As the price of advertising on television has increased, companies and their advertising agencies have been looking for more cost productive ways of marketing. A major way of tackling this issue is through the use of product placement in movies and television. With every new movie release or every new episode of a sitcom, it becomes more and more apparent that advertisers are going to stick with this medium as an effective advertising device. Watching TV or movies as recent as ten years ago, the products you saw were very generic in nature and brand names were rarely seen. But the days of seeing a soft drink can labeled simply "Cola" in the refrigerator on your favorite show are a thing of the past as a new wave of advertising has emerged.

In the world of television, one of the most dreadful words to advertisers is "zapping." The term zapping came about with the invention of the remote control. It denotes the quick reaction by a viewer to change the channel at the sight of a commercial. When viewers would have to leave the comfort of their chair or sofa just to switch stations, advertisers often had a "captured" audience. Companies are finding that the conventional

An additional way for companies to have their product promoted on television without following the conventional commercial format is through sponsoring. Mostly this is seen through athletic events covered by network television. Companies like Nokia, E*Trade, and CompUSA have often sponsored major bowl games. These companies get constant promotion due to the fact that their logo is painted on the field and seen by millions of viewers throughout the entirety of the game. However, Sponsorship is not limited to sporting events. For example is AT&T's sponsorship of the lifeline phone call used in the ABC show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? In this partnership, not only does AT&T provide the connection for the "lifeline" call, but it also supplies the show with free telephone service, saving ABC money in production cost (Gunther). Benefits like these are what make the networks fond of product placement.

There is concern among moviegoers that this type of product placement is getting out of hand and decreasing the quality of movies. Such was the opinion of several viewers of Tom Hanks's newest film Cast Away. After seeing this movie many people feel like they have just watched a two and a half hour infomercial for FedEx. The story, which is about a FedEx employee who gets stranded on a desert island after a plane crash, is plastered with the FedEx logo. It is seen on trucks, planes, and every single package that is to be delivered. The movie even ends in a way that promotes FedEx when Chuck Noland (Hanks) delivers the only intact package that survived the crash. FedEx defended itself against negative statements by stating that they were more like a character in the movie, and not a product. (Abranovich)

Though most networks view product placement as beneficial form of advertising, not all networks have given into this advertising format. They do not want to risk of offending a paying advertiser who is paying for a standard commercial time slot, and don't want to cheapen the look of prime time. An insi

Some common words found in the essay are:
Watching TV, Noland Hanks, Dr Pepper, Friends Starbucks, Gunther Benefits, Million-Dollar Minute, Tom Hanks's, E*Trade CompUSA, You've Mail, ABC Millionaire, product placement, soft drink, release you've mail, release you've, you've mail, seen people, placement product, joint promotions, advertisers pay, service aol, party five,
Approximate Word count = 1367
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)