College Student Consumer Attitudes toward Brand Placement in Films ...

Journal of Promotion Management, 14:85–101, 2008 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1049-6491 print / 1540-7594 online DOI: 10.1080/10496490802498272

New Brand Worlds: College Student Consumer Attitudes toward Brand Placement in Films, Television Shows, Songs, and Video Games YONGJUN SUNG AND FEDERICO DE GREGORIO

No previous study has yet quantitatively examined attitudes toward brand placement in multiple media. A survey was conducted of 437 college students regarding their attitudes toward brand placements in films, television shows, songs, and video games. A previously unexamined element in the literature, genre, was incorporated. Our results suggest that attitudes toward brand placement are positive overall across media, but that brand placements in songs and video games are less acceptable than within films and television programs. In addition, specific genres are considered especially appropriate or inappropriate for the strategy. KEYWORDS Brand placement, consumer attitudes, media, product placement, survey

INTRODUCTION In 2002 hip-hop musician Busta Rhymes released Pass the Courvoisier. The song remained on Billboard’s Hot 100 music chart for over 20 weeks, the attendant music video was reportedly shown over 600 times across the MTV and BET networks, and was played on the radio “more than 97,000 times”

Yongjun Sung (PhD, University of Georgia) is an Assistant Professor of Advertising, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station A1200, Austin, TX 78712-0116 USA (E-mail: [email protected]). Federico de Gregorio (PhD, University of Georgia) is an Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of Akron, CBA 322, 259 South Broadway Street, Akron, OH 44325-4804 USA (E-mail: [email protected]). The authors would like to thank Leonard Reid, Joseph Dominick, and Louise Benjamin for their invaluable contributions and input on this research. 85

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Y. Sung and F. de Gregorio

(Roberts, 2002, p. 42). Sales of Courvoisier cognac, the main subject matter of the song, rose by double digits. The goal of 2001’s Super Monkey Ball video game is to collect as many bananas as possible within a specific time limit while avoiding obstacles and roving enemies—each banana is prominently labeled with a Dole company sticker (Emery, 2002). Contestants on the wildly popular FOX reality show American Idol wait for their turn on stage in the Coca-Cola Red Room while the show’s three judges sip out of cups conspicuously labeled with the Coke logo. Discussions of brand placement in the popular press and academic literature predominantly revolve around film. However, the opening examples and recent content analytic work (e.g., de Gregorio and Sung, 2004; Ferraro and Avery, 2000; Friedman, 1991) demonstrate that brand appearances within other media are prevalent and continue to increase in incidence as time progresses. Although scholarly brand placement research has been ongoing since the late 1980s, there has been a dearth of investigations of the practice in non-film media (for overviews of the practice see Galician, 2004; Lehu, 2007). While there have been numerous recent popular/trade press articles, and even two websites (AmericanBrandStand and BrandCameo) devoted to the proliferation of brands in general media content, there are few attitudinal studies of this issue. Numerous studies have examined attitudes toward brand placement in films, and two have gauged perceptions of the practice in video games (Nelson, 2002; Nelson, Keum, and Yaros, 2004). However, despite calls by Karrh (1998), to the authors’ knowledge, only a single, qualitative study has yet examined attitudes toward the practice in multiple types of media (DeLorme, 1998). This exploratory study builds on and contributes to previous work by serving as a quantitative comparison of attitudinal responses to brand placement in films, television shows, songs, and video games. Based on Lutz’s (1985) discussion of attitudes toward advertising in general, understanding global perceptions of brand placement in specific media is a significant first step, as they are likely to serve as antecedents/influencers of attitudes toward placement of specific brand types, in turn potentially facilitating purchase intentions and behaviors (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1974). First, a background context for brand placement is provided, followed by a review of the literature on consumer perceptions of the inclusion of brands in various forms of media content. Subsequently, the implementation and results of a survey of 437 college student respondents are reported, followed by discussion of the findings and implications for advertisers and policymakers.

