Product Placement

The video for Lady Gaga's latest song, 'Telephone', featuring Beyonce, has only recently (March 11 2010) been posted on YouTube, but has already been viewed over 8.5 million times, attracting over 52,000 comments.

Co-starring Beyonce and directed by Jonas Akerlund, the video itself features a lot of violence, near nudity, sexual tension, mass murder, and a lesbian kiss. There is also a reference to the seemingly ongoing controversy over Gaga's sexuality. Keep an eye out for an appearance in the video by Gaga's sister, Natali Germanotta, and you might just make out the roadside diner from the NCIS TV show.





Along with all the somewhat controversial content, the video features some very obvious product placement, or what must be paid for brand integration. Click the images to the right for examples.

Set in a tough all female prison, the video runs for an extremely long ten minutes. It strikes me as being a little reminiscent of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' feature video, and even includes a few similar dance moves.

Of course, with the title of the song/video, 'Telephone', once would expect to actually see a telephone - and we do - courtesy of Virgin Mobile.

And it's not just a momentary glance at a phone either - it's a close-up of a Virgin Mobile phone (or cell phone), followed by a much closer close-up of the screen - clearly showing the Virgin brand.

Later on in the video, we look over the shoulder of one of the prison guards who is viewing a dating website on her computer - which could have been anything, or simply a fictional "hook-up" site. But instead, we see plentyoffish.com.

"Fish" is a term commonly used to describe inmates new to the prison environment, so the name is apt - but still, quite clearly a good example of product placement.

In a video which has been viewed over 8.5 million times in about two days, I wonder how much Virgin, plentyoffish.com, and the other 7 or so products or brands featured in the video paid for their spots.

Further reading:

Brand Integration | Advocacy Advertising

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