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The Almighty Buck Entertainment Games

A Place For Product Placement In Games? 152

Posted by simoniker from the zombies-say-drink-coke dept.
Thanks to GameSpy for its CES 2004 report, which includes coverage of a roundtable regarding product advertising in videogames. The writer points out: "The Super Monkey Ball simians gobble Dole bananas. Jet Moto features a giant Mountain Dew billboard. The alien-fighters in RLH drank Bawls", and goes on to cite research that "30% of in-game ads are recalled in the short-term, which is impressive. Even more amazing is the fact that 15% are recalled after five months - unheard of in advertising." But, of course, "if a placement ticks off the gamer, there's not much a company can do to negate that negative." What are the most appropriate and least appropriate advertising placements you've seen in games?
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A Place For Product Placement In Games? More

A Place For Product Placement In Games?

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  • It doesn't affect me (Score:5, Funny)

    by ObviousGuy ( 578567 ) <ObviousGuy@hotmail.com> on Friday January 09, 2004 @12:59AM (#7924961) Homepage Journal
    I don't let pixels on a screen determine my emotional state. Unless it's porn.

    • Re:It doesn't affect me (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Graelin ( 309958 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @04:33AM (#7926124)
      You're not supposed to. In-game advertising is all about Branding. No, NBA 2004 doesn't make you want that new pair of Nike Pumps but next time you're in a Foot Locker the brand will stick out more.

      If done right, advertisments in a game can add to the realism. GTA3 wouldn't have been so real if they didn't play Pogo The Monkey ads on the radio occasionally.

      Need for Speed Underground (an excellent game btw) has TONS of stickers representing REAL brands you can decorate your car with. This is not a bad thing. It makes the game more real. And hey, if I'm looking for neon next time I'll know some brands to look for. Great for me.
    • You must not like movies very much.

  • Besides the buggy gameplay (which determined my emotions more than anything else) I hated the plugs for NVidia and Intel. The Powerade placement was slightly less noticeable but not by much.

    They went waaay overboard there.

    To date I haven't seen any good product placements (well, mebby Super Monkey Ball's Dole Bananas.)

  • Rush 2, a car racing game on the N64 had billboards, and even cans of Mountain Dew you could collect to unlock cars. The billboards were for gaming magazines, mountain dew, the game producers, and an upcoming game by the same studio.

    • Re:Rush 2? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Goldberg's Pants ( 139800 )
      The first product placement I remember in a game was F1GP on the Amiga. They had ads for Duckhams and a few other car related companies in it, and this was back in 1991 or thereabouts.

      Hardly a new idea.
      • The old Ninja Turtles game might have beaten it slightly. Back on the NES in 1990, there were plugs in TMNT2 for Pizza Hut pizza. I'm not sure if they were present in the original arcade version or not.

        But, likewise, not a new idea. :)

        • Kudos, yep, that'd beat it.

          There was a SNES game that was based on a 7-UP character if I recall.

          Plus there was Zool which was sponsored (not products placed, outright sponsored) by Chupa-Chup's.

  • ZERO ADS (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I play video games to escape day to day crap.

    The last thing I want is ANY advertising *IN-GAME*. To me, this would be as bad as escaping in a wonderful book, only have have a giant pepsi, MTV or Meryl Lynch advertisement on every fifth page.

    • Re:ZERO ADS (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      There was some racing game. You had to collect tokens to unlock cars. The game play was ok, the course selection as good as one might expect for the N64. But I still remember hunting all over for the God damn keys and Mountain Dew cans to unlock all the cars, including the wacky Mt Dew car.

      I remember nothing about the game, but stunts, and Mt. Dew. No title, no maker, just Dew.

      I think it works best, and is least obtrusive, when it's a product genuinly loved by the people making the game. The love the

    • Re:ZERO ADS (Score:3, Insightful)

      by AvitarX ( 172628 )
      I agree. I much prefer for the generic Cola cans in my ultra realistic game.

      And the cars should just be squares with wheels, I wouldn't want to recognize a car modle, it would really piss me off.

      Also, no real cities should be used, I don't want to play an advertisement for tourism.

      • Realistic placement (Score:5, Insightful)

        by AllenChristopher ( 679129 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @05:42AM (#7926359)
        "I much prefer for the generic Cola cans in my ultra realistic game."

        The problem is not that they are branded. As you say, it might be better in a realistic game to have SOME brands about that are inescapable. Say, Pepsi or Coke cans.... not a day goes by that I don't see one of those.

        The problem is when the product placement has put me in some strange otherworld where every can of pop is a Mountain Dew. It's distracting. And it usually is these fine products which are less ubiquitous that do the insane product placement trick.

