Effectiveness of Product Placements in Indian Films and

Its Effects on Brand Memory and Attitude

with Special Reference
to
Hindi Films

By
Prof Tapan K Panda
Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode
Kunnamngalam P.O. Calicut, Kerala, India
 Effectiveness of Product Placements in Indian Films and Its
Effects on Brand Memory and Attitude with Special Reference to
Hindi Films

ABSTRACT

Product placement refers to the practice of including a brand name

product, package, signage or other trademark merchandise within a motion
picture, television or other media vehicles for increasing the memorability of the
brand and for instant recognition at the point of purchase. Media planners and
brand marketers are looking for alternative media vehicles to reach at customers
with a distinct message so that the memorability of the message and hence the
brand name increases. This is a growing trend in Indian films for various reasons.
This paper highlights the basic reasons for placing products and brands in
films with special reference to hindi films and the effectiveness of these
placements as a tool for enhancing the recall value of the brands in the long run.
This paper proposes a category of placements that can be used by brand
marketers to put their brands in the films and identifies the caveat for putting the
brands in the films.
This paper suggests about the modality and plot connections in bringing
congruity in the presentation so that the brand placement does not look out of
context. The researcher has conducted an experiment with four films namely
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindusthani, Tal and Yadein
and ten clips from the movies representing various types of placements were
shown to the respondents and their opinion was sought on the selected
parameters. This research paper has implications for both academicians and
practitioners who include the advertising agency people, the media planners, and
the brand managers, the film scriptwriters and producers for developing
strategies to increase the use of product placement as a tool for brand
communications. The paper also highlights the future research directions in this
area for Indian brand managers and academicians.
Key Words: Product Placement, Brand Recognition, Brand Recall, Brand
Memory and Congruence
 Effectiveness of Product Placements in Indian Films and Its
Effects on Brand Memory and Attitude with Special Reference to
Hindi Films

Product placement refers to the practice of including a brand name product,

package, signage or other trademark merchandise within a motion picture, television or
other media vehicles for increasing the memorability of the brand and for instant
recognition at the point of purchase. Product placements are commercial insertions within
a particular media program intended to heighten the visibility of a brand, type of product
or service. These insertions are not meant to be commercial break ups rather an integral
part of the medium so that the visibility of the brand increases. Attempts are made for the
viewer to read the product or the brand as a quality of the characters using and approving
it. Researchers have shown that viewers like product placements (unless there are too
many) because they enhance realism, aid in character development, create historical
subtext, and provide a sense of familiarity. For marketers, the availability of a captive
audience with greater reach than traditional advertisements, and the advantage of
showing brands in their natural environment provide motivation for product placements
(Turcotte, 1995)1. Brand placements are frequently used in Hollywood films (Fuller,
1997; Wasco, 1994) and have subtly, of late entered in to Indian films.
Product placements are different than the celebrity endorsement advertisements
in many ways. The celebrities endorse products and brands with commercial reasons,
which normally comes in the breaks in television programs or in cinema halls. The
phenomenon of zipping and change in the television usage behaviour due to surfing
during commercial breaks has reduced the effectiveness of the television commercials.
Similarly the commercials on cinema halls are found to be of low involvement as the
audience takes them as blocks between the reasons of visiting the cinema hall and the
time available to them for entertainment. So the brand communication and the
entertainment products are viewed differently by the audience in both the media. Brand
placement provides an opportunity where the involved audience gets exposure to the
brands and products during the natural process of narration of the movie or television
commercial. We have taken the issue of the movie as area of research because compared
to television, movies are found to be of higher involvement. The audience can undertake
multitude of working while observing the television program at a home setting which
may affect the degree of attention span of the audience and hence reduce the over all
effectiveness of the medium for enhancing brand memory. Quite contrast to this is the
movie going behaviour where the audience makes a voluntary choice for viewing
(exposure) at a cost (financial, time and opportunity cost) for the purpose of
entertainment. So he is more receptive to the information provided to him in the movie
hall setting which also includes the dissemination of the product information.
Further to this in a television viewing, the audience has a choice to shift the
channel, as the programming is an involuntary exposure due to fixed schedules, content
and timing. This involuntary exposure makes the audience to have a choice of voluntary
viewing of the program of his choice and then he or she may switch to another channel. It
has been observed from research that brand recall for commercials shown during the
television programs with higher level of TRPs are very poor due to the channel switching
behaviour (Fourier and Dolan 1997). High level of media clutter, similarity of
programming across channels, channel switching behaviour are the factors responsible to
generate sufficient level of research interest among researchers at the practice of brand
placements in movies.
The 98:02 pareto ruling Hindi film industry also has made this practice more
acceptable to Indian film producers. Increase in the number and level of brand
placements in Indian films stand as a proof to this proposition. The 98:02 pareto talks
about the number of Hindi films that are able to become success and cover up the costs
and earn net revenue for the film producers. Though there is not enough data available to
substantiate the loss of revenue in Hindi films in various years but the performance of
movies in the box office can be taken as an indicator for the proposition that 98% of the
Hindi films flop in a year and the producers are not able to get revenue for their
investments. The basic objective of permitting product placements in movies is to cover
up the possible level of production cost before the movie is released. Due to the informal
and non-standardisation nature of the business practices in Hindi film industry, there is no
standard tariff that producers can charge to the brand managers for product placements in
their movies. This practice lives the producers and the brand managers to negotiate
different levels of pricing, depending upon the past success of the producer and the level
of placement permitted by the producer in the movie. But the research indicates that
product placement practice is a potential tool for brand communication. Indian film and
advertising world needs to standardise the tariff structure for the product placements.

