On Sunday American television ABC aired the 2011 American Music Awards and generated quite a buzz. Unfortunately it was mainly because of one unnecessary event: we have witnessed another example of product placement prostitution.
During Jennifer Lopez’s performance of the medley of three songs ‘Until It Beats No More’, ‘Papi’ and ‘On the Floor’ a car drove on the stage. It was Fiat 500, which has become totally attached to J. Lo. It was included in her video for the song ‘Papi’ and she recorded an ad for the ‘Gucci Elegance’ edition of the car.
Here’s the clip from the American Music Awards show:
The majority of viewers and fans were baffled and quite angry. That could be expected, even more because we weren’t exposed to that kind of in-your-face product placement before, especially not at music events..
But wait the moment … what about Blake Griffin’s dunk at the last All Star Game, when he dunked over Kia Optima’s hood. Wasn’t that outcome similar to J. Lo’s and Fiat’s collaboration? BTW, a week later Blake Griffin became the pitchman for Kia Motors.
You will probably say “Yes, that’s basketball and it’s totally connected with sponsorships, but the American Music Awards is a completely different event.” Is it really? I have to admit that I really dislike Fiat’s product placement, but that was the obvious way in which product placement had to go. Every major pop artist has several brands in his or her videos; some of them even shoot commercials for those brands.
And just another thought: would you be surprised if you see Ty Burrell (Phil from Modern Family) with an iPad at Emmys?
Thanks for your comment Kevin. I found J.Lo’s placement a bit over the top, but I also think that we will soon see more placements like Fiat’s. Although Fiat’s cooperation with J. Lo was fine and I thought it worked well, it didn’t helped Fiat and they even replaced head of Fiat North America: http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2011/11/21/Fiat-Woes-112111.aspx
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