Avoiding the Tipping Point: A Congruency-Relationship Framework for Product Placement
Open Access
Author:
Gross, Kathryn Emily
Area of Honors:
Marketing
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Jennifer Chang Coupland, Thesis Supervisor Jennifer Chang Coupland, Thesis Honors Advisor Lisa Elizabeth Bolton, Faculty Reader
Keywords:
product placement consumer brand-relationships congruency television movies consumer behavior
Abstract:
Product placement is a form of advertising that involves placing a product or brand into some form of entertainment such as a television show, a movie, or a video game in exchange for monetary incentive. Mere exposure to the brand or product can cause a positive effect on memory and subsequently brand attitude. However, research also proves that perceptions of interruption and intrusion can surface, potentially resulting in negative brand attitudes. We discuss product placement in terms of the persuasion knowledge model and how consumers process persuasion information. Research reveals two pathways that consumers process product placement depending on prominence and exposure: implicit and explicit processing. If the consumer is explicitly aware of the placement and becomes overwhelmed, they have reached the tipping point of product placement, at which a negative brand attitude begins to ensue. In this thesis, we propose a relationship and congruency-based framework that offers insight into how marketers can execute placements that will be explicitly processed while avoiding the tipping point. This framework underlies the importance of relationships and congruency in consumer-entertainment and entertainment-brand connections in terms of enhancing the most important relationship, the consumer-brand relationship.