So we can summarise the above discussion by concluding that product placements are
emerging as useful additional form of marketing communication. They score over
traditional television advertising for three reasons viz: goodwill gains by associating with
a popular program, purchase of large portion of commercial time within the programme
prevents communication interference from competition (Gay, 1988) and integration with
program reduces likelihood of zapping (Meenaghan, 1991).
There are number of examples of how the product’s appearance in a movie resulted in
an increase in brand performance in Hollywood movies. When agent James Bond made
top secret calls on an Ericsson mobile phone in 1997 in the movie Tomorrow Never Dies,
the Ericsson trademark got a real upward boost in visibility and market share (Zieme
1998). More recently Equisearch.com, a web site targeted to equestrians, credited its
40%increase in web hits and quadrupled sales revenue over a two month time span to a
brief appearance of the brand’s name in the movie The Horse Whisperer (Buss 1998). In
the past, as long as in 1982 the alien creature in the movie ET The Extraterrestrial, was
lured from its hiding place with Reese’s pieces candy, brand sales increased by 65% just
three months following the movie’s release (Buss 1998, Farhi 1998; Reed1989). Though
there has been a longer history of brand placements in Indian films but not enough
research has been conducted to prove its effectiveness. The earliest reference of a brand
placement comes in the 1940 classic Chalti Kaa naam Gadi with the brand Coca Cola.
The movie Dilwale Dulhanyiyan Le Jayenge of the 1990s was a successful story of
launching of Stroh bear in Indian market. Today, product placement is used as an often-
used strategy for the advertisers in Hindi films.
The practice of product placement has proliferated due, in part to the high level of
message clutter in traditional advertising media, combined with the increased
fragmentation of media audiences (Gunther 2000, Gupta and Lord 1998). Product
placement gives marketers an alternative means for gaining product exposure through a
media context where targeted audiences may be particularly receptive. This audience
receptivity means the difference between reaching sales and profitability objectives or
falling short of them entirely. Previous research also suggests the effects of product
placements on consumers can influence brand recognition, recall and attitudes (Babin and
Carder 1996; Brennan, Dubas and babin 1999, Karrh, Frith and Callison 2001; Gibson
and Maurer 2000; Gould, Gupta and Grabner-Krauter 2000, Gupta and Lord 1998).
Consumer’s beliefs towards product placement activities have been found to influence
their acceptance of the placements in general (Nebenzahl and Secunda 1993). A few
number of research studies have also attempted to establish a correlation between
audience beliefs towards product placements activities and their purchase intent
following exposure by comparing the effects across the cultures ( Karrh, Frith and
Calisson 2001; Gould, Gupta and Grabner-Krauter 2000). However opportunity exists
about the nature of the relationship between product placements beliefs and subsequent
behaviours as well as variables that can predict behavioural out comes.
Increase in product placements and institutionalisation of the industry indicate that
advertisers are using the technique to sway consumer’s brand attitudes (Avery and
Ferraro,2000). The type of placements should look natural to the narration as
consumption symbols are often used to enrich the plot, theme and characters of popular
culture texts (Hirschman 1998; Holbrook and Grayson 1986). Some consumers may feel
that the use of brand names in popular culture simply reflects the increased commercial
