Magazine advertising is diminishing as more consumers get information from digital sources, while television product placement is growing. A magazine called Tactical Life had about 23% of its pages as advertisements targeted towards its niche audience of gun/outdoor enthusiasts. An episode of the TV show Grey's Anatomy featured frequent product placements of Microsoft tablets and iPhones used by the medical staff. While viewers may not consciously notice placements, it can increase brand recognition and impact future purchasing. Advertising methods have evolved with technology, moving from obvious magazine ads to more subtle placements on TV.

1. Molly Cowan, Emilie Sward, Safa Owaishir & Lee Ann Wesley
Dr. Jim Walker
Principles of Marketing
16 March 2021
Unit 2 Assignment - Diminishing & Growing Forms of Promotion
Introduction
Through magazines and television, advertising has evolved over time. Consumers are
now more exposed to brands and products through these promotions. Because technology
continues to grow, magazines fall behind television in their different attempts to gain viewers
and profit. Using the Selective Perception Process and Information Processing Model, we
examined magazine advertisement and television product placement.
Current State of Magazine
Magazine advertising is a great way to advertise to readers about a specific topic or
lifestyle. Advertising in a magazine provides readers with product or service recommendations
that are likely to be pretty relevant to them. This is because firms will place their ads in
magazines that are strongly related to what the magazine is about, so readers will most likely be
interested in the product and/or service since that is related to the magazine they are reading.
Also, since there are magazines for even the most specific of topics, it provides the opportunity
for firms with very specific products to advertise to their niche market.
In recent years, people might think that magazine advertising is becoming obsolete, but
that is not true. Consumers still read magazines frequently and trust the advertisements in them
more than in other mediums (Edelshain). Readers also rely more on magazines to learn about
new products and trying new things. From this same data, it is found that healthcare

2. advertisements work especially well in magazines. With the current use of digital media, online
versions of magazines are very popular and consumers take action after seeing advertisements
there about the same as when they view them in print magazines. Despite huge growth in digital
media, print media like magazines are still very important and a good use of advertising dollars.
Product Placement Advertising
As we learned in class and our textbook, product placement is a great way for firms to
spread their message without the directness of traditional advertising. Their product or service is
placed or embedded into another media type, usually television or movies. As one can imagine, it
is not cheap to place products in these movies or television shows, but the payout can be huge.
For example, Hershey’s, who makes Reese’s Pieces, saw a 65% increase in profits during the
time E.T. was running (Accion). Another substantial example of this product placement is in the
James Bond movie franchise. In 2008, MGM earned over $100 million from product placement
in Quantum of Solace. These placements included Heineken, which is shown being drunk by
Bond and is part of a 15-year deal (Priceonomics).
Another aspect of product placement is the attention of the viewer. With ads nowadays
almost always being skippable, viewers will have no choice but to see product placements since
they are embedded in the television show or movie. This also means product placements are
more cost efficient. Another interesting fact about product placement is that a character in a
television show or movie talking about a firm’s product or service counts. Consumers also
exhibit stronger recall and higher awareness of brands through product placement, with 31.2% of
viewers showing interest in the products they saw placed, and brand recognition is also increased
after using product placement (Accion).
Magazine Advertising

3. The magazine that we examined for this assignment was Tactical Life, a gun/outdoor
magazine that offers advice and recommendations for people interested in guns. The total page
count was 128, with about 30 pages of ads once the back cover advertisement was counted. This
means that the total ad space was around 23%. Compared to more mainstream magazines, this
magazine had a fairly low ad percentage. This is most likely because Tactical Life targets a
narrow, niche market; therefore ads must be focused or related to guns or other weapons, which
only provides advertising opportunities to brands that produce those products.
Television Product Placement
As consumers of television programs, it is easy to miss well-integrated product
placements. Well-integrated placements seem like a natural part of what we’re watching because
they reflect reality. We then become unaware of how it “reflects the exchange of goods and
services” between both the advertiser and the producer of the television show or the movie, and
the potential consumer of the product advertised (Okkay). For the prime-time television show we
looked at an episode of Grey’s Anatomy that first aired April 9th, 2020. A product that has been
getting a lot of screen time on the last few seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, this episode included, is
the Microsoft tablets they use for their patient journals. When we are introduced to a new patient,
or receive updates on a current patient, the tablet gets screen time. The frame is always cut so the
viewer can clearly see the Microsoft logo on the back. For the first 30 minutes of this episode,
we counted the tablets 6 times, averaging screen time at every 5 minutes.
Another product placement seen in this specific episode was the use of iPhones by both
doctors and patients, averaging screen time every 5 minutes for the first 30 minutes of the
episode. A continuous viewer of Grey’s Anatomy could also find that characters in the show