        I wouldn't mind, though, if the Pepsi company paid to have its entire range stocked... I'm used to stepping between the Coke universe and the Pepsi universe as I browse the stalls in the food court.

        Product placement in a realistic game should be realistic.

    • They used to have ads in books, believe it or not. I've got some Robert E Howard [crossplains.com] paperbacks from the '60s (IIRC) and in the middle of the books are two leafs (4 pages) of full colour glossy, cigarette adds.

    • Re:ZERO ADS (Score:2, Informative)

      by Funky Ferret ( 729392 )
      Blimey squire, you'll not be a comics reader then.
      DC have ads every third page, which in a visual medium rather detracts from the content.

      But product placement isn't like this - you're not interrupting the game for an advert, it's just something there in the background.

      Better, I'd say - limited subliminal effect (unless you're very easily influenced), and far less intrusive. Course, if it's been paid for by advertisers I'd like to see the benefit in the game quality or in the price I pay being subsidised

  • One worrying point about advertisments in games. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by jkcity ( 577735 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @01:06AM (#7925021) Homepage
    This really only applies to the uk, but I am fairly sure other countries have similar laws.

    If an ad is wrong/offensive they can be forced to stop distributing it, this could be really expensive if you have already printed a million cd's.

    I'd also like to know if they ads in games evan fall under regulatory controls.

    I also don't like the idea of playing a differnt game to eevryone else, cause I assume any paid advertising will probably be localised to specific countries.

  • product placements (Score:3, Informative)

    by reiggin ( 646111 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @01:09AM (#7925041)
    What are the most appropriate and least appropriate advertising placements you've seen in games?

    Well, there's that annoying Honda Element in SSX3. That's gratuitous if you ask me. But, hey, I remember it so I guess it's effective. Not as if I'd ever buy one of those dork boxes.

    Oh! And let's not forget all the Duff beer ads in Simpsons Hit & Run. Mmmmm... Duff beeeeer.

    • Whoops! The advertising must not have worked on me well enough...I remember all the 7UP in SSX3, but where is there a Honda Element ad?
      • There's no ads per se, but at every finish line off to the side there is a raised platform with an Element on it. Look left or right when you finish, they're there (and spread throughout the game in other places, if memmory serves).
        • Thanks.

          Wow, I never realized just how much I unconsciously cut out visual clutter. I tried to recall the finish line area from memory, but all I can remember is the shape of the gate itself. I don't remember if there are crowds behind it, stands, balconies, anything.
      • there is one right under a 10x flake if memory serves correctly, with two rails that cause you to go through it on your way to the finish. Can't remember the track name off the top of my head but I think it's on Peak 1.
  • ... Has an ad for "Club" the infamous hardcore porno mag. The writing on some of the billboards match the symbol for the mag...

    I know that it is definitely in the Tokyo level, not sure about any of the others, though.
  • Worst form : Eyecatching.

    Best form : Subliminal.

  • Pogo the Monkey (Score:4, Funny)

    by Cosmik ( 730707 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @01:15AM (#7925090) Homepage
    Best advertising campaign in a video game: Pogo the Monkey in GTA.

    Ever since I heard those radio ads, I've been looking for the game everywhere. I want to swing from blue dot to blue dot with my red square monkey!!!!
  • A) Isn't this a really old dupe? Or am I just remembering the future again?

    B) Advertisements in video games are little different from advertisements in movies. Either way, you've paid for entertainment which has superflous elements.

    On a personal note, I dislike product placement a lot, but no more than I dislike gratuitous sex or violence.

    But then again, I only account for less than 10% of the bell curve.

  • GTA (Score:5, Funny)

    by Molina the Bofh ( 99621 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @01:16AM (#7925112) Homepage
    If they intended to sell more cars, it didn't work for me. I swear I didn't buy any car since I ran GTA. However, I just drive the fanciest Jaguars, Mercedes and Ferraris.
  • I must have missed something. I've been playing the Cossacks games since they started coming out, and I've not seen a single advertisement...

    Ack! It must all be subliminal!

  • EA should thank one kid (Score:4, Interesting)

    by superpulpsicle ( 533373 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @01:39AM (#7925270)
    Way back in like the early 90s there was some 10 year old kid who asked in a magazine article about advertisement (if memory serves me correct it was electronic gaming monthly).

    He said something like why don't video game companies like EA use real advertisement in the sport stadium banners and such. Not too long later I remember getting NBA live basketball with real advertisement inside. To this day I really wonder if the industry owe this kid something.