content of a culture (Freidman 1985) or the producer’s efforts to enhance the realism of
their film (Solomon and Englis 1994). However in case where the brand takes a major
role in the story of the film as in the movie Friends or where its presence in the movie
might look suspect (Indian Film Yadein), audience may realise that it was placed there to
affect their judgements and they may counter argue them just as they do to the traditional
advertising messages (Friestad and Wright 1995). Critics have already voiced their
concern about the increasing embeddedness of marketing efforts within popular culture
and the intensifying commercialisation of films (Wasko, Phillips,and Purdie 1993)
Though product placements are gaining ground in Indian films and have taken quite a
substantial progress in American and European films, there is less or no research done to
find out its effects on audience. Different studies found preliminary support for the
impact of mode and prominence on recall and recognition of brands placed in films.
For this study, Product Placement (PPL) is defined as “the placement of a brand
or a firm in an entertainment vehicle by different means and for promotional purposes.”
The vehicles used for promotion include traditional media like films and television
programmes, as well as books, computer games, web sites. Shapiro (1993), in the context
of movies, classifies PPL into four types viz. a. that provides only clear visibility
(product/brand name shown); b. that is used in a scene; c. that has a spoken reference;
and d. that provides hands-on use and mentioned by a main star. Russel (1998) has
classified them along three dimensions: visual, auditory and plot connection. The visual
dimension refers to the appearance of the brand on the screen. This is called screen
placement also which can have different levels, depending on the number of appearances
on the screen, the style of the camera shot for the product and so forth. The second
dimension called auditor refers to the brand being mentioned in a dialogue. This is also
called script placement which has varying degree depending on the context on which the
brand is mentioned, the frequency with which it is mentioned and the emphasis on the
brand name through the tone of the voice, place in the dialogue, character speaking at the
time. The plot connection dimension refers to the degree to which the brand is integrated
in the plot of the story (Russel1998). Where as lower plot placements do not contribute
much to the story, higher plot placements constitute a major thematic element (Holbrook
and Grayson 1996), taking the major place in the story line or building the persona of the
character. A mere mention of the brand or a brief appearance of the product on the screen
is taken a s a lower plot. However when character is clearly identified with the brand like
Saharukh with Santro Zip drive in the movie phir bhi dil hai hindusthani or James Bond
with his Aston Matin, then his BMW Z3 or where the brand becomes the central part of
the plot like Coca cola in Taal, Pottery Barn episode of Friends can be called higher plot
placements.
Majority of the research on product placements measure the effectiveness of
product placements in terms of how well they were remembered ( Babin and Carder
1996; Gupta and Lord 1998; Steortz 1987). This high level of reliance on brand
recognition and recall measure presumes that the effects for memory are similar to the
effects of attitude. The absence of correlation between memory and attitude measures are
found in persuasion literature (Petty, Cacioppo and Schumann 1983) that challenges this
assumption and suggest that memory and attitude measures are not always liner. Since
recall is a poor predictor of persuasion, research on product placements should
investigate both memory and attitude effects (Mackie and Asuncion 1990).

