Echoing Product Placement in Commercials

"Advertisers are becoming more skillful at using indirect sales pitches, such as product placement—a tactic that probably dates to the birth of cinema."

Last season, an episode of Desperate Housewives featured one of the characters modeling to promote a Buick LaCrosse at a local shopping mall. Commercials shown during the episode reflected this same pitch, reinforcing the image. Reinforcement (not to be mistaken for repetitiveness) is vital to the success of advertising. Consistency in a campaign between outdoor, television, and print advertising is one of the ingredients to a good return on investment. With the advent of product placement, the need for consistency has grown to a higher level.

The main problem with product placement is its subconscious nature. When the same product use is reflected in advertising, the consumer can connect the dots between the occurrence in the show and the brand. Buick separated themselves from being just another car company shown in the show to being a prominent sponsor through reinforcement.

Buick could have overdone the reinforcement, using the actual product placement instance in a commercial. This repetitiveness is one of the problems viewers have with advertising. The point is to reinforce, not to bash the consumer over the head with your brand and product. This could alienate consumers. Advertising is used to inform and persuade, not to convince via mindless repetition. Product placement is a great new tool for advertisers and should be reinforced with other media, but not to the point of annoyance.

For more info:
New Yorker article on product placement