Product Placement in Video Games

klaun writes: "Yahoo has a Reuters article about product placement in games. Seems that paid placements are no longer that popular because they don't work. The audience is to sensitive to advertisement being 'crammed down their throat.' Wonder what slashdot thinks of product placement." I actually like ads in games, whether they're spoofs or real, so long as they fit the context of the game.

Comments

Super Monkey Ball

[Calle Ballz]

I was playing Super Monkey Ball (extremely fun) for the GameCube the other day...

and I got this strange desire for a Dole Banana. Wonder if it was something subliminal thrown in...

Paid placement doesn't work...

[Peyna]

Paid placement doesn't really work, because frankly, most people don't care what the actor is drinking, or what the writing on the wall says.

It does help to make movies and games more realistic, since they will be using brands that you recognize, but that's about all it has ever done for me.

Besides, unless there is something that limits someone from using a certain product in a movie, it's pretty much going to happen anyway, why pay for it? (I might be wrong here, but you don't have pay Pepsi if you want to film a movie and there is a guy in a scene drinking Pepsi, do you?)

Re:Paid placement doesn't work...

[schtum]

It may be realistic, but frankly I find it distracting. While it would be pretty lame to see someone drinking Cola® brand Cola, a made up name that's clever and/or silly can add much more to my enjoyment of a game than the "realism" of product placement. "Fried Chicken Restaurant" isn't the only alternative to "Kentucky Fried Chicken" as suggested in the article. How about something like (off the top of my head, not necessarily a good example) "Kentucky Fried Sushi"? Players would get a giggle out of the blatant yet skewed reference, and no one has to worry about integrity. Admittedly, this would work better in an Earthworm Jim style game that was designed to make gamers laugh to begin with than in "Die Hard: Nakitomi Plaza" (I hope that's just a working title). Mind you, I'm only talking about games here. Movies should stay away from sight-gags as much as possible, but since they're just about the only type of gag you can sneak into most video games, I say bring 'em on!

Re:Paid placement doesn't work...

[iso]

It does help to make movies and games more realistic..

Y'know, what's really frightening is that we feel we need to see ads for a scene to be "real." That just goes to show you how many ads we're subjected to each day.

- j

Finally

[crandall]

It's about time that ad companies start realizing that they are forcing so much at us, that it doesn't work anymore. (Redundant, I know).

Still though, maybe they'll start finding better ways. First of all, the product really does have to appeal to the target audience. It has to make sense. I don't even notice ads anymore, they are just automatically blocked out of my vision.

Occasionally, one that appeals to me in some way will surface. Like one I saw on slashdot a while back that asked what the smallest positive integer you could make with 9 9s and + - / * ( ) was. That grabbed my attention right there, but hey, I'm a programmer.

On the other hand, most ads (read: X10) are totally ignored by me, and I don't even give it a second thought when my mouse automatically moves over and closes the window.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II

[Apreche]

and Pizza Hut. I still have the instruction book with the coupon on it. I challenge anyone to find a video game with advertisements in it older than that. I'm not sure if the ads worked then or not, but it was a wildly popular game.

Re:Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II

[Howie]

I challenge anyone to find a video game with advertisements in it older than that.

Tapper (1983) has you serving Budweiser to fickle customers. From memory, the C64 port did not have the tie-in, even though it was also made by Bally.

Re:Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II

[interiot]

NES had a 7-Up version of Othello called Spot. The game rocked for its time, fast graphics and funny animations.

Oh, that's why

[BreakWindows]

Ever since playing Max Payne, I've had the urge to buy a .50 caliber armalite automatic rifle and shoot the people who cross me...I guess this product placement stuff works.

Oh well...time to go buy some doritos, because i AM bold and daring enough!

Re:Oh, that's why

[White Shadow]

Ah yes, and after playing or watching Grand Theft Auto 3, I always have an urge to drive on the sidewalk, beat up police officers and drive around a firetruck.

Oh wait, I had that urge before playing the game. Maybe that's why I played the game in the first place.

I agree with the realism...

[alexhmit01]

Did any of you play games on 15 years ago? Going to Pizza Hut instead of "the pizza place" does help you relate to the game more. It makes it easier to relate to the character.

My partner found the article at work the other day, it was interesting. Before he even mentioned the part about promotions my first thought was promotional deals.

Sure Dole isn't paying for the US rights, but why should Sega spend money removing it. The Dole stuff was amusing and SO over-the-top it didn't even seem like a game, it was funny. I couldn't stop laughing about the Dole stuff everywhere.

I don't buy bananas on brand, so it's irrelevant, but if they were launching a luxury version, it makes sense to do promotional deals.

Alex

Re:I agree with the realism...

[wadetemp]

Going to Pizza Hut instead of "the pizza place" does help you relate to the game more. It makes it easier to relate to the character.