College Student Consumer Attitudes toward Brand Placement in Four Media

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LITERATURE REVIEW History, Current Status, and Proliferation The deliberate placement of brands within films is not a new phenomenon. A prominent pouring of a bottle of Gordon’s Dry Gin over the side of a boat occurred in 1945’s The African Queen, while even earlier, during the 1890s, the Lumière brothers had included placements for Lever’s Sunlight Soap as part of their early film experiments (Newell, 2003). What distinguished these early days of brand placements from today’s era was the casual and haphazard nature of the process. Over time, the practice has slowly become more organized, sophisticated, and in demand, with the 1982 placement of Reese’s Pieces in E.T. resulting in a notable rise in sales, bringing a tipping point of interest toward the strategy from practitioners (Wasko, Phillips, and Purdie, 1993). Currently, the industry has progressed to the point of having two of its own trade organizations (the Entertainment Resources and Marketing Association and the Branded Content Marketing Association), with more than 90 member agencies. Brand placement in other media is also not a recent phenomenon. Advertisers produced, sponsored, and inserted their products into television shows during the 1950s such as the Colgate Comedy Hour and Kraft Television Theater (Roberts, 2004), early arcade racing games in the form of cigarette billboards (Emery, 2002), and even music—a song from 1903 entitled Under the Anheuser-Busch asked listeners to “Come, come, drink some Budwise [sic] with me” (Barnet, Nemerov, and Taylor, 2004). Brand placements in non-film media have now become an integral part of the organized structure of the industry, with media-specific placement agencies beginning to appear, such as Maven Strategies (songs) and Massive, Inc. (video games). Along with the expansion and increasingly structured nature of the placement industry over time, has been a simultaneous rise in the incidence of brands within media content. While there have been relatively few empirical examinations of this trend, those that have been conducted have found a longitudinally increasing rate of brand appearances. In a film context, Sapolsky and Kinney’s (1994) analysis of the top 25 movies of 1989 and 1991, and Galician and Bourdeau’s (2004) examination of the top 15 box office hits of 1977, 1987, and 1997 uncovered a combined 402 unique brand occurrences, a longitudinal increase over time, and automobiles, alcohol, and soda as the most popular brand product categories. In a series of content analyses looking at the spread of brands and products into various written media, Friedman (1991) examined brand mentions over time in popular novels (1946–1975), British and American plays (1946–1980), and lyrics of hit songs (1946–1980). Across all these media forms, he observed a sizable increase in the rate and number of brand insertions over time. Finally, de Gregorio and Sung (2004) have found a longitudinally persistent increase in the

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proliferation of brands within popular American songs between 1981 and 2000, with a noticeable jump during the early 1990s coinciding with the spread of hip-hop into mainstream culture.

Brand Placement—Advertisers and Content Creators A primary reason for the recent popularity of advertisers seeking brand placement deals is the cost-benefit ratio of the practice and the potential for extended audiences, in light of ever-increasing media placement prices (Wasko et al., 1993). With a single film placement, advertisers’ brands are not only seen or heard by consumers at the cinema, but reach an even wider audience when that film later appears on video and DVD, and is later broadcast on network television and pay cable channels. Placement in other media reaps similar benefits—popular songs are played on regular rotation on the radio, successful television shows are commonly re-run in syndication, and video games are re-played multiple times (Evangelista, 1999). Brand placement as a deliberate marketing/advertising tactic has received particular consideration in recent years due to the advent of digital video recording (DVR) hardware that allows consumers to skip commercials with the single press of a button—in fact, they never have to see a commercial at all if they do not wish to. While there have been no published accounts to date regarding rates of commercial skipping among adopters of PVRs, industry reports suggest that PVR service subscribers skip anywhere from 50 to 90% of commercials (McCarthy, 2001), mirroring results found in the advertising avoidance literature (e.g., Speck and Elliott, 1997). One of the most appealing aspects of brand placement for those involved in the content creation side of media (e.g., directors, music producers, video game developers) is financial in nature. Brand placement deals assist in offsetting the costs of producing and marketing media products (Evangelista, 1999). The average cost of producing and marketing a Hollywood film in 2003 rose to $102.9 million, with marketing costs accounting for $39 million. As a point of comparison, 1993’s average combined marketing/production cost of a film was $44 million (Motion Picture Association, 2004). Video game costs are also rising, averaging $15 million in production and $10 million in marketing per game, up from $5 million and $2 million, respectively, in 2001 (Fritz and Graser, 2004). It is thus not surprising that content creators have been increasingly open to accepting brand placements as one way of reducing their levels of spending, be it in the form of money paid directly to creators by advertisers, or negotiated deals whereby branded products or locations such as cars and hotels are provided for “free” in return for exposure within the content. There is also an often-cited aesthetic reason for content creators to purposively include real brands, namely the enhancement of the realism


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of the world that has been created in their product (Govani, 1999). Many claim that if they were to not use real brands, products would either have to be brand-less (unrealistic), labeled with fictitious brand names, or identified with generic labels such as “watch”—any of which are disliked by consumers and causes a “break” in their level of immersion.

