Nothing definitive about whether or not Patricia Cornwell gets paid for
product
placement, but...
My original post:
Delurking here to ask for a friend:
A friend wrote me and said she felt as though PC was including the
specific name of a very expensive hotel chain in her writing. She felt
as though she was being sold something so she stopped reading the book.
As she started another one this weekend she again was assailed by
names of designer retail (Ralph Lauren, Hummer, etc) and once again
felt like she was being sold something. The question is, does PC (or
other authors, for that matter) sell space in her novels for
advertising?
You know, like when you see a Coke in a movie you know
Coca Cola paid to have it there?
Any ideas?
Anne Berkey
******************************************************************
I'm not sure about Patricia Cornwell but there was a big scandal a few
years ago when the author Fay Weldon was commissioned by the jeweler
Bulgari to write a book called, I believe, The Bulgari Affair. There
were articles about it in Publishers Weekly and Library Journal about
it. Also, there was a similar discussion not too long ago on this list
about how the series Gossip Girls promoted many products. Hope this
helps.
Nicole Sette
******************************************************************
I just Googled for product placement and novels and sure enough it is
happening. Here is one link:
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BC7B959C1-C8AC
-4C0F-AAFA-F38FDD66CEE6%7D&siteid=google&dist=
I am too busy to read new pop fiction right now, but that sounds very
cheezy to me and I would be moved to write an author and complain. Ick.
Maybe the readers are familiar with your signature quotation and are
trying to live up/down to it! hahahahaha, mabell
Dr. Mary Ann Bell
Associate Professor, Library Science
Sam Houston State University
Huntsville, TX
******************************************************************
There was a fairly well-reported case a few years ago of a writer
being paid to base her story on Bulgari jewelry:
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/04/25/074744.php
Here's another example:
http://bookblog.libraryjournal.com/blog/2007/02/21/this-novel-is-
brought-to-you-by-our-sponsor/
A number of authors have had auctions (sometimes for charity) in which
people pay to have a character in the author's next book named after
them.
I wouldn't find it surprising if Cornwell is profiting from mentioning
a specific hotel in her books.
Cammie Backus
******************************************************************
The term is "product placement."
If you go to Google and type in "product placement" books ... you'll
get just under 900,000 hits.
Graze through, and you'll see that it is a growing trend. Enough so,
that books are being written about product placement in books!
The Borg is out to get us!
Lizz
******************************************************************
I see the branding and name dropping in the Jackie Collins and other
escapist books. I'm not sure it has anything to do with getting
kickbacks
but is to get women to identify with the character's shopping habits.
I remember reading an article with an interview with Danielle Steele.
She spoke about how she never researched her books or necessarily
visited the locales. Rather she gave that job to her college roommate
who traveled the world at Danielle's expense. Danielle would give her a
list and she had to
supply the names of specific streets, hotels, restaurants, stores, etc.
for books to be written.
Jo
Josephine Dervan, Library Media Specialist
Strathmore School
Aberdeen, NJ
******************************************************************
I've only read one of hers but did notice that (mentioning of names).
Other authors do it, too, and I don't care for it , not sure why, but I
think it dates the story and keeps it from being timeless - cheapening
it in some way.
I know I'm not answering your question - but glad to see others have
noticed this.
Gail Magnolia, AR
******************************************************************
Hmmmm....good question since we all know TV shows and movies do
it...........I love your new verb----delurking.....I have read where
some authors will take donations for charity and name a character after
them....http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/22/
MNG2GERU4B1.DTL
******************************************************************
Yes, like when John Travolta smokes a Lucky Strike; in a flick I think
it's called product plaement & they do get pd. for it. I'm unfamiliar
with PC as I'm not a great fiction fan, but as for other authors, I
can't think of an example like that in all the reading I've ever done.
I'd think that ethical/successful authors would shun that like the
plague in order to avoid readers slamming the book shut, like your
friend.
Larry "Library" Retzack,
BA, MM, MA, Ph.D. candidate,
Librarian-Media Teacher,
Colton (CA) High School,
777 W Valley BLVD,
Colton CA 92324-2251.
******************************************************************
I cannot say, for sure, if Cornwell is being paid for product
placement or not. But, it could be a simple case of an author using
products and the knowledge we have about certain models of cars,
clothes, to paint a picture in the readers' minds of what type of
backgraound/class that character has.
For example, if I said:
Susan got out of her hot, beat-up Ford, deciding to leave the windows
open. After all, it's not like any self-respecting thief would bother
with something that looked like her car. She headed into Wal-Mart to
begin browing the clearance racks for a new skirt to wear to her
interview the next day.
Or
Susan got out of her Lexus, deciding to leave the top down.. After
all, the brightly uniformed doormen of the exclusive Rodeo Drive shops
knew her well and would never let anyone touch it. She hopped into
Louis Vuitton shop, intent upon coming out with the newest bag to
impress her sisters with at their mother's funeral the next day.
Big difference, huh?
We already know the two Susans' income level, and something about
their characters.
Dawn Sardes
Teen Services Librarian
Euclid Public Library
Euclid, OH
*****************************************************************
I haven't heard of ads being sold in novels, but as a creative writer
myself, I think that authors tend to write from their own perspective,
and to add verisimilitude, they put in details of what they like,
including brand names. For example, even in the old Ian Flemming
novels about James Bond, it was clear that he preferred women's
fingernails to be "short and unvanished," or at least varnished with
clear nail polish. This was mentioned in so many of the novels I had
to smile. It was, unfortunately, not a preference that made it to the
movies. In the very popular Myron Bolitar novels, the main character
has