Anti-Product Placement For Negative Branding

An anonymous reader writes "Product placement to promote your brand just isn't enough any more. These days, apparently, some companies are resorting to anti-product placement in order to get competitors' products in the hands of 'anti-stars.' The key example being Snooki from Jersey Shore, who supposedly is being sent handbags by companies... but the bags being sent are of competitors' handbags as a way to avoid Snooki carrying their own handbag, and thus potentially damaging their brand."

Comments

clever

[nopainogain]

i bet the jersey shore cast never even picks up on it.. i can picture them scratching their greasy waxed up heads going "why did chanel send me a louis vitton bag?"

Re:clever

[Dishevel]

You posted AC because you knew that this post would show you have way too much information on this show to have a brain.

Re:clever

[causality]

Huh? Is there some special cachet around a 5 digit UID?

Some people think it's a valid substitute for actually evaluating the quality of your post. So they might believe you not because your words ring true, but because they think you have some kind of seniority and they're far too easily impressed by that. I don't understand it any better than that but I have seen it happen myself.

It's distantly related to giving undeserved credibility to statements made by a government official in complete ignorance of the fact that when there is power at stake, people have more reasons to lie, not fewer, so their burden of proof should be higher, not lower.

Re:clever

[Ihmhi]

If we can just get the cast of Jersey Shore to swim around in the gulf for a few hours all of the oil will be absorbed by their hair. No more industrial strength pomade for the boys, and no more seagulls that look like they came out of Tolkien's nightmares! Win/win.

Re:clever

[troc]

I dunno, I've never seen the point in being impressed with a 5 digit ID.

What?

[Dyinobal]

What the hell is a snooki, and why are we talking about it on slashdot?

Re:What?

[couchslug]

A "Snooki" is a delightful woman from a documentary about typical New Jersey residents, which should be fascinating to Slashdot readers who can't get enough such news from geek sites like TMZ. I commend the posting of this informative story.

Re:What?

[Red Flayer]

A "Snooki" is a delightful woman from a documentary about typical New Jersey residents

As a NJ native... the cretins on that show are *nothing* like typical NJ residents. They are typical only of a sub-type of seasonal NJ residents (just like the personalities on that show, most of the NJ guidos are from elsewhere).

New Jersey actually has about 6 or 7 culturally distinct regions... and the one region supposedly represented by the show is not like that at all... the BENNYs depicted on that show are despised by shorefolk in New Jersey as a whole.

Now, before I let my butt-hurt get out of hand...

I don't really mind if people think poorly of NJ; it keeps people from overcrowding the good parts of the state. But let's be honest... the cast of "Jersey Shore" is about as indicative of NJers as the cast of "Rehab: Party at the Hard Rock Hotel" is indicative of addicts in general.

Re:What?

[bandwidthcrisis]

what the hell is a snooki

A snooki is a blanket, with sleeves.

Snooki Phone

[SpockLogic]

Apple should send her an Android phone .....


Ducks.

When Competition Becomes Opposition

[TheLazySci-FiAuthor]

Never, it seems, is there a lack of anti-capitalist rhetoric on slashdot - but perhaps it is more proper to say there is never a lack of pro-capitalist rhetoric: pro-capitalist ideals being assumed as pro-competitive.

There is something wrong when competition turns into opposition. When an entity actively obstructs the progress of another, not through a product of better fit, but through the slandering or image-tarnishing of a competitors product.

To be fair (someone has to be), evolution has shown that, as a concept, offensive advertisement works. I therefore leave it to you, the reader, to decide if there really is anything wrong with (philosophically speaking) being a skunk.

Re:Unlikely to work

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyone who is famous enough to have what they wear be a major advertising event is unlikely to use unsolicited items send through the mail.

FAIL!!

You'd be surprised how many serious celebrities go nutzo for free crap. Especially clothes, shoes, jewelry, electronics (cell phones and such.) They take the free stuff and use it, even though they can afford to buy whatever they want.

Apple figured this out a long time ago. It gives out lots of free crap in hollywood, and boy does it ever get exposure.

Re:Unlikely to work

[demonlapin]

Burberry and its near-implosion due to adoption by chav culture is the poster child for this effect.

Re:Don't know who that person is

[stonewallred]

I had to look up who snooki was when her name hit the news outlets a few weeks ago. I don't live under a rock, and I usually date women in the 19-24 year old range who I go to college with. I just don't give a fuck about TV hows, other than Good Eats, and a few NAtional Geographic specials, which I download. Sorry not everyone cares about popular "culture" or instacelebs.

Re:I call bullshit

[Lord_of_the_nerf]

First rule of PR: There is no such thing as bad publicity. No PR hack worth his MBA would deliberately generate publicity for a competitor's product.

It's a popular cliche, but I have no faith that's true.

One sniff of child molestation charges or overt racism has ended many a celebrity's career. Not always mind you, but often enough. It really depends on how far and how bad. Mel Gibson and Gary Glitter being popular examples.

This is nothing new

[jd2112]

Transformers: Autobots are mostly GM products, Decepticons that aren't military hardware tend to be Ford or Audi
24: Jack Bauer and his buddies drive around in Fords, the terrorists tend to prefer GM products or imports.

I'm sure I could come up with a dozen more examples if I wanted to.

This goes back a long way

[kevinatilusa]

Over a century ago Edison was making sure Alternating Current was used in the Electric Chair, in order to make it seem more dangerous and associate it in people's minds with electrocution.