  • Same Friggin' Price (Score:3, Interesting)

    by BigDork1001 ( 683341 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @01:39AM (#7925274) Homepage
    What is the point of product placement except to the the product more visable and the makers of the game/movie more money?

    If I remember correctly Monkey Ball sold for the same price as every other game when it came out. Movies cost the same amount to go see whether it's just one gigantic advertisement for Preperation H or an actual movie with plot.

    Perhaps if the games cost less then I'd be okay with a few little things hidden in the game but as it is they are just annoying and don't do me any good.

    • That's not really "interesting" -- Kabuki Warriors for the Xbox when it first came out was a high price, so were other games. The "given" price for a new game is usually $49.99 regardless of where you purchase it. However, this does cut down on development costs. You may not be able to get a cheaper game, but you will get more out of it... I wonder how much Honda paid for the Element being in SSX3... It's almost ubiquitous without being overloaded-- the fact that you sail through one (with all doors open--
    • Analogous to the question of "Why do we pay extra for cable, but get more advertisements than local television?" :)
    • "Perhaps if the games cost less then I'd be okay with a few little things hidden in the game but as it is they are just annoying and don't do me any good."

      Err, you do realize that many game companies come and go, right? It's hard to make a profit on a game unless it's really really good. If they can offset some of that cost by generating revenues in other places, then you've got a healthy market, plus they can even make money when a game is pirated.

      I'm not defending overly obnoxious ad placement mind y

      • Re:Same Friggin' Price (Score:4, Informative)

        by bugbread ( 599172 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @08:02AM (#7926801)
        I remember reading somewhere that if you use licensed vehicles in a game, the licensers generally don't allow you to destroy them. I guess with GTA they decided it would be too much trouble convincing Ferrari that their cars would still be effective adertisements with broken doors, windows, and hoods. Probably even harder to convince SUV makers to allow their vehicles to be the easiest to roll over.
    • Movies cost the same amount to go see whether it's just one gigantic advertisement for Preperation H or an actual movie with plot.

      Actually, they cost less. I think prices have at least doubled in the past several years, while advertising has increased. "Go figure."

  • What aboout realism? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    In Gran Turismo 2 there were ads all around the race tracks, just like real life. Even the gigantic tire of Laguna Seca was there. I think the game would've been less real without them.

    It's not bad in all instances
  • ...is the, somewhat excessive, Red Bull advertising in one or more or all of the Wipeout futuristic racing series. Funny thing was, when I first played Wipeout 2097 Red Bull wasn't available here so I thought it was a fake product. Since it has arrived on Australian shores I haven't ever bought one or even tried it.

    Game developers and publishers should be aware that if the advertising is annoying the sales of their product and future products will be negatively affected. There are TV programs I've given

  • A few games... (Score:2, Informative)

    by Jorkapp ( 684095 )
    Tie Fighter (old game): Had an ad for the Dodge Neon in it. Yeesh.

    Pre-Alpha Half-Life: Has Coke and Fruitopia machines in it.

    Chocobo Racing: Advertises Chocobo's Dungeon 2 in the game script.

    Tron 2.0, UT2003: Advertises nVidia.

    Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield: Advertises ATI ingame, advertises Alienware in the box.
  • I still believe the best one was the "Nine Inch Nails" ammo for the Nailgun in the first Quake (boxes of nails with the NIN logo on them).

  • Worst Product Placement (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Babbster ( 107076 ) <aaronbabb&gmail,com> on Friday January 09, 2004 @01:55AM (#7925386) Homepage
    Generally, I'm fine with in-game product placement. I don't mind if they stick a billboard into a game set in a current or futuristic virtual world. I don't even mind if one's avatar drinks a Coke or eats a Snickers bar.

    There was one good game, though, that springs to my mind and had just awful product placement: Beach Spikers (Sega volleyball game for Gamecube). Now, there was product placement all through the game (each event had a sponsor) and most of it was fine. However, one of the events was sponsored by Pringles, where there were huge Pringles cans that just about made me retch. The area surrounding the court was so over-the-top gaudy that it really worked on my nerves.

    I think it's kind of fun when there's a real product put into a game here and there, and even a little product interaction is acceptable. I just hope game developers and marketing people try to keep it as tasteful as they possibly can. I don't have any specific guidelines as to what keeps the placement in the tasteful range, but, like obscenity, I know offensive, annoying and intrusive advertising when I see it.

    On that note, I'll give a shout-out to Acclaim!

  • Why it's effective - and won't be (Score:3, Insightful)

    by PurpleFloyd ( 149812 ) <zeno20@@@attbi...com> on Friday January 09, 2004 @01:59AM (#7925409) Homepage
    The only reason product placement in games is really effective at this time is because it's unusual. For example, I remember that Intel, Nvidia and Powerade had ads in Enter the Matrix because there was a big media blitz about it, and I'm not really used to being confronted with advertisements in game.