One of the popular methods of classifying the placements was a combination of

level of integration and explicitness (d’ Astous and Seguin 1998). They define three types
of product placements namely
Implicit PPL: An implicit PPL is one where the brand, the firm or the product is present
within the program without being formally mentioned. It plays a passive, contextual role.
In the implicit PPL the logo, the brand name, or the name of the firm appear without a
clear demonstration of product benefits
Integrated Explicit PPL: A PPL is integrated explicit whenever the brand or the firm is
formally mentioned within the program; it plays an active role. In this type of PPL, the
attributes and benefits of the product are clearly demonstrated
Non Integrated explicit PPL: A non-integrated explicit PPL is one where the brand or the
firm is formally expressed but is not integrated within the contents of the program. The
sponsor name may be presented at the beginning, middle or end of the program, or it may
be part of the program title.
Shapiro(1993) provided four types of PPL in the context of movies and in this
research we have modified Sahpiro’s classification as practitioners agreed this
classification as the most suitable one among the various typologies provided to them
during the initial stage of the research. These forms are a combination of the above
definitions, and cover the spectrum of placements identified They can be grouped as
A. Implicit: where brand is shown without verbal reference to brand name or benefits
B. Used in Scene: where brand is used in a scene without verbal reference to name or
benefits;
C. Integrated explicit PPL– where the benefits/attributes of the brand/product are
mentioned by a main star, along with hands-on use.

Let us look at the issue of the effect of sponsorship on the brand. The effect of
sponsorship is expected to be the transfer of the programme image to the sponsor (Parker,
1991). Studies have shown the importance of a strong link between the sponsor and the
sponsored event or entity (d'Astous and Bitz, 1995; McDonald, 1991; Meenaghan 1983;
Parker, 1991). In other words, a strong program-sponsor congruity increases the
credibility and consistency of the PPL. The type of movie (soft romantic, action,
adventure) may also have an impact on consumers' reactions toward a PPL (Dambron,
1991). PPLs in programs expected to provide objective information might lead to
negative reactions. Studies examining the impact of product placement (presence versus
absence) on brand awareness have indicated that not all product placements are equally
effective (Babin and Carder, 1996). Prominent product placements that are highly visible
induce a significantly higher level of awareness than subtle product placements.
From the previous discussion about the brand recognition and comprehension
versus brand recall and its effect on purchase behavior, it seems brand recognition as a
measure is more objective in character than brand recall. Recognition describes the form
of memory that requires a person to judge whether or not a stimulus, located in a set of
distracting stimuli. (Bettman, 1979). Unaided recall exists when people retrieve
information from memory without any assistance. Recognition is considered a measure of
unaided recall, and more important than aided recall. (Gupta and Lord, 1998) have
studied the impact of product placement on brand recognition: the impact of various
product-placement categorization (prominent vs. subtle) and product-placement mode
(visual, audio and audio-visual). They report a significant advantage for both audio and
visual prominent PPLs over subtle visual placements. False recognition occurs when a
subject incorrectly reports recognizing a brand as having been placed in a movie; this
might be due to the fact that subjects tend to falsely recall familiar brands.
The author did not find any evidence of work carried out on product placement in
Indian movies. This study is designed to provide direction to further studies in this area,
and consequently exploratory in nature. The Indian film industry is the largest in the
world in terms of number of movies produced. A total of 967 feature films were certified
in 2003. Since a majority of the movies are produced in Hindi, The author decided to
restrict the study to Hindi films produced in the recent past and having popular appeal.

Methodology
The study evaluates the effectiveness of product placements within movies on the
basis of recall, recognition and attitudes. Films in Hindi language were selected, on basis
of popular appeal and the variety of placement types in these films. The author as well as
two judges (film enthusiasts who had viewed multiple instances of the movies in
question) viewed these clips and listed the number of brands placed in these movies.
Short clips showing scenes with the products in question were created using digital
MPEG-extraction software. Care was taken to restrict the length of the clips. 10 clips of
an average running time of approximately 1:50 minutes were obtained. The list of films
and the relevant product placement situations are listed in Appendix 1. Considering that
brand awareness is the primary goal of advertisers in product placement, memory-based
awareness measures such as recognition or recall are appropriate (Nelson, 2002). Short-
term memory immediately after exposure, as well as consumer evaluation of product
placements was tested.

