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Mandira Bedi, in a sizzling
attire walked around the
sets of "Deal Ya No Deal" and in between made calls from
her mobile phone. The brand name of the handset was clearly shown
to the viewers and whenever Mandira attended to the mobile phone
calls, the CSP's jingle was played in the background. In the show,
Kaun Banega Crorepathi, the host, Amitabh Bachchan, while
giving away the prize money signs on a particular bank's cheque.
The cameras zoom in on the bank's name and makes sure that the viewers
are able to read the name. So did SRK and many others. It has been
here for long. The Rishi Kapoor starrer movie, Karz is one example where an entire song was shot with the
Emami banner at the backdrop.
All these are examples of product placements in Indian TV
programs and cinema over the years. But the hero of a popular serial in Star Plus who
got affianced in a Fair & Lovely commercial would score the
first position for being innovative to the core the commercial went on in
the serial (in the serial and not in between) and that irritated a few eyeballs,
but crept in passively into most of the brains that saw it. The quest is
on—to place products in TV programs without
irritating the viewers and yet deliver the
message. The Ofcom Broadcasting Code of UK defines product placement as "the
inclusion of, or reference to, a product or service within Cinema or a
TV program in return for payment or other valuable
consideration."
Thus, product placement is a marketing practice intended
to purposely slot in products and brands into the body and content
of cinema and programs in TV which, in most cases, is done in a
delicate manner so that the main content of the program (the storyline in
the cinema) is not diluted. However, this is only an ideal situation. This
is often violated and people are driven to believe that the program
makers have more fish to fry than meets the eye. |
