Product Placement in Fiction: Sell out, or Buy-in?

by Ashley Holloway

Photo by Nik on Unsplash

Product placement in television and movies is an advertising tool that has been used for as long as both have been made; by the 2010s, James Bond movies had an average of 30 product placements per movie. Impressive. The societal shift from cable television to streaming services, where 20% of your airtime is traditionally not taken up by ads, has forced advertising companies and marketing divisions to become more creative. And they have succeeded. As of January 2024, Amazon’s Prime began inserting commercial breaks into their streaming services. Of course, you are welcome to opt out. For an additional $2.99 (CAD). Books have traditionally been somewhat sacrosanct in that they have largely escaped the inundation of ads. Yet, much to many a bibliophile’s dismay, this trend of product placement has succeeded in infiltrating the literary world as of late, particularly within the realm of commercial fiction.

It would be easy to condemn the author and publisher for selling their souls to the proverbial Devil for this contemptible and mutinous act which, some may say, only serves to defile the sanctity of the literary world. Setting strong feelings aside, perhaps this promotional technique is actually a bit of a nod to the authority of the written word, to the power of influence the literary world has on Western society

instead of being something slightly treasonous. Or how product placement could actually be an effective editorial tool for character development, serving to create a perfect image of who the character is in the mind’s eye of the reader. Volvo driver. See? Or “the red of her Louboutin’s punctuated every step as she stormed out of the room, Chanel N° 5 lingering in her absence…” You know exactly what I mean here.

Infusing branded content into your storyline can help create a sense of time and space for the reader, allowing the author to relate to the reader in a different way. Likewise, there is a distinct difference between using product placement to help the reader visualize a character and trying to sell them a lifestyle. And, if you think about it, product placement is already part of our daily lives, and generally in a very overt way; weaving it into a storyline isn’t therefore a huge stretch. It is important to remember that the reader cannot skip through the commercials like they can when watching TV, so this needs to be done in such a way that the reader isn’t being beaten over the head with it (case in point: Faye Weldon’s The Bulgari Connection). Further, know your audience as well; reading fiction is an intentional act where the author has chosen this medium to tell the story, and the reader accepts the work is fiction. As such, including branded content in your work should be subtle and contextual. Perhaps your character uses or refers to the product as part of the plot (“the red Mixmaster sat on the countertop, unused and gathering dust…”). The key is to avoid distracting the reader.

I am in the final pages of reading Benjamin Stevenson’s Everyone on This Trains is a Suspect and he provides a very good closing thought to this with the quote, “It’s not the writing that tells the story, it’s the reading.” Whether you choose to add branded products in your work or not, an author develops a relationship with the reader through their story; maintaining their trust is essential. Remember, quality never goes out of style™.

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Self-proclaimed logophile and devourer of books, Ashley Holloway teaches writing classes and healthcare leadership in Calgary, AB. She writes in a variety of genres with work appearing across Canada and the US and has co-authored three books (with Jen Knox!). Ashley serves as Editorial Director for Unleash Creatives and her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.