Attitudes toward Brand Placement A distinct stream of the brand placement literature has been devoted to the gauging of audience opinions about and attitudes toward brand placements in films. Studies focusing on U.S. subjects have found that the practice of brand placement within films is, on the whole, seen as acceptable when compared with more obtrusive promotion types (Nebenzahl and Secunda, 1993); generally accepted but considered offensive if too blatant and/or frequent (DeLorme and Reid, 1999); tolerable for most product types except for ethically charged categories such as alcohol, cigarettes, and firearms (Gupta and Gould, 1997); and overall ethical and acceptable (Ong and Meri, 1994). Cross-cultural investigations reveal complex interactions and fine differences related to nationality but that overall attitudes toward the tactic are positive for Austrian, French, and German audiences except in the case of ethically questionable products such as guns (Gould, Gupta, and GrabnerKräuter, 2000; Rössler and Bacher, 2002), as well as lesser acceptance of brand placement on ethical grounds among Singaporean respondents than among U.S. respondents (Karrh, Frith, and Callison, 2001). More negative attitudes toward placement on the part of Chinese audiences versus American ones have also been found, although both voiced concerns over placing brands of products perceived as more ethically questionable (McKechnie and Zhou, 2003). DeLorme’s (1998) series of focus groups and in-depth interviews, to the authors’ knowledge, has thus far been the only comparison of audience attitudes toward placements in various non-movie media. While not framing her results in terms of an overall positive or negative, DeLorme found exposures to brands in television sit-coms, popular songs, novels, and music videos often provide a sense of familiarity and reassurance, in addition to helping consumers construct their social realities. Nelson (2002) and Nelson et al. (2004) have found game players generally accepting of brand inclusions, but that there exists a concern regarding over-commercialization.

Research Questions As previously stated, to the authors’ knowledge, there exists no prior quantitative comparison of attitudes toward brand placement across different

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media. As such, two research questions were derived from the extant literature to serve as a guide for the study. The bulk of movie-focused attitudinal investigations have shown generally positive perceptions of brand placement, and preliminary work by Delorme (1998), Nelson (2002), and Nelson et al. (2004) into non-film brand placements would indicate that the positive perceptions revealed by investigations of filmic contexts are potentially applicable across different media. Based on these findings, the following research question was posed: RQ1: What patterns, similarities, and differences, if any, can be discerned in attitudes toward brand placement in films, television shows, popular songs, and video games among college students?

Two content analyses of popular songs over time revealed a noticeable spike in the incidence of brand mentions over time, particularly during the mid 1990s, corresponding with the explosion in popularity of hip-hop music in the mainstream (de Gregorio and Sung, 2004; Friedman, 1991). Based on these findings, and a growing number of popular and academic press articles discussing the disproportionately high number of brands contained within hip-hop (e.g., Roberts, 2002; Watts, 1997), the authors reviewed the brand placement literature and found no studies that had incorporated genre as a variable of study. The only (brief) reference to genre was in DeLorme (1998), where it was noted that focus group participants mentioned different (types of) brands depending on the music being discussed (e.g. beer, tobacco, and truck brands for country music, and automobile, fashion, and footwear brands when discussing hip-hop). However, such genre associations were limited to songs. Due to familiarity with such common media forms, consumers may have specific notions of whether certain genres are particularly acceptable or unacceptable for brand placement purposes. RQ2: Which genres, if any, of movies, television shows, songs, and video games are considered especially appropriate and inappropriate for brand placement purposes?

