Product Placement in Brazilian Prime Time Television: The Case of the Reception of a Telenovela

Abstract

Brazilian telenovelas-popular prime-time serial melodramas-have traditionally used product placement to help finance production costs. In the last decade, this strategy has become a central force influencing narrative choices. This paper discusses product placement in Brazilian telenovelas through an in-depth analysis of a recent show, The Cattle King. Ethnographic data on its reception focuses on the role of gender, geographic location, and cultural capital in viewers' interpretations of textual inser- tions.Product placements are commercial insertions within a particular media program intended to heighten the visibility of a brand, type of product, or service. These insertions are not intended to break away from the narrative but to be an integral part of the text, attempting to create an organic relationship between the advertised product and the narrative, encouraging viewers to "read" the product as a quality of the characters using and approving it. This practice, widespread in the Hollywood film and television industries (see Fuller, 1997; Wasko, 1994, for a discussion of the phenomena in the U.S.), has been part of Brazilian television commercial strategy since the late 1960s, when telenovelashighly popular, prime-time, serial fictionbecame the main staple in the country's media environment.In this paper, I argue that the commercial nature of telenovela texts requires a certain exposure to and awareness of capitalistic culture if viewers are to engage in product placement readings that are favorable to producers and marketers of telenovelas. These texts are bounded by commercial breaks that target a particular segment of the viewing population, depending on the time, channel, and nature of Antonio C. La Pastina for their invaluable suggestions, Dale A. Rice for his expert editing, and the anonymous reviewers from JOBEM for their sage editorial comments.

Telenovela reception in rural Brazil: gendered readings and sexual mores

“…Men watching the telenovela preferred to talk about issues that interested them; in the case of The Cattle King it was land reform and the rural lifestyle (La Pastina, 1999). Even if the text were perceived as feminine, males used the rural lifestyle and the political narrative to think about their lives in relation to the urban, modern south (La Pastina, 2001). Their interest in these elements of the narrative seemed to indicate that perceived gender norms and patriarchal values did in fact hinder male viewers' engagement with the more traditional melodramatic elements of class ascension, love, and betrayal.…”

“…Tufte also cites the example of a mulatta woman who recalled from her repertoire of telenovela memories the discrimination suffered by the character of a black architect in the telenovela Corpo a Corpo ("Body to body") aired in 1984-1985 to explain her views on the problem of discrimination in the telenovela they were discussing. These examples seem to indicate that telenovelas can provide interpretive frames that allow viewers to construct meaning in the interface between the available textual material, viewers' cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1984), and the contextual elements in the viewing environment (La Pastina, 1999Pastina, , 2001. Martín-Barbero (1987 proposes that instead of studying the relation between viewers and texts from "the logic of production and reception … we [should] start with the mediations where the social materialization and the cultural expression of television are delimited and configured" (p. 215).…”

Brand placements Bollywood style

“…In addition, researchers could probe consumers' interpretations of local versus international brand placements to detect any potential country-of-origin bias (DeLorme and Reid, 1999;Gould et al, 2000). Indeed, in an ethnography of Brazilians' interpretations of brands in telenovas, non-Brazilian products were most often considered to be propaganda, whereas domestic brands were not (LaPastina, 2001).…”

Telenovelas: Consumption and Dissemination of a Brazilian Fashion

“…This essay aims to fill a gap in the field (Almeida 2003;Hamburguer 1998;La Pastina 2001), detailing how this phenomenon occurred between the 1970s and the early 2000s, a time when color television became established in Brazil and the telenovelas reached their highest audience ratings. To make this point, our essay analyzes the range of fashions in the three telenovelas: Dancin' Days (1978), Roque Santeiro (1985) and O Clone (2001.…”