The Effectiveness of Product Placement in a Virtual World

Roberto Celot 
Dissertation 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Virtual Product Placement 
 
Introduction 
A development in technology has made it much easier for people to ignore typical messages. Firms 
need to look for a new alternative to acquire the mind of the consumers. PP in movies is one of the 
answer advertisers have found. In media and entertainment environment PP is the inclusion of brand 
(McCarty 2004). PP has been used widely in entertainment media, like TV programs and films 
(Gould and Gupta 2006).  Since PP is became a common practice in the media many studies have 
been done on how people react with this type of stealth adv. messages (Russell and Stern 2006). 
The way consumers’ process PP in fact completely differs from the way they process the traditional 
adv. Firstly, consumers quickly recognize traditional adv., and therefore they become skeptical and 
aware of the persuasion mechanism from the brand message. That can give to the advertisement a 
low effect (MacLachlan 2005). Instead PP is rather less likely to activate these defense mechanisms 
(Grigorovici, Constantin 2004). Secondly, the traditional adv. is usually the main focus of the 
viewer. On PP instead, the viewer has the main focus on the entertainment media and not on the adv. 
message.  
Hence, in a PP Brand messages are placed inside of the media, that’s require from the consumers 
more attentional resource to capture and analyse the stealth message. All the researches carried out 
on PP are concentrated on the position of the brand inside the media in movies and TV show. Quite 
often the early research reported that people could recognize brands that were showed in the movies 
(Steortz 1987), but the memory rates tended to differ by film and brand (Karrh 1994). Recent 
researchers have focused on factors that might have an effect on recalling PP (Russell 2002). The 
main points examined in these studies were applied to areas where the PP was added to the film 
verbally or visually. In this way researchers wanted to understand how the consumer was influenced 
by it and how the brand was congruent with the story line of the film (Russell 2002).  Other different 
studies have claimed that when PP is added visually and verbally in the same time helps the 
consumer to recognize the PP better than just using only the visual factor (Griffin 1994); whereas 
focal PP gives the best recall in general (Chartier 2000).  
Currently the attention on PP has begun to move and develop in other media such Videogames 
(Nelson 2002; Yang et al. 2006). The influence of advertisers’ in on/off line games has seen a huge
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Virtual Product Placement 
develop of transaction on virtual entertainment. According to the NPD (2006) U.S. transaction of PC 
and virtual entertainment reached ten billion dollars in 2005, surpassing the revenues of Hollywood 
movies at 9 billion dollars in the same exact period. Playing games is in fact a completely new idea 
and concept of interacting compared to contemplate a movie or TV. For this reasons the effect of 
videogames on PP might differ from movie and as a consequence of that more researches are 
necessary to explore it.  
The affinity between movies and videogames advertising offer a broad research on PP.   
Advertising in videogames have common and similar features of PP in Television and movies.  
First feature is the association of actor or actress in the movies with the outcome that PP functions as 
a celebrity endorsement (Ferraro 2000). In the games instead PP is aided through the celebrities and 
help to make association with well-known entertainment and sport characters (Nelson 2002). There’s 
a fact that 18% of players think that they are actually playing the game just because of the celebrities 
contained in it (ESA 2005). Second feature is the lifetime; a product which is added in a film or 
games attend to have much longer “life” than a normal standard adv. (d’Astous and Chartier 2000) 
with only one exception, which occurs with heavy players that are used to play much more (Nelson 
2002). Third feature in common is that consumers seems having more positive attitude toward PP 
than toward typical adv. (Nebenzahl and Secunda 1993). Furthermore lots of studies said that 
consumers indicated PP as reinforcing the experiences they are having, giving more realism on the 
content in the TV and movies (Ferraro 2000). Even Nelson (2002) founded out that the closer the PP 
is to the realism the more successful it is in the games. Moreover, most of the players did not express 
any negative feelings towards PP in the games. It seems that they did not thought of the practice of 
PP as delusive (Nelson, 2002). Let’s take a look now to the difference between TPP and VPP, which 
is the active nature of the videogames (Vorderer 2000). Differentially most of the films and TV show 
are simply passively watched, games demand interactivity trough the manipulation of the controller 
and development through the game (Liu and Shrum, 2002). This particular nature of the game is 
bringing the player to be active in the process and all his concentration is split among what they are 
monitoring through the screen and how they are using the game control (see, e.g., Grodal 2000). This 
process could create a conflict in the memory recognition of PP inside the game (Liu and Shrum, 
2002).
Roberto Celot 
Dissertation 
 
 
 
 
 