METHOD Survey Instrument Attitude toward Brand Placement. The survey contained multiple brand placement items measured along a 5-point, Likert-type scale across movies, television shows, music (including radio listening, CDs, tapes, and MP3s), and video games. Specific scale items were derived from both Gupta and Gould’s (1997) and Karrh et al.’s (2001) instruments. There were over


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50 items across both studies and several items overlapped. Moreover, both instruments were specifically developed to measure attitude toward brand placement in movies. Thus, we conducted pretest with 40 undergraduate volunteers to obtain a more manageable and relevant number of items applicable across all four media types. The final scale consisted of 15 items, modified appropriately for each medium (e.g., “I prefer to see real brands in video games rather than fake/fictitious brands” was modified to “I prefer to hear real brands in music rather than fake/fictitious brands” under the music section). Genre. Respondents were provided with a list of genres appropriate to each medium and asked to select any that they felt were particularly appropriate and inappropriate for brand placement. Due to the fact that there are no concrete genres for each of the four media of interest, genre categories were obtained from a diverse set of sources. Movie genres were derived from Eliashberg and Shugan (1997), television genres from Ferraro and Avery (2000), music genres were based on Billboard’s classifications (the major music industry trade publication), and video/computer game genres were obtained from Sherry, Lucas, Rechsteiner, Brooks, and Wilson (2001).

Sample The study employed a convenience sample of college students at a large Southeastern university. While there exists debate as to the merits of data yielded by college students in consumer research, the use of such a sample is appropriate to this study. The 18- to 25-year-old group that comprises the majority of college students is a highly sought after audience for filmmakers, television and music producers, and video game designers. Industry reports estimate college-aged students comprise 26–45% of music audiences (Recording Industry Association of America, 2002; Whelan and Yin, 2001), and approximately 36% of the movie-going population (Motion Picture Association of America, 2004; Nielsen Media Research, 2003). A study conducted for the Pew Internet and American Life Project (Jones, 2003) on gaming habits among college students revealed that 65% of respondents considered themselves regular/occasional players. The initial sample consisted of 455 volunteer students enrolled in large introductory courses. All volunteers were given extra course credit as an incentive. The final sample size (n= 437) reflects a reduction of the initial number of volunteers who were eliminated due to incomplete surveys and the halo effect (i.e., marking the same responses on all questions). Among the 437 respondents, 268 were female and 169 were male. The majority were between 18 and 25 years old (98.4%), with a range from 18 to 32 years. Caucasians comprised 85.4% of the sample. Before respondents started, they

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were provided with a definition and example of brand placement on the front page of the questionnaire for the purposes of clarity.

RESULTS One-Way Within-Subjects ANOVA and Research Question 1 To discern any brand placement attitude differences across media types (RQ1), the mean scores of 15 brand placement attitude items were compared. In addition, a series of one-way within-subjects ANOVAs were conducted. As shown in Table 1, the overall mean scores indicated that respondents have more positive perceptions of placements in movies and television shows than in music and video/computer games. The results of the one-way withinsubjects ANOVA (see Table 1) revealed significant differences among the media on all 15 brand placement attitude measures. Post-hoc tests were performed on each brand placement attitudinal measure as a follow-up test to the ANOVA. The Bonferroni post-hoc analysis demonstrated that, in general, perceptions of placements in music significantly differ from all other media types. Also, the results show that opinions regarding movie and TV show placements tend to be more similar than those dealing with music and video games. For movies, respondents felt that brand placement increases realism (3.87) and preferred to see real brands rather than fake/fictitious brands (3.68). In addition, they did not mind if movie producers receive money for placing brands (3.60) but believed that viewers are subconsciously influenced by the brands they see in such contexts. However, they disagreed with the statements that the government should regulate the placement of brands in films (2.00) and that manufacturers are misleading viewers by disguising brands as props in movies (2.36). Similarly, respondents believe that brand placements in television shows make programs more realistic (3.79) and desire to see real brands in such programming (3.62). Respondents evinced little concern about the regulation of brand placement (2.03) and the notion that it is highly unethical to influence audiences through brand placement (2.30), but clearly have reservations regarding the placement of brands for ethically charged products (3.31). With respect to music, respondents tend to express strong disagreement with statements that they are more likely to buy brands they are exposed to in music than those they see advertised (2.11), and that they have bought brands because of placement in music (2.24). They also believe that the government should not regulate the placement of brands in music (2.16). In addition, respondents show uncertainty or a lack of consensus (e.g., between 2.5 and 3.5 on the 5-point scale) toward the following items: dislike hearing brands in music (3.22), do not mind if music producers receive money for

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College Student Consumer Attitudes toward Brand Placement in Four Media TABLE 1 One-Way Within-Subjects ANOVA and Means of Brand Placement Attitude Measures1 Mean∗ Variables 2