Experimentation Procedure
The study was carried out on a randomly selected sample of 80 post-graduate
students of management at the Indian Institute of Management at Lucknow, Indore and
Kozhikode during the authors visit while teaching courses in these schools. A
homogenized student sample was considered adequate for the purpose of testing formal
hypothesis and keeping in view the preliminary nature of the study. The respondents were
told that the study was part of the student learning process. Verbal consent was sought
before administering the survey.

The movie clips so selected were combination of all the three kinds of placements
i.e. implicit, used in scene and explicit as per our definition. Respondents were given a
CD with the movie clips, and asked to view them one by one. Proper software and
speakers/earphones were provided. At the end of the clips, they were offered a structured
questionnaire (for copies of the questionnaire contact the author) and asked to fill it up.
No interviewer cue was provided and the study objective was not mentioned in advance.
A total of 80 responses (60 male and 20 female) were obtained. The average duration of
the survey was 25 minutes.

Measures
Respondent reactions were measured using Frequency measures were used for
recall and recognition measurement across brands. Questionnaires were given to them to
check their attitudes about product placement, recall and recognition of brands directly
after watching the movie clippings. Thus the dependent variables used for the study
include subject’s attitudes about product placement, recall and recognition of brands
directly after watching the movie clippings. A bipolar 5-point scale was used to measure
respondent attitude about product placements. Some of the items in the scale were
adopted from the scale developed by d’Astous and Seguin (1998) and suitable
modifications were done on the basis of the practitioners’ opinion obtained during the
preliminary discussion with industry people. Few variables were selected to represent the
consumer’s evaluative and ethical judgements. The validity of the scale was tested with a
pilot of 22 management students at the initial stages of the research. The final set of
dependent variables were selected after all the above careful consideration and it included
eleven items and a bipolar five point scale was designed to obtain the degree of
agreement of the respondent on the product placement. An open-ended question asking
respondents to express their feeling about product placements in Indian movies were also
asked to the respondents.

Major Findings
All the respondents noticed the presence of brands inside the movie. The unaided recall
score (Mean= 22.75, Std. Dev= 11.9) is illustrated in the graph (Graph-I) below. The
range of values varied from 4 to 80 with Coke having the highest score (80/80) with
HMV having the least (4/80).
 U n A id e d R e c a ll S c o r e
9 0
8 0

No of Respondents
7 0
6 0
5 0
4 0
3 0
2 0
1 0
0

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Bra nd Na m e s

The respondents were given aids and clues for an aided recall in the form of musical
clues, names of the actors in the movie etc and then they were asked to recall the brands
they have seen during the cd show. The scores of aided recall (Mean= 24.75, Std. Dev=
13.18) are illustrated in the graph below ( Graph-II). The range of values varied from 4 to
80, with Coke having the highest score (80/80) with HMV having the least (4/80).

A id ed Re c a ll S c o r e
100
Frequency of Recall

80
60
40
20
0
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B r a n d Na me s
Analysis of Dependent Variables
The attitudes about product placements were subjected to a principal component
analysis with varimax rotation and Kaiser Normalisation. As evident two factors emerged
explaining 87% percent of the rotation. This is generally treated as a high proportion of
explained variance (Green 1978). The resulting factors were given names as the
evaluative component and the second factor as the ethical component of the product
placement. Six items loaded heavily (>0.50) on the first factor (Acceptability, Taste,
Honesty, Frankness, Dynamism, Originality). This factor is interpreted as feelings
towards the treatment of various products - i.e. the evaluative component. Four items
loaded heavily on the second factor (Pleasantness, Relevance, Agreeableness, and
Amusement) which are interpreted as feelings towards PPL as a whole- i.e. the ethical
component. Cronbach’s alpha is equal to 0.94 for the first factor and 0.01 for the second
factor.. The Pearson product moment correlation between the dependent variables is
strong (r=0.83) and statistically significant (p<0.0001).

