Is it possible that musical artists get paid to drop advertisers’ names in their song lyrics? Well, according to this article from Wired.com, it is possible. There are numerous instances of songs that name-drop brands. For example, Black Eyed Peas has a song called “My Humps” and Fergie, the lead singer, mentions the brands, “Dolce and Gabana,” “Fendi,” and “Donna Karan.”
The agency that is promoting this is also involved with product placement in music videos, which is quite common. Like music videos, in movies, product placement is quite rampant. For example, in the movie “Castaway”, starring Tom Hanks there were numerous mentions of Fed-Ex.
As the possibilities of media placement increase, advertisers/marketers feel the need to venture into a new medium. I feel there is a balance that borders between awareness and intrusiveness. Consumers are bombarded on a daily basis with numerous ads from numerous mediums. In my opinion, inserting brands into song lyrics or in movie scripts is quite intrusive. Although it is not nearly as horrible as subjecting school children to advertising in schools. Often people that enjoy a certain movie or song, may remember the lyrics or a particular line, and I feel that brand dropping is rather irritating in those instances. For product placement in movies or music videos, it is becoming the norm. However, again, there needs to be a delicate balance in showing the product.
What do you all think? Where should the line be drawn? Is placing brand names in songs or even movie scripts intrusive?
Ideas make the world go round 
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!
Pingback: product placement agencies | Bookmarks URL
TV advertising is becoming less and less effective as Internet and multi-channel digitial have divided up viewers into smaller groups.
I think it’s inevitable that marketers will look for more effective ways to get in front of lots of people again to make their life easier.
The singers and film-makers will offer the space if they’re keen enough to make extra bucks, and the price could be very high indeed for placement in the right artists’ songs or the right movie.
Is it right or is it wrong? It’s an ethics thing and that’s personal choice. Personally, the fact that we all walk around with Nike ticks on our shirts, Adidas stripes on our trainers and big badges on our cars tells me we’ve lost the battle about brand intrusion already 🙂
Stimulating article – cheers,
Lee