    However, this effect can only decline - once in-game advertising becomes standard, people will probably train themselves to bypass it; the same thing happened with Web advertisments: I remember thinking the first banners I saw were kind of weird, but now they're pervasive, I hardly notice them. Studies have even shown that users have trained themselves to bypass ads of common dimension and placement (like a banner at the top of a page). I doubt you could even tell me (without looking) what the current advertisment on your Slashdot page is for.

    While product placement in games can be appropriate and add to the "realism factor," like having stadium ads in a sports game, the actual effect of these ads will diminish as they're added to more and more games.

    • I doubt you could even tell me (without looking) what the current advertisment on your Slashdot page is for.

      OSDN Personals.
      That damned cute Brunette always catches my eye. Or maybe she's a Redhead? Wasn't really paying attention. Either way, she's in between the article and the comments, so I always seem to notice that one.

      You're right though. Normally I wouldn't have the foggiest idea what they were trying to sell me. Nor would I ca- Ooh! Binary clock!
    • I doubt you could even tell me (without looking) what the current advertisment on your Slashdot page is for.

      I doubt I could too, since I have it blocked. Mua ha ha!

  • The Best and the Worst (Score:5, Interesting)

    by illuminata ( 668963 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @02:01AM (#7925425) Journal
    The most appropriate would have to be the Pizza Hut posters in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II. The media marriage between the Turtles and Pizza Hut was sheer genius. Everyone ate so much damn pizza during that era.

    The absolute worst would be Darkened Skye, where you use Skittles to create spells. In fact, the whole game is based around Skittles. I'm not just talking a web game, this game was released for PC and Gamecube.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Of course they developed it to be a game based around Skittles. But, Cool Spot put the 7-Up mascot in a crazy platform game with the focus on the mascot's adventures. The game that they based around Spot made sense for Spot.

        On the other hand, in Darkened Skye, they wrapped a completely generic story [simonsays.com] around the Skittles. The game is still based around those Skittles, but you could call the Skittles runes or whatever fitting synonym you might have for runes and still have a game. It would have made just as m
  • ... Of the halfway decent (or better) advertising games.

    Cool Spot (7-Up), Pepsiman (Pepsi, a-doy), and the recent Darkened Skye (Skittles) spring to mind.

    Sure, they weren't revolutionary, or genre defining, but they were better than average, and certainly better than a purely ad-based game is expected to be.
    • The 7-Up Spot (I wonder why they off'ed this mascot?) also appeared in the NES title "Spot," which was a take on Reversi, I believe. It was a rather fun and challenging game and, if I recall correctly, there was some deal where $9.99 + the UPCs of 7-up bottles allowed you to mail-order it.

      Also, in the pizza vein, there was Capcom's "Yo Noid!" based on the rabbit-eared mascot of Dominos Pizza (again, another mascot that mysteriously vanished).

      One of the early games devoted entirely to a brand was McKids

  • I seem to recall playing a game about 15 years ago (?) on the Collecovision(?) where you were the Kool-Aid Guy. You know, his body is a pitcher and he dispenses his psychadelic bug-juice to all the neighborhood kids after smashing through their wall? "Ohhhhhhh, yeahhhhhh!"
    • I remember playing that game on the Atari. We had to drink a lot of Kool-Aid to earn the proofs of purchases required to order the game.

  • UT2003 (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Agent000 ( 153551 )
    UT2003 is probably the worst, with a quick nVidia "The way it's meant to be played" splash screen before the game loads. Not even in-game, this is blatant advertising.

    An interesting quirk of this is that the splash screen is actually a UT map file, so with a little creative editing, you can change the nVidia logo to anything you wish. Least to say, my machine now proudly displays that ATI is the way it's meant to be played :)
    • Um...there nVidia logos in the intros of about half the new games on the market now...
      • Um... I always thought this was part of the GFX card drivers. I have definately unticked an option relating to this. I see no nVidia splash screens.
        • Nope, not part of the drivers. There's a new cross-advertising system Nvidia's been doing of late with branding many games with "The way it was meant to be played-- Nvidia".. UT2003 was the first I've seen, but I know there're a number of other games that do similar. Planetside, for instance, advertises NVidia every time you load the game and advertises Intel P4 processors _every time you load a map_.

          It's getting out of hand.
  • I actually like product placement in games. Outright advertisements I tend to dislike. But a mountain dew billboard or a getting a golf sponsership from Nike (rather than a nonexistant company) increases the feel of immersion into the game and helps the game feel more realistic. Having fake companies is sort of like if CS had fake gun names. But that's my 2 cents.