4. usually drive Lexus vehicles. These smaller product placements are another way for viewers to
gain brand recognition.
In Grey’s Anatomy, product placement is viewed in a positive way, because we see
likable and respected professionals using the tablets. Product placement is not always viewed
positively. In “Attitudes Towards Ethical Problems in Product Placement in Mass
Communication Tools,” İpek Okkay shares that “As a result, while there are generally positive
attitudes towards product placement, unethical products such as alcohol, cigarettes and weapons
are perceived as less acceptable than others.” Viewers may not always share the same views
depending on the product placement in television. Someone may question why the doctors in
Grey’s Anatomy do not use Apple iPads, instead of the Microsoft tablet. For someone wanting to
purchase a new tablet, they can use brand recognition to further their purchase process. Someone
who loves or watches Grey’s Anatomy may be more inclined to recognize and purchase a
Microsoft tablet. Others who have not seen or do not like Grey’s Anatomy, may be less inclined
to recognize and purchase a Microsoft tablet. Views of product placements in television are seen
differently to all people depending on the exposure and brand recognition.
Selective Perception Process & Information Processing Model
The Selective Perception Process is when a person perceives what they want to in the
media messages while ignoring opposing viewpoints. In the magazine, Tactical Life, the ads
were aimed directly at the readers. Someone glancing at the magazine in a doctor's office may
not understand how those ads connect to the product, like someone who is subscribed to the
magazine. For the Grey’s Anatomy episode viewed, a viewer may not notice or observe that the
medical staff on the show consistently uses a Microsoft tablet. But as a marketer, you notice and
observe that Microsoft has created a deal for their product to be seen on this popular television

5. show. The Information Processing Model is when marketers want to know how consumers
respond to their messages. Marketers could be able to know how consumers respond to their
product based on the release date of the magazine or television show. Depending on when a
consumer sees the ad, that affects when they purchase or research the product. This could help
guide marketers to know how consumers respond to their ads.
Diminishing & Growing
The magazine advertisement industry is facing a struggle with the declining and the
diminishing of ads throughout the year due the competition of digital advertisement, such as the
internet. People have been exposing and using less magazine advertisements as their primary
information source. Instead, they choose to receive those advertisements information through
electronic devices rather than buying hard copies of magazines to view ads. However, the
timeframe of planning and preparing magazine advertisements require marketers to work in
advance to place their ad on the magazine, which makes it a challenge for consumers to view
those directly and easily. (Hunt, C., Mello, J., & Deitz, G.)
On the other hand, the television advertisement industry is growing and increasing with
the amount of commercials that is shown on television. It can develop entertaining and emotional
appealing messages, with the ability to combine sight, sound, and motions to grab the consumer's
attention. Television advertisements have the advantage of demonstrating products in use by
giving the consumer a better perception and understanding of what the product is like, how to
use it, and what the product means in their daily lives. The increase of television channels and
shows gives marketers the opportunity to target specific audiences through narrowcasting. For
example, in Grey’s Anatomy their frequent use of Microsoft tablets is a promotional tool
targeting young adult viewers of the show. (Hunt, C., Mello, J., & Deitz, G.)

6. Conclusion
Consumers are increasingly exposed to product placements when watching television,
while technology is making it difficult for advertisements in magazines to stay relevant and
profitable, even if they are still considered trustable. With product placement, we see that
viewers aren’t always aware of the exposure of specific products, but this can still increase their
brand recognition and have an impact on an eventual purchase process in the future. We see how
advertising has evolved due to technology, moving away from the obvious advertisement in
magazines to a more discreet product placement on television shows.

7. Resources
Accion, “Product Placement: Why It Matters and How to Get It.”
https://us.accion.org/resource/product-placement-why-it-matters-and-how-get-it
Hunt, C., Mello, J., & Deitz, G. (2018). Chapter 8: Print Advertisement. In Marketing. New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Hunt, C., Mello, J., & Deitz, G. (2018). Chapter 8: Television Advertisement. In Marketing. New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Okkay, İpek. “Attitudes Towards Ethical Problems in Product Placement in Mass
Communication Tools.” Journal of International Social research, vol. 14, no. 76,
February 2021, p. 657-665
https://ezproxy.nwmissouri.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=
true&db=hlh&AN=148909085&site=eds-live&scope=site
Priceonomics, “The Economics of Product Placement.” https://priceonomics.com/the-
economics-of-product-placements
Wainscot Media Blog, “Is magazine advertising still worth it?” Wainscot,
http://wainscotmedia.com/blog/is-magazine-advertising-still-worth-it