Factor Analysis Results

Rotated Component Matrix

Component
1 2
Pleasantness 0.028 0.781
Relevance 0.135 0.729
Morality 0.231 0.245
Acceptability 0.831 0.101
Taste 0.557 0.349
Honesty 0.656 0.003
Frankness 0.437 0.429
Dynamism 0.647 0.054
Originality 0.766 0.109
Agreeableness 0.315 0.838
Amusement 0.326 0.695
 Acceptability, Taste, Honesty, Frankness, Dynamism,
Factor 1 Originality
Feelings towards the treatment of various products - i.e the evaluative
Interpretations component
Factor 2 Pleasantness, Relevance, Agreeableness, Amusement
Feelings towards PPL as a whole- i.e. the ethical
Interpretations component

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization, Rotation converged in 3 iterations.

Communalities
Initi Extracti
al on
Shocking 1 0.611
Relevant 1 0.549
Immoral 1 0.113
Unacceptable 1 0.700
Bad taste 1 0.432
Dishonest 1 0.430
Concealed 1 0.375
Static 1 0.421
Trivial 1 0.598
Irritating 1 0.801
Boring 1 0.590
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

The researcher carried content analysis to summarise the respondent’s opinion on

product placements. The results are listed below with respective frequency for significant
statements (references to specific brands and films are removed for maintaining
conditions of neutrality).
Results of Content Analysis
Statement Frequency
Advertising in films is a nice thing 46
Sometimes the advertising was forced into 37
the scene: this is irritating
The product is too obvious: it seems the 24
producer wanted to make money from it
Scenes are created merely to put the 14
product in
Its bad idea to show brands during movie 13
Explicitly naming a brand like Pass-Pass is 10
not good
The placement needs to gel with the movie – 17
story and dialogue, if not the attitude towards
it becomes one of irritation and disgust.
Innovative but if overdone and that too, too 21
frequently, the interest will be lost.”

Conclusions
The results show that viewers were generally positive about product placement in
movies. They considered the practice acceptable and frank (mean=3.7). The practice was
also considered amusing (mean=3.35), pleasant (mean=3.25) and dynamic (mean=3.3).
However, there were mixed feelings about the practice on agreeability (mean=3). The
originality scores for product placements were found to be low (mean=2.75), as are
scores for relevance (mean=3.1). In spite of product placements being a novel concept,
respondents felt that the creativity of the medium had not been explored. Content analysis
results presented later support this view.
There is a 100% recall and recognition rate for brands like Coke. However, this
might be due to the higher placement of that brand in the sequences selected for the
study. Since the time duration of placements was not taken into account, it is not possible
to find out reasons for the higher rates. Well-known brands were recalled more than
lesser-known brands. Explicit placements score considerably higher (all brands’ aided
recall > 60) than implicit or subtle placements. Explicitly mentioned brands had higher
recall and recognition rates than brands which remained in the background. The large
range of responses suggests that the type of product placement is significant, irrespective
of the brand being well known or lesser known. The content analysis further strengthens
the belief that respondents found the placements irrelevant to the situation. However,
questioning the respondents did not reveal any ill feeling towards the brand, as the
content analysis suggests, it was considered an artistic flaw by the producer.
An interesting observation is the rate of recall of products that were not formally
placed, but made their appearance: 7 respondents identified brands which were incidental
and not paid for. This is different from false recall and implies that clutter can occur,
though unintentionally, even in product placements. However, this number might have
been influenced by the fact that viewers were more attentive towards the viewing of clips
than they would be during normal film viewing.
Areas for Future Research
While the choice of a student population was considered adequate for the purpose
of this preliminary exploratory study, future studies would need to measure effectiveness
over a wider, more representative population. Future studies can also measure relative
scores of product categories (FMCG goods versus consumer goods) and well known
versus lesser-known brands. The increasing use of product placements in other media like
television, books, regional language films and computer games might also be studied, as
can long-term memory of product placements.
Managerial Implications and Conclusion
The practice of product placements in Indian films is still based on gut feeling.
This study suggests that brand managers use a more objective framework for placing and
evaluating product placements. Steortz (1987) indicates that product placements can be
considered successful if a minimum of 20% of the population is aware of the identity of
the brand. Even adjusting for the variation in education and attentiveness of our sample
compared to the majority of film audiences, we find that product placements in films are
effective. The high recall, recognition and positive attitude scores suggest that brand
managers seriously look at product placements in movies as a new vehicle for reaching to
customers.
However, a number of issues need to be kept in mind. Relevance of product to the
situation needs to be created: this is possible by incorporating the placement planning at a
script level, as practised by the US film industry. (Turcotte 2002). Respondents expressed
concern about the lack of good creative execution. The manager also needs to guard
against clutter in scenes: other competing products in the product category should not be
incorporated.
The researcher has not examined the use of comparative product placements,
where products are compared, and formal communication of superiority of one brand is
communicated. Explicit placements are more effective than implicit ones: however, there
must be pre-testing of the placement to determine the exact level at which viewer
irritation sets in. The high failure rate of movies in India mean that managers are ill
equipped to predetermine if audiences will convert negative attitudes about the movie
into negative attitude towards the brand. As success of product placements is dependent
on the success of the movie and consequently, its reach, it is not possible to evaluate
placements from a sales-generation perspective.
The monetary terms of product placements have not been studied, as data on this
was not considered credible. Payments for product placements need to be linked with
effectiveness. With the growth of professionalism in Indian cinema and the growing need
for less cluttered communication channels, we feel that product placements can emerge
as a strong vehicle to communicate to the vast film-viewing population in India.

