Should We Hold It Against Her?

As I previously mentioned in this blog, Britney Spear’s new music video for her single “Hold It Against Me” was being hyped weeks before it even premiered. However, after its debut on MTV this past Thursday, the discussion surrounding the video has not focused on Britney’s unusually toned post-baby bod, her fighting scene with a look-alike, or even the music itself; what people can’t stop talking about is the major amount of product placement throughout the video.

This is undoubtedly one of the most obvious product-placement jobs in the history of ever. Throughout the four and a half minute video, close-up shots are taken that feature the Make Up Forever brand of eye shadow, Spears’ own Radiance fragrance, the online dating site Plenty of Fish, and, most notably, numerous Sony Products (not surprising considering that Spears is signed to Sony Music). While movies often use product placement, the relative brevity of the music video makes the form of advertising more than a little conspicuous. Apparently, though, it worked. Even though I personally was turned off by the whole thing and can’t imagine how this is an effective form of advertising, other fans do not feel the same way. The website Plenty of Fish reportedly saw a 20% increase in user traffic just a day after the premiere. In addition, the other companies have been benefitting quite nicely from their association with the songstress. 

Ok, so the insane product placements served their intended purpose and helped their respective companies, but what about the pop princess? Did she benefit from this? Well, Spears reportedly earned upwards of $500,000 for including the products in her new video (not that she really needs it, but I guess that does buy quite a few pairs of Uggs and cans of Red Bull). Musically-speaking though, doesn’t she lose a little street cred for allowing corporations to completely dominate what should otherwise be an artistic work? Being a fan myself, I was surprised at how obvious and completely unrelated to the song the ads were. However, I was not surprised in a disappointed kind of way. Sadly, in this day and age, artists truly are commodities that can be used for the sole purpose of promoting products, whether those be their own or someone else’s. I guess you really can’t blame Britney for just jumping on the bandwagon. I have a feeling that we will be seeing a lot more of this type of obvious advertising in the future. Gone are the days of bands like the Beatles smiling for the camera while actually singing (shock!) their song as their music video.

The moral of the story? Product placement, even of the most blatant variety, works. Oh, and I’ll always love Britney Spears.