I hate seeing (hearing) brands in if they are placed for commercial purpose. I don’t mind if producers receive money or other compensation from manufacturers for placing their brands. It is unethical to influence viewers (listeners, players) by placing brands in . Manufacturers are misleading viewers by disguising brands as props in . The government should regulate the placement of brands in . Brands placed in a for which the producers receive payment from brand manufacturers should be disclosed at the beginning of the . I prefer to see (hear) real brands in rather than fake/fictitious brands. The presence of brand name makes it more products in a realistic. Viewers (listeners, players) are subconsciously influenced by the brands they see (hear, interact with) in . I have bought brands because I have seen or heard them in . When I see (listen to) characters (artists) I like, I pay attention to the brands they use. I am more likely to buy brands I am than those I exposed to in a see advertised. I have learned about new brands from watching (listening to, playing) . The brands in are “true” to what the characters (artists) would use in real life. 1 Mean

Film

TV

Music

Game

F

Sig

2.72

2.58

3.22

2.81

30.17

.00∗∗

3.60

3.63

3.05

3.45

36.05

.00∗∗

2.25

2.30

2.66

2.49

26.13

.00∗∗

2.36

2.38

2.70

2.52

14.62

.00∗∗

2.00

2.03

2.16

2.21

6.63

.00∗∗

2.59

2.59

2.40

2.78

47.31

.00∗∗

3.67

3.62

3.36

3.30

18.72

.00∗∗

3.87

3.79

3.01

3.39

81.14

.00∗∗

3.50

3.37

3.39

3.14

14.51

.00∗∗

2.63

2.80

2.24

2.12

45.23

.00∗∗

2.69

2.77

2.44

2.39

13.86

.00∗∗

2.29

2.38

2.11

2.21

8.93

.00∗∗

2.91

3.07

2.65

2.33

41.04

.00∗∗

2.88

2.89

2.98

2.73

6.35

.00∗∗

scores are based on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “strongly disagree” and 5 being “strongly agree.” 2“ ” indicates each medium (e.g., movies, television shows, songs, and video/computer games). ∗ The mean difference is significant at the .05 level. ∗∗ The mean difference is significant at the .01 level.

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placements (3.05), prefer to hear real brands (3.36), the presence of brands enhances realism (3.01), and learn about new brands from listening to music (2.65). Finally, respondents indicated that they were less likely to buy brands because they have seen or heard of them in video/computer games (2.12) and disagreed that they have learned about new brands from playing video/computer games (2.33). They also showed uncertainty regarding several items, such as hate seeing brands in games (2.81), realism enhancement (3.39), and preference for seeing real brands (3.30).

Research Question 2 Respondents were to check particularly appropriate and inappropriate genres for brand placement across the four media of interest. As shown in Table 2, for movies, 84.6% of respondents indicated that comedy is an appropriate genre, followed by action (73.2%), drama (56.7%), and romance (53.4%). On the other hand, 63.8% of respondents felt that brand placement in historical films is particularly unacceptable, followed by political (56.5%) and animated films (51.6%). For television genres, 77.3% of the sample felt that the reality genre is appropriate for brand placement, with only 11.7% evaluating it as inappropriate. The findings also suggest that, in addition to reality shows, situation comedies (76.1%), game shows (70.2%), and sports events (69.5%), are acceptable television genres for brand placement. The majority of respondents (63.7 %) agreed that cartoons are a particularly inappropriate genre for placing branded goods and services as props or plot devices. Regarding music, 68.7% of the sample selected hip-hop/rap/R&B genre as being particularly appropriate for brand placement, followed by pop (56.5%), country (47.7%), and rock (41.5%). The two most inappropriate genres for brand placement Christian (74.1%) and classical/opera (73.4%), followed by jazz (56.8%), and blues (47.3%). Finally, over 70% of respondents indicated sports (71.2%) and racing (70.6%) games were very appropriate for placement of brand-name products. However, puzzle games were considered the most inappropriate (45.8%), followed by strategy (42.5%), fantasy/role-playing (39.2%), and shooting (36.4%).

