Is Product Placement Getting in Your Face?

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When a cool character cracks open a can of a well-known branded drink on screen, do you barely notice or roll your eyes? Whatever your reaction, their choices may well be influencing yours. Food is a powerful narrative device in film and product placement is highly lucrative. Put the two together and show business becomes big business for the food industry. Emily Thomas finds out how the product placement of food in film has changed over time and where it’s headed, as new technology makes it ever easier for audiences to avoid traditional forms of advertising. She meets industry insiders from Hollywood in the US, Bollywood in India, and Nollywood in Nigeria, to explore how food product placement changes across the globe, and asks how it can enhance and detract from the authenticity of film. What comes first, the brand or the integrity of the script? What happens when they clash? And how much money is at stake? Plus, we ask how the prolific use of product placement in Hollywood changed global perceptions of American food; how it affects our diet choices and... do baddies ever get to eat brands? (Photo: Cinema screen shows superhero character eating burger. Credit: BBC)