Games and product placement~

    I suppose fps games haven't gotten into product placement as have games like the Sims and sport games. No one really wants to sponsor a game that has violence and graphic content.

    A research article by Nelson et al. (2004) discussed that while real brands maintained immersion inside the game world, fake brands might offer a chance for imagination (on the part of developers and players) and could add to the humor and entertainment value of a game.

    Previous research has also shown that gamers have a rather general view on product placement. Fairly sophisticated views of how the persuasion attemps work (subliminally or explicitly) and the perceived effectiveness of subtle, realistic, placements over blatant, out-of-context hyped commercialism have been witnessed.

    Some future research questions:

    - Do real brands allow greater immersion or telepresence over fake brands?

    - Are fake brands - if clever spoofs - considered more entertaining than real brands?

    - Do spoof ads activate their real brand counterparts?

    Quote from -Stratesiz-

    Do real brands allow greater immersion or telepresence over fake brands?

    If they are set in the modern day real world, then commonly yes. If I'm racing around Edinburgh in Project Gotham Racing 2, it's more immersive due to the accuracy and presence of real shops at the sides of the roads (even if they couldn't get permission to use all that many) than it would be with some random fake things plastered in their place. When I'm snowboarding down some mountain in Amped, it's more immersive when I see the Forum logo on the base of my board than some made up thing. Football or other sports games benefit from featuring real world teams and players (both are brands in their own way), and part of that involves getting strips/stadiums looking correct which leads to more direct advertising for true authenticity. The popularity of racing games with real world vehicles and aftermarket parts rather than fictional ones is another example. Obviously these are, to an extent, core gameplay elements rather than superfluous advertising, but it still plays a part.

    Quote from -Stratesiz-

    Are fake brands - if clever spoofs - considered more entertaining than real brands?

    Done well, yes. Sadly enough though, I can't think of any off the top of my head. Also, if the brand is to appear in something that isn't contextually correct for it (ie. some modern day company featured in a futuristic game), then a suitably modified advert also works out far better. I, Robot is a good (bad) example of doing this - while it's advertising was over done, it was far better handled than it could have been thanks to "modernising" the existing brand products.

    Quote from -Stratesiz-

    Do spoof ads activate their real brand counterparts?

    By activate you mean make people think of them? If so then yes, for better or worse. Obviously it isn't as direct and requires prior knowledge of the real brand to draw the associations however.

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