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS The descriptive results of this study reveal several interesting findings. The findings of research question 1 demonstrate that opinions regarding movie and TV show placements tend to be rather similar and more positive (perhaps due to perceived similarities of their media’s characteristics) than those dealing with music and video games. In reference to films and television

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College Student Consumer Attitudes toward Brand Placement in Four Media TABLE 2 Appropriateness Results by Media Genre Appropriate Media

Genres

Inappropriate

N

Yes

%

Yes

%

FILM

Comedy Action Drama Romance Adventure Crime Historical Political Science fiction/fantasy Animated

437 437 437 437 437 437 437 437 437 437

369 319 247 233 232 184 105 100 85 82

84.6 73.2 56.7 53.4 53.2 42.2 24.1 22.9 19.5 18.8

14 17 68 72 48 77 277 245 197 224

3.2 3.9 15.7 16.6 11.1 17.7 63.8 56.5 45.4 51.6

TV

Reality show Situational comedy Game show Sports Comedy/skit Drama Cartoon

437 437 437 437 437 437 437

337 332 306 303 274 194 64

77.3 76.1 70.2 69.5 62.8 44.5 14.7

51 36 63 76 52 111 277

11.7 8.3 14.5 17.5 12.0 25.5 63.7

SONGS

Hip-hop/rap/R&B Pop Country Rock Electronic/dance/techno Blues Reggae Jazz Christian Classical/opera

437 437 437 437 437 437 437 437 437 437

298 245 207 180 76 67 64 46 43 34

68.7 56.5 47.7 41.5 17.5 15.4 14.7 10.6 9.9 7.8

75 78 102 114 198 205 188 246 321 318

17.3 18.0 23.6 26.3 45.7 47.3 43.4 56.8 74.1 73.4

GAMES

Sports Racing Simulations Action-adventure Fantasy/role-playing Fighting games Shooting games Puzzle Strategy

361 361 361 361 361 361 361 361 361

257 255 139 136 109 99 96 75 62

71.2 70.6 38.5 37.7 30.2 27.4 26.6 20.8 17.2

38 31 70 81 141 123 131 165 153

10.6 8.6 19.5 22.5 39.2 34.2 36.4 45.8 42.5

Note: For genre questions, we asked two separate questions for each medium (e.g., “which of the following genres would be particularly appropriate for brand placement?” and “Which of the following genres would be particularly inappropriate for brand placement?”). Thus, the two columns of percentages do not constitute 100%.

programs, respondents tend to perceive music and video game placements as more inappropriate, less effective enhancers of content realism, inferior sources of brand information, less influential in purchase behavior, and more unethical and misleading.

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Although video game and music placements are generally viewed more negatively than television or film, it cannot be said that attitudes toward placement in the former two media are negative overall. In fact, across all four media, respondents generally do not mind if content creators receive compensation for placed brands, would rather see/hear actual brands in media than fictitious ones, agree that brands enhance the realism of content, do not feel that placement practice should be governmentally regulated, conceive brand placement as a form of paid advertising, and are concerned about the placement of brands of ethically charged products/brands. This perhaps indicates that the interactivity of computer games and the combined audio-visual nature of films and television shows are considered to enhance the potentially negative effects of such placements to a greater extent that the audio-only music medium. Our overall results mirror those of previous attitudinal investigations focusing on a single medium (mostly film). However, it cannot be concluded that there are no differences in attitudes across media. As no previous study has looked at content genre within the context of brand placement, our incorporation throws further light on, and expands understanding about, consumer perceptions of placement strategy. Table 2 indicates that film and television have more genres considered appropriate for brand integrations than music or video games. This may be due to the novelty of considering the latter two media as avenues of placements (most popular press discussions of the practice revolve around television and film contexts) rather than perceptions of the genres themselves. It is interesting to note that animated fare for both movies and television is considered particularly inappropriate for brand placements by more than 50% of respondents—perhaps due to the association of animation with children and childhood innocence, and, hence, a reaction against its commercialization. It is also notable that genre appropriateness for music tends to be split based on “mainstreamness”—country, rock, and hip hop being considered appropriate (genres generally well represented on the weekly mainstream music charts), and blues, jazz, Christian, and classical/opera inappropriate (genres rarely on the mainstream music charts). For video games, sports is clearly the genre of choice among respondents (it is possible that racing was considered a type of sport, thereby explaining the closeness of percentages) and is also viewed as especially appropriate for brand placement as a television genre. This would seem to point to an association of sports with branding, which is reasonable as sporting events tend to be brimming with sponsorships and advertisements.