  • Rainbow Six 3 (Score:4, Funny)

    by Cosmik ( 730707 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @02:50AM (#7925715) Homepage
    Rainbow Six 3 has the best product placement. Ever since I played that game I can't stop visiting Interracialporno [slashdot.org].

    Best. Advertisement. Ever.
  • The worst product placement I can think of right now is "Eat at Joe's." lol
  • What are the most appropriate and least appropriate advertising placements you've seen in games?

    Isn't there something fundamentally wrong with the idea of product placement being "appropriate"?

    • Isn't there something fundamentally wrong with the idea of product placement being "appropriate"?

      No. When used properly, "real" products can make a game seem more real.

      The problem I see is not product placement per se, but rather that the product placement deals all seem to be exclusive. It annoys me when I go into a virtual world where (for example) the only soft drink you can find is Coke. Give me a virtual world with competing Pepsi and Coke adverts... that would be "appropriate" in my book.

  • Postal 2 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by spudwiser ( 124577 ) <spudwiser@noSpAM.hotmail.com> on Friday January 09, 2004 @03:45AM (#7925957) Journal
    Every computer terminal in Postal 2 shows Old Man Murray. Genius.
  • Reases Peices in ET: The Extra terrestrial for Atari 2600

  • Weetabix game in 1984 (Score:2, Interesting)

    by mo^ ( 150717 )
    I remember back in 1984, cramming the tasty breakfast cereal "Weetabix" down my throat in large amounts so i could cash the tokens in for the "Weetabix Vs The Titchies" [worldofspectrum.org] Game.

    Basically a crummy space invaders clone using animated versions of the cereal to shoot down "titchies" (i think they were lesser cereals)

    Quite a disappointing game really, but lo and behold... I still have it, sat in the box with my 48k rubbber keyed Sinclair ZX
  • I would LOVE to see the developers of WWIIOL put up some time period advertisements. Say, Coca-Cola, for example. But, any company would be okay in my opinion. They're a very small company (20 employees) and for a MMOG, that is very small. So, every little bit of money they can get to help hire more programmers and speed up the developement of the game is a big improvement IMO.

  • Add to the realism... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by blankmange ( 571591 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @08:16AM (#7926861)
    In Gran Turismo, the ads complement the game. The billboards are for automotive and racing products, just like you would see at any racetrack. It adds to the realism, which is why as a simulator, Gran Turismo is the best there is.
    • My favorite was on that hairpin at apricot hill (after the big tire and long straightaway). I was regularly spinning out and usually saw a set of boards up close there, anyway it almost always had a Lotus logo (Lotus for the /.ers who aren't car geeks too makes cars that are very light and handle very well so they do quite well in races even if they don't have amazing horsepower levels, I figure someone there got some joy out of putting Lotus ads there. If I were programming it it would have gone somethin
  • With all the references to take passengers to various places like KFC, Pizza Hut, Tower Records, the Levi's Store... And does anyone remember the uproar that SEGA ran into when they placed Marlboro ads in some of their early track-based racing games to make the game appear more realistic?
  • While not an ad outright, they did mimic the Marboro logo too closely on billboards along the race course, and ended up losing a law suite.
  • Okay, so it isn't really an add for any particular product, but I can't imagine any better advertising for a car. Not only do you get to see it and read specs on it, but then you get to drive it faster than you normally would dare around courses you'd never have access too, and all without red lights or cops.

    And, when it was time for me to buy my first new car, I picked my favorite from the game and called my local dealers. Took a test drive, and am fairly sure I at least made the dealer's hair stand on

  • THUG (Score:2, Interesting)

    by wileycat ( 690131 )
    I'm suprised no one has mentioned the new Tony Hawk Underground game. This game has the most advertising I've ever seen, anywhere. All the skate companies are represented, element, Adio, and Billabong to name a few. Nokia billboards are relatively pervasive on the Tampa course as are complete McDonalds restaruants in Manhattan. The great thing though is that the skate companies are used as potential sponsors for your character so their impact is part of the depth of the game. The Nokia and McDonalds ar
    • I swear, I must be the most unobservantant schlub in the universe: I never noticed any Nokia stuff or McDonalds stuff in THUG either. In fact, the only marketing I noticed were all the lame product logos you can put on your shirt. I must be an advertiser's nightmare.
  • Doesn't anyone remember this game for SNES? ( maybe NES not sure ). The whole game was built around a character for a pizza company. Or what about the 7 up dots game. I mean it doesn't get any worse then that.

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