Product Placement
November 1, 2011
BY DICK METHIA
Captain Morgan, anyone? Apologies to our teetotaling, beer-guzzling or wine-sipping readers, who may not appreciate the reference. Captain Morgan is a popular brand of spiced rum favored by college kids, football fans and retired librarians. During a National Football League game in 2008, Captain Morgan rum received a million dollars worth of free advertising on national TV thanks to the weird behavior of one Philadelphia Eagles player.
During the second half of a televised game against the Dallas Cowboys, Eagles tight end Brent Celek caught a touchdown pass in the end zone. Celek turned to face the cameras, raised one leg and struck a pose familiar to fans of the spiced rum. Critics say the player’s pose looked suspiciously like the stance of the old pirate dude on the rum bottle. I thought it looked more like my dog at a hydrant. In any event, Celek’s posturing sent NFL officials into convulsions.
The pro sports world was abuzz with rumors that the rum company was ready to donate $10,000 to a favorite NFL charity every time a player struck the Captain Morgan pose during a televised game. Were Celek’s end zone theatrics a subtle product placement gig for Captain Morgan rum or did the tight end just have a nasty cramp in his calf muscle? Ever since that game in 2008, professional sports leagues have been on the lookout for any subtle (or not so subtle) product placements on the field.
Product placement isn’t new, however, and it isn’t relegated to professional sports. Regular filmgoers and TV watchers make a parlor game out of ticking off the number of products “placed” in stories. In a romantic comedy, Sandra Bullock and her co-star stroll under a Coca Cola billboard. In his next flick (Die Hard XXVI) Bruce Willis will shoot up a Lexus and two Mercedes. Marauding through Times Square, King Kong chews up Calvin Klein underwear ads. (You’re a certifiable product placement expert if you know what brand of coffee Law & Order detectives bring to work.)
Now that product placement has become commonplace, it’s bound to seep into American politics. Ultra-conservatives Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann will demand that producers in the real axis of evil (Hollywood and New York) place only American-made models in car chase scenes. In the next Republican candidates’ debate, Newt Gingrich will coyly hold up a People magazine photo of himself in a Speedo. (That’s a more searing image than Sarah Palin on the inaugural stand, January, 2013.)
If a woman wins the 2012 presidential election, think of the product placement scandals during a distaff presidency. Executives at Maybelline and Max Factor would pay lobbyist’s a queen’s ransom to get free makeup kits “placed” in the presidential purse. Members of Congress would drag White House staffers before one of a dozen investigative panels to ferret out who leaked Madame President’s preferred brand of blush.
At least with Obama’s re-election, CNN viewers will be spared this breathless report from Wolf Blitzer: “Today before a joint session of Congress, looking appropriately stern in her navy blue Donna Karan pants suit and matching Prada pumps, and sporting her trademark Harry Winston pearls, President Michele Bachmann asked for a declaration of war against Iran.”