Implications for Advertisers and Policymakers While caution must be taken in generalizing to the larger media audience, the findings of this exploratory survey of attitudes have several positive


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implications for advertisers and brand placement brokers. College-aged consumers do not seem to harbor negative overall perceptions of placement practice (except for ethically charged products) and, in fact, are rather positively disposed toward it across movies, television shows, songs, and video games. Thus, advertisers seeking to place brands within heretofore rarely utilized media, such as songs or video games, may take heart that their initial attempts would be acceptable to consumers. Furthermore, the study has shed light on the specific types of genres within each medium that consumers find especially suitable and unsuitable for placement. Marketers are cautioned to take into account the appropriateness of the specific genre of the particular media program into which they intend to place brands. Advertisers desiring, for example, to explore songs as brand vehicles are generally recommended to limit placement to the genres popular among the dominant mainstream charts, while those inclined more toward the three other media may achieve greater acceptability in sports programming (in addition to the other genres specifically appropriate for each medium). Additionally, our results provide preliminary evidence that two ways advertisers can potentially segment their brand placement audience is according to acceptance of advertising in general and level of involvement with brands. Greater research is needed, however, to develop more detailed and precise points of segmentation for the two criteria than our separation of high/low and more/less. The results of this study are also relevant for policymakers. In contrast to the opinions voiced by many social critics and consumer interest groups, it appears that audiences are generally accepting of brand placements, do not find them as unethical or unacceptable as the former groups would believe, and feel that they actually enhance the aesthetic realism of content. Moreover, respondents were clearly disinclined to have the government regulate placements of brands, irrespective of medium. This is despite the fact that respondents concomitantly evinced the belief that people are subconsciously influenced by the integration of brands into media content. These findings generally mirror those revealed by prior film-specific attitudinal brand-placement studies. Based on our results and the accumulated prior findings in this area, policymakers are cautioned to consider the utility of taking regulatory action that may be unwelcome by media audiences (perhaps being viewed as patronizing or unnecessary).

LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS Although the current study reinforced previous movie-specific findings in the brand placement attitude literature, has been first to extend the scope of investigations to several other media simultaneously, and expanded the body of knowledge regarding this marketing tactic by incorporating genre,

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advertising attitude, and brand involvement variables, there are several limitations that must be borne in mind. First, our sample was limited to college students. Although they are justifiable as a sample group due to their status as prime consumers and target markets of media content creators, they by no means comprise the entire media consuming public. Thus, to ascertain if there are significant differences among these groups, future research should focus on the perceptions of non-college students regarding brand placements in various media types. A related issue is the type of students that comprised the sample. While the courses from which students were recruited were not restricted by major, roughly 80% of respondents were Business and Communications majors. It is possible that students in majors not so closely linked with advertising/marketing (such as the hard sciences or the humanities) would hold differing opinions regarding placement practice. Even though the results of this study have yielded positive news for advertisers in that attitudes toward brand placements are rather favorable across media types in terms of the practice in general, it would be unwise to assume that consumers would also be willing to take action as a result (e.g., purchase, brand inquiry, etc.). Understanding attitudes at a global level is a crucial first step, as a negative overall attitude would greatly minimize the likelihood of marketer-intended responses on the part of consumers. According to the correspondence principle, however, in order to validly predict action, measurements of attitude must be at the same level of specificity as the behavior in question (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1977). As such, if one wished to predict whether people would be willing to purchase products based on exposure to some form of placement, the attitudinal measure would have to specifically address purchase-resulting exposure to placements. Our exploratory study goes further toward establishing the acceptability of brand placement practice, but the next step in attitudinal investigations of this strategy would do well to focus on perceptions of particular actions arising from placement exposures in order to be able to postulate actual behavior. While this study has yielded some interesting preliminary results regarding consumer opinions about the integration of brands into various media and genres, in addition to replications and extensions of such attitudinal studies, there is a need for experimental investigations gauging the impact of medium type and genre on brand placement effectiveness. While a few studies have looked at the effectiveness of placements in non-film media (see, e.g., Nelson, 2002, for video games and Russell, 2002, for television shows), the incorporation and comparison of two or more media in single studies is necessary so that how, which, and why certain characteristics/features of different genres and media influence consumer recall, recognition, cognitive processing, and implicit memory of brand placements may be better understood.


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