March 2nd, 2011
Is it Hip for Stars to Sell Out?
Montreal Gazette
If you’ve seen Britney Spears’s latest music video, you know there are NASCAR events with less sponsorship.
Featuring gratuitous images of an Internet dating site, a cosmetics line, an electronics brand and the singer’s own perfume, Hold It Against Me is the latest in a growing line of videos in which “selling out” is no longer taboo, but the modus operandi.
Though final numbers aren’t yet in, econometrics firm PQ Media estimates that product placement in music videos in the U.S. alone was worth as much as $35 million in 2010 - roughly triple its value just six or seven years ago, and about $15 million more than in 2009.
Equally striking is the blatant nature of these nods, with organic integration giving way to clunky, unapologetic product shots that have little or no compatibility with storyline.
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/stars+sell/4353004/story.html