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APPENDIX 1

FILMS USED IN THE STUDY WITH RESPECTIVE PRODUCT PLACEMENTS

Feature Film Product/PPL Situation

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge Stroh’s beer; integrated Main star is desperately seeking the
(1995); clip length 2:05 min explicit PPL product; comic situation
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge Stroh’s beer; integrated Main star uses product and mentions it
(1995); clip length 2:47 min explicit PPL in positive light
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge HMV Audios, integrated The company who has the music
(1995); clip length 3:12 min implicit. rights for the film is showcased in the
titles given at the start of the film.
Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani Swatch; Implicit with Scene in shopping mall with 2 main
(2000); clip length: 1:30 min reference to product stars; product logo appears in
category (watch) background, and stars mention
product category (watch).
Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani Akai; Implicit with no Scene in TV showroom, where main
(2000); clip length: 1:20 min reference to product star watches movie; product logo in
category (television) background.
 Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani Hyundai Santro; product in Main stars use the product (car)
(2000); clip length: 1:06 min use showcasing maneuverability and
speed; no verbal reference.
Taal (1998) Length: 1:37 min Coca-cola: product in use, Main stars share a coke; unspoken
integrated implicit. feeling of goodness of product shown.
Taal (1998) Length : 1: 23 min Coca-cola: product in use Main Stars share a coke; there is even
a show of good taste for the product,
and it’s shown to be picked from a
tray of different soft drinks.
Yaadein (2000) Length:1: 16min Coca Cola : integrated Scene in a supermarket with the main
explicit star drinking the coke. Mention of the
product as the star’s weakness.
Yaadein (2000) Length:4:23min Coca-cola: product in use Scene in a party, product used by the
stars and shown in the light of a party
drink.
Hero Cycles: integrated Product showcased in a race
implicit. sponsored by the company. Though
no mention of the cycle, the race
sequence has several close-ups on the
brand name shown in the star’s cycle.
The product is pictured as the winner’
choice.
Pass Pass: integrated A long shot where the original model
explicit. for the pass-pass ad was shown along
with the star of the film. There is
blatant mention of the product and its
advertisement jingle. Both the stars
show to be using the product. Also
mention of the taste of the product.

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