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Handbook of Product Placement in the Mass Media: New Strategies in Marketing Theory, Practice, Trends, and Ethics
Galician M-L (ed)
ISBN: 978-0-789025-35-7 2004 288 pages Hawthorn Press Inc, Binghamton New York
Douglas Beatton
Management Work and Industry Futures, School of Management, Faculty of Business, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane QLD
Advertising is purported to have a powerful impact on the American psyche and culture (Galician 2004, 1-8). The twenty-two articles in this book address product placement, the business process that seamlessly inserts an advertiser's commercial message into entertainment and informational media content of movies, books, computer games, television programs, radio shows, newsletters and the Internet.
The editor (Galician 2004) has sought to gather the balanced view of eighteen experts who present the results of their theoretical and practical research into this controversial form of advertising. The book could be useful to those seeking to better understand how to optimally apply the advertising technique (Galician 2004: 9-89).
Equally, the text provides support for those who are concerned about the ethical issues arising from unsolicited advertising secretly-hidden within a movie we pay to view or the unwarranted effects of the manipulative advertising slotted into our children's television programs (Galician 2004: 89-147). While the global nature of today's markets for movies and television is recognised in the five case studies (Galician 2004: 147-213), the book fails to adequately address the cultural impact of product placement on the values, beliefs and the laws of countries other than the United States of America.
The book concludes with the transcript of a round-table with eleven of the authors who provide informative responses to five questions currently pertinent to product placement as an advertising practice in the 21st century (Galician 2004: 219-237). Those seeking deeper knowledge may find the included resource guide useful (Galician 2004: 259-269).
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