 
VI 
 
Virtual Product Placement 
As it has been claimed so far the nature of product placement in videogames is very complex and 
intricate. Due to the unique characteristic of videogames of being an interactive medium, variables 
must be considered to better understand what would be the effects on explicit and implicit memories 
of players that could improve or limit the effectiveness of this advanced medium in the short and 
long term period.  
The main research questions of this study are: 
 In which ways variables like the attitude and interest impact on players’ memories in a VPP 
in the short and long term period? 
 Is the VPP able to influence explicitly and implicitly the memories of players’ in the short and 
long term period? 
Objectives:  
 Critically evaluate the impact of essential variables like attitude and interest that might have 
strong impact on the effect of VPP on explicit and implicit memories of players in the short 
and long term period. 
The ultimate reason of this thesis is trying to better understand the implication given by variables 
such interest and attitude that emerged and might affect as a consequence explicitly and implicitly 
the performance of memories players’ in the short and long term period and that could determine 
different outcomes amongst the players’. 
Effectiveness of Creative Placement 
The research by Dahl: is called “Effects of Creative Media Choice," (Dahl 2005), concentrate the 
differences amongst adv. located in a media and adv. located in creative media. The result for the 
research is that the advertising which are indicate in creative media gives positive feeling about the 
brand and  gives  trustworthiness to the adv. (Dahl 2005). The finding demonstrate that video games 
got the potentiality to influence positive feeling concerning the brand exposed in the adv. and gives 
to it credibility as well. A study conducted by Escalas claimed that the active interaction with the 
product or brand produce positive attitude (Escalas, 2004). It’s confirmed even by Green and Brook,
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Dissertation 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Virtual Product Placement 
that the story of the game in a simulate environment makes people completely absorbed by the 
narrative (Green and Brock 2000). In that way players are so engaged in the game that if they see any 
adv. they do not activate any defense to criticize the message received (Escalas, 2004). All these 
positive feeling that come from the virtual environment subsequently are transferred to the product 
placed in the game. The outcome of the research gave positive feedback and it could be directly 
implemented to PP in games. Assuming this positive outcome we can say that videogames are 
actually able to reduce the level of skepticism, and if the degree of involvement and positive feeling 
is higher it’s quite impossible for the players pay the necessary attention to the game and think 
critically at the same time on the PP inside the game. Another positive outcome comes from Homer 
(2006) which discovered that the adv. in VPP doesn’t have to contain advantages, because the games 
gives already to the players the right environment to transfer the positive feeling, in this way 
advertiser have just to place the product in the right position that will get noticed by the player 
(Homer, 2006). The last example of active adv. comes from Grigorovici and Constantin (2004). They 
examined 2 videogames and their influence on Brand recall and recognition. They found out that 
adv. place on the billboards is more recalled that PP in the environment of the games. They have also 
proposed that players maybe prefer see the PP in the environment instead on the billboards, but they 
were not been able to demonstrate this assumption.  
Videogames and consumers culture 
Nowadays consumerism is all about having fun and using the imagination (Gabriel and Lang 1995). 
McCraken (1988) claimed that products are meant for the consumers to help them to get more 
satisfaction in their lives. People could believe that if they have good clothes and fancy cars, then 
their lives and existence would be full filled with the happiness and satisfaction. If it would be like 
this then we could assume that different products and things could give a hope for a better future and 
for a better life. They could believe that what they are dreaming and wishing could be achieved, with 
the goods as a bridge on the way of their achievement.  
In this case, possessions supplies satisfaction of the imagination. Buyers choose possessions to great 
dreams. The felicity is in the dream that the owning’s symbolically exemplify. Pointing out that with
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Virtual Product Placement 
the autonomy buyers creating daydreams, Campbell has admitted that the media like advertising 
encourage the consumers to follow their dreams through consumption.  
 
It's not that hard to believe why consumer is so attracted to video games, is the perfect environment 
where simulate and aspire to a type of reality that they does not have. 
It has been understood that game gives the opportunity to fantasise, and to escape from reality. In 
this way consumers are able to live many experiences at the same time (Poster, 1995a). 
In the virtual game so we have something not connected with real life. The game creates 
an incredible atmosphere that fully absorbs the consumers. In this environment, real aspects, (such 
as brand) help to sustain the imaginary world by connecting the fictitious with the reality (Martin, 
2004). 
 
In this way, the person feels is real, because they identify the virtual brands with brands that actually 
exist in the real life. Marketers hope that in this interactive world consumer does 
not active defensive schemes or void the adv. message.  
There is, however, resistance to this approach. For example, somebody thinks that videogames of 
wars are just propaganda support for military action in real life (Southern, 2002). 
Then it has been assume that even PP could be a way to support consumerism, representing the 
brands as object of desire. 
Moreover, there is other researcher who sustains that PP in the virtual world help the consumer to 
better understand the rules of the social real world, making them more aware of this complex 
mechanism. 
Frasca (2003)  shearing the same thoughts, suggesting that only the virtual environment gives the 
possibility to ask 'what if' and receive others responses. The regulations of ‘real’ consumption 
through virtual consumption could become highly transparent. Another media resource could be as it 
has been claimed the digital games. In these games a person could create and investigate consumer 
fantasies and daydreams. As a Conclusion of that the products in the game could help to bring out 
the imagination of the players. When all these fantasies and feelings are evoked the imaginary will 
become a resource that consumers could perpetrate in the real life, adding consumer experience in a 
consumer society.