Product placement practices in prime-time television programmes in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

Product placement research tends to show how product placements impact consumer behaviour but less research examines the nature of product placement execution. This is the first study to examine product placement execution in Asia focusing on Hong Kong prime-time television programmes. Specifically it explores the prevalence of brand appearances, characteristics of programmes linked to brand appearances, features of placed brands and products, modality of brand appearances, character interaction with placed products and the placement context. It was found that integrating brands in television programmes in Hong Kong seems to be well supported by advertisers, with one brand appearing in every 11 minutes of programming. Less than half of brand appearances were disclosed at the end of the programmes, while none were disclosed prior to the programme which raises questions about regulation of the practice. Results of the analysis provide useful insights into the practice of product placement in this fast growth context and its (dis)connection with existing product placement literature.

KEYWORDS:

• Product placement
• content analysis
• television programmes
• Hong Kong
• prevalence
• practices

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Originally, a simple dichotomous scale was used to code a placed brand into either ‘Well-known’ or ‘Less well-known’. After some pilot testing, it was found that a more precise scale with more points may be needed. Therefore, a 5-point scale which included the categories ‘Haven't heard before, Known by few people, Known by some people, Well-known and Very well-known’ was developed. Coders were then instructed and trained to code the placed brands into one of the five options. However, coders found that ‘Known by few people’ and ‘Known by some people’ are hard to differentiate as were ‘Well-known’ and ‘Very well-known’. Therefore, those categories were combined and the scale was reduced to a 3-point scale for further analysis.

2. Background and foreground display or close ups refer to that the placed products appeared alone on the screen. Props display or close-ups refer to when the placed products were being used/consumed by the characters in the programmes.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project Reference No.: UGC/FDS14/B01/14).

Notes on contributors

Fanny Fong Yee Chan

Fanny Fong Yee Chan is an assistant professor in marketing at School of Business, Hang Seng Management College, Hong Kong. Her research interests include marketing communications, culture and consumer psychology. Her work has been published in the International Marketing Review, Journal of Marketing Communications, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Journal of Promotion Management, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Asian Journal of Communication, The Marketing Review, Young Consumers, and others.

Ben Lowe

Ben Lowe is a professor of marketing at Kent Business School, University of Kent. His research interests are in consumer behaviour, marketing communications, pricing and consumer acceptance of innovations. He serves on the editorial review board of Psychology & Marketing and several other journals, and his work has been published in journals such as, Psychology & Marketing, Technovation, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Interactive Marketing, International Marketing Review, the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, and others.