Sure it does. Players have an easier time relating to characters when they don't have to put any imagination into it, but I don't think that makes it better. Pizza Hut is a pop-culture icon, and doesn't need to be imagined by the player, or developed by the developer. How boring. I think any character developer who thinks that sending a character to Pizza Hut is a good idea is damned lazy. It would be relatively easy to send the same character to "PizzaWorld", a made-up pizza emporium with a snazzy logo and "A free GookGook doll with every large pizza!" The point being made about the character's ideals is the same... he likes to succumb to pop-culture. But, by creating an imaginary pop-culture restaurant, the player gets to imagine the rest. And in case you hadn't heard, imagination is FUN. :)

Product placement

[Have Blue]

Product placement is usually accepted where it doesn't interfere with the product in which it is placed. James Bond driving a BMW is fine, and might even boost BMW's image. The camera focusing on the BMW logo on James' car is not.

So, for example, if there were going to be cans of soda int he game anyway, like in Deus Ex, there shouldn't be any objection to putting a real-world brand name on them.

Product Placement can be a good thing

[Rayonic]

Besides funding, product placement can add realism to a game. We're immersed in product placement in real life, so it seems strange to not see it in a supposedly reality-based game.

Of course, in real life we see competing brands advertised all the time, but that wouldn't happen in a game. You won't see both Coke and Pepsi billboards in one game any time soon. Furthermore, games usually have just a handful of sponsors - sometimes even just one. The Illusion is somewhat broken if all you see in a game are Nike ads and nothing else.

But the most common offense I see is when they put in ads for their own company or development team. Sure it was funny maybe a few years ago, but I don't want to see giant ads for Interplay, Inc. or "Team Blue" in every game I play. (Note to developers: this also goes for pictures of your family and obscure in-jokes that only Bob will find hilarous.)

PetsOverNight.com

[HiredMan]

The radio stations in Grand Theft Auto III really help make the game and the ads really help make the radio stations work. They add to the "texture" of the game and give the game makers the ability to make subtle (and funny) commentaries on society.

The wierd thing is that MOST of the ads are fake... but some of the personal promotions stuff (Game Radio) are real or are they... the bleed over between the fake ads and reality adds another dimension to the game.

This article also shows that if you ignore ads THEY WILL STOP. If you don't like ads complain and specifically do not buy those products.

=tkk

Realistic product placement

[Toxxy]

I find that product placement in games is terrific. To play off of another post I saw here, a gentleman was commenting on how he didn't enjoy seeing advertisements for the company that produces the game, or family photos, etc. Ten times out of ten, I'll want to see "Pepsi" on the side of a can in the game than I would "SUPERCOLA." Intelligent product placement makes the game much more believable, and doesn't launch me out of the otherwise serious nature of the game with "Supercola? wtf?"

Take Max Payne for instance; a game that I find fairly realistic. If the painkillers were all "Advil" or "Tylenol" or something, I would find that tasteful and I would prefer it over "Painkillers."

I'd say that everybody wins in that situation. The advertising company gets some cheap (and probably well-noticed) advertising, the software company gets some extra cash in their pockets, and the end player gets some added realism.

I think tastefulness is the key issue here, and I think it's important not to lose sight of the fact that "SUPERCOLA" takes me way out of the illusion that the game publishers are trying to embed me in.

A logo in a vidgame is 'cramming down the throat'?

[gotan]

Then how is advertising over two pages in a magazine (and filling it up with crappy brochures), posters or even neon light installations the size of buildings, TV-advertising, telemarketing, and, the latest fashion, pop up ads, not? If it's worth advertising on some poster on a wall, why isn't it worth advertising on a Wall in virtual reality? You know the audience that will come by, nobody will mess up the poster, or alter it in creative ways, and you even get to choose the place and surroundings of that advert.

If it were no good idea to advertise there, where you at least know the audience, then maybe the whole concept of advertising should be reconsidered. I think brand recognition is greatly underestimated, if those corporations are concerned about how, and in which context their products are displayed. Did anyone ever notice how many of those rich evil movie drug-dealer types cruise around in those big black Mercedes or BMW? And that gave those cars a bad rap? Not that i'd notice.
--

It ads to the realism and pays the bills...

[PhotoGuy]

Real advertisements in games that are attempting to simulate reality, seems like a boon to me. And if helps pay the bills for the game maker, more power to them.

And dynamically changing ads would actually ad more interest to the game. I think it'd be cool to be distracted momentarily by a new interesting ad, and become someone else's frag due to the distraction. Hah!

I find it hard to see the down side. In movies, I think there's a far greater likelihood of compromising the creator's artistic integrity (when each shot starts with a well-framed shot of a Pepsi can :-); in games, where the viewpoints are less well defined, and user controlled, I think it's a lot harder to compromise the game's value.

Whenver the ads rolover, I'd be just like Homer when all the new billboard's come out. Might even end up joining a clown college because of it. "Dooo doo doo do do do do doooo doo dooo dooo"... :-)

-me