are told that the character owns/drives a 1985 Yugo GV versus a 2008 BMW Z4 Roadster.
To quote Dr. Emmett Brown in "Back To The Future" — "If you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?". Quick show of hands — if it were not for the movie, how many here would know what a DeLorean is?That question is my segue to —
The second edge:
The problem with the assumption of familiarity is that what many of us think is familiar is not universally familiar.
I did not know why a character was eating something called "Vegamite" until I looked it up. (I can imagine my Australian friends cringing at my just-demonstrated naïveté).
And, how about the generation gap when it comes to familiarity with characters — How many of us are facile with the seemingly endless list of sound-alike/look-alike Anime'/Japanimation characters? A quick count showed that there are about one-and-a-half bazillion fan-fics about such characters. However, no matter how well they are written, I won't be able to slog through a single one without my eyes immediately glazing over. Yet, most of the folks I know who are still in college can recite encyclopedic details about most of them.Great topic, AlexG!
Tschuss!
HunterJune 15, 2008 at 6:30 am #71592Robert McNay
ParticipantI'm a car geek and since I tend to live vicariously through my characters, I do some product placement. I'll give them cool cars that I wish I could drive or own.
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