Download Brand Placement Thesis Proposal: Santa Barbara City College 2010

Brand Placement Thesis Proposal: Santa Barbara City College 2010
It has always been worth our while as researchers to examine and
understand the way companies utilize various mediums of mass communication. In
this rapidly evolving field of communication, many traditional advertising practices
such as commercial breaks or previews on movies are gradually being replaced by
brand (product) placement.
According to Karrh (1998), brand placement can be defined as “the paid
inclusion of branded products or brand identifiers, through audio and/ or visual
means, within mass media programming”. While there have been many studies
looking at consumer perceptions toward this style of advertising, most have focused
on their inclusion in fictional movies and television shows.
However, there is a gap in this vast amount research. Past studies conducted
by Ong and Meri (1994) has argued that many consumers “view brand placement as
tacky, too deliberate, or not natural,” when referring to fictional television or
movies. However, there is very little research available that test Ong and Meri’s
findings on Reality Television. According to Deery (2004) Reality TV is more
naturally occurring and viewers may view product placement as more acceptable,
“Because it normalizes and to this extent ratifies the product”.
Therefore, the aim of this current study is to measure consumer’s attitudes
toward brand placement practices in the reality television programs in comparison
to fictional television programs. The communication concepts to be examined are
media literacy, selective perception, level of placement, and frequency of exposure
(heavy media user or low media user). The nature of these concepts with respect to
American consumers would generally determine the attitudes they may have
toward brand placement in Reality Television which leads to the proposed research
question: Do U.S. consumers have a negative or positive attitude toward brand
placement in Reality Television programs?
Literature Review
Brand placement is in no way a new marketing concept. In fact, it has been
“…perceived as an effective mechanism for reaching audiences and have been
employed by marketers for more than 50 years (Babin & Carder, 1996).” However,
recent technological advances such as TiVO and DVR have altered the way
individuals watch television. These digital recorders not only allow for viewers to
record specific programs which limits channel surfing, but also gives consumers the
power to “zap” or fast forward through television commercials. This poses “new
opportunities and new threats to brand communications”(Ong, 2004) and has left
many advertisers searching for new ways to get their product noticed. “Recognizing
the fact that consumers are inundated with a vast number of TV channel choices,
having a brand featured or embedded into a popular TV program would likely gain
more attention or exposure than having the brand advertised between program
breaks”(Ong, 2004).
Another rather recent development in television culture is the rise of Reality
Television. “So far, the dominant new TV genre of the 21st century, Reality TV
provides a clear example of commercial culture in which mediation is primarily
designed to sell” (McAllister, 2003). According to Deery (2004), “individuals,
experiences, and even the medium itself are repeatedly marketed in a genre whose
absorption of direct and indirect selling is currently spearheading a conflation of
advertising and entertainment.” Furthermore, brand placement in Reality TV allows
for advertisers to pinpoint a very specific audience because the demographics of
viewers of a certain kind of reality program are well understood. Brand placement
also seem to have a longer life-span than traditional forms of advertisement due to
re-runs or a reality show’s seasonal transition to DVD. (Nebenzhal & Secunda 1993;
Brennan et al., 1999; d’Astous & Chartier, 2000)
Therefore, it seems as though the Reality TV genre is redefining the
traditional brand placement practice and enables advertisers to utilize the naturally
occurring environment to embed certain products that may appear out of place in
more fictional mediums (i.e. movies or a sitcom TV series). In a study conducted by
Delorme and Reid (1999), research found that their subjects were very aware of
excessive showing of brand and placements in unnatural and inappropriate settings
including over-emphasis through camera techniques in movies. Their subjects also
noted that such actions cheapen the movie-going experience and insult the
audience. In fact, many studies have indicated that if a brand placement appears too
obvious or out of context, the viewer’s attitude toward the practice will decline.
Therefore it is imperative for future research to test if this theory would also apply
to non-fictional television show’s context (Reality TV) as well.
Researchers at the head of attitudinal studies concerning brand placement
are Gupta and Gould (1997), whose studies are often referred to by various
researchers in the field. Their 1997 study was the first to expand the inquiry into
American consumer attitudes to consider different product types. In this study,
Gupta and Gould produced and distributed a survey to “1012 American college
students”. The results indicated that U.S. college students’ attitudes toward brand
placement in the media are generally positive. “These studies have given us a clearer
view of college–aged audience consumers’ attitudes towards the practice of brand
placement in the USA.” (Karrh, Frith & Callison) Furthermore, in a more recent and
rather large study conducted by Gould, Gupta and Grabner-Krauter (2000),
researchers performed a cross cultural analysis of “Austrian, French and American
Consumers’ Attitudes Toward This Emerging International Promotional Medium”.
This research took into account product differences, individual differences and
country differences. Their results indicate that U.S., Austria and France differ in their
attitudes toward brand placement and shows “U.S. consumers as being more
accepting of, and more likely to purchase products shown in movies or television”
However, it appeared as though the type of product featured also played a major
role in whether the brand placement was viewed positively or negatively. For
example, “ethically charged products like cigarettes, alcohol and guns” were viewed
negatively. Also, this study appeared to show “significant gender differences, where
women viewed brand placement less positively than men”(Gould, Gupta & GrabnerKrauter, 2000). Although this study did provide much insight into international
viewpoints of brand placement, it only included “attitudes toward product
placement in general, attitude toward television advertising in general, perceived
realism and the attitude toward restricting product placements.” It also is important
to point out that in both of these studies, the frequency in which a consumer views
certain media outlets, (movies or television) greatly influences a consumer’s overall
acceptability of placement. This result runs parallel with Neijens and Smit’s (2003)
research, which also concluded that “frequent viewers of programs that include
brand placement exhibited more positive beliefs and more positive attitude toward
brand placement.” Thus, it would be important for future research to take this
variable into account when researching consumer attitudes toward brand
placement on Reality TV.
However, these studies, like a majority of the literature reviewed in this
paper, fail to take into account various sub-genres, such as separating Reality TV
programs from generalized, all-inclusive variables like “television”.
Furthermore, it is important to mention that even with the amount of
research conducted on the topic of brand placement “…it is difficult to ascertain the
effectiveness of consumer attitudes toward brand placement because much of the
data is proprietary” (Karrh, 1998; Yang & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2004). Therefore,
despite the widespread use of this promotional medium, there are still various areas
of the practice that need to be included in future studies.
Rationale
There has been much research conducted on the topic of brand placement
with many focusing on the effectiveness of brand placement ads and the attitudinal
measures and the resulting purchase intentions of consumers. Other relatable
studies, such as the ones mentioned in the above section by Gupta and Gould
(1997); Gupta, Gould and Grabner-Krauter (2000); and Neijens and Smit (2003), fail
to include consumer attitudes on non-fictional genres of media in their research.
First, prior research suggests that the study of consumer’s perceptions of
brand placement usage in Reality Television programs would be instrumental in
understanding the overall effectiveness of brand placement in general (Ferle &
Edwards, 2006). Although much research on this topic of brand placement has been
conducted within the fictional television and movie realm, there does not appear to
be many studies done on reality-based television, which many advertisers have
utilized as the newest outlet for companies to “sell as it entertains”, thus coining the
phrase “Advertainment” (Deery, 2004). Also, it would be important to conduct this
study using a study group a similar in demographic to Gupta and Gould’s (1997)
study on the attitude of college students’ toward brand placement. Therefore, the
topic of interest for this current study is to measure college-age (18-24) U.S.
consumer’s attitudes toward brand placement practices in the reality television
genre compared to fictional television programs. Given the literature reviewed in
this paper, the researcher poses the following research question:
RQ1: Is there a difference between reality television programs and fictional
television programs with respect to consumer acceptability of brand
placement.