A Comparison of Product Placements in Movies and Television ...

156 HANDBOOK OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT IN THE MASS MEDIA
they are usually focused on the story/content when watching TV (mean =
1.58 where 1 = Strongly Agree and 5 = Strongly Disagree), and disagreed
that they usually engage in TV channel surfing and hardly watch
full episodes of any program (mean = 3.53).
Consumers in the study tend to agree that product placements do not
belong in educational and news programming (mean = 2.34). While
they were not too opposed to product placements, respondents, as a
whole, were neutral in how they generally feel about companies who
use product placement in television programming. Perhaps, consumers
may not be very positive about companies that engaged in TV program
product placements because they (consumers) respect the persuasive
power of such a product placement and sees advertisers engaged in
product placements as manipulative. Interestingly, respondents tend to
agree that people would be influenced in their purchase selections by
the product/brand placements in movies or TV programs. However, in
reference to the earlier finding that respondents usually do not think
about the brands that have appeared in a movie or television show while
shopping, it may be the consumers’ ego at work. Many consumers like
to think that promotional gimmicks work on others but not on them.
There were 33 respondents in the sample that indicated “typically
watch TV alone.” Forty respondents reported watching TV typically with
another person. Independent t-tests did not reveal any significant differences
in attitudes toward television product placements between respondents
who watch TV alone and those who watch with a companion.
As for age differences, the “18 to 35” age group was significantly
more agreeable that “brands that appear in TV product placement are
usually the well known brands” than their cohorts in the “36 to 49” age
group (means of 1.98 and 2.50 respectively, where 1 = Strongly Agree
and 5 = Strongly Disagree). These two age groups also differed significantly
on the item “When I see a particular brand at a store or supermarket
that had appeared in a TV show or a movie, I would usually think of
that placement scene in the show/movie.” The “36 to 49” age group
more strongly disagreed with the above statement than their “18 to 35”
counterpart (means of 4.25 and 3.17 respectively). The older respondents
(36 and above) tend not to watch commercials during program
breaks and agree that product placements are intrusive compared to the
“18 to 35” age group. Finally, comparisons of attitudes and perceptions
of product placements in TV programs did not yield any significant differences
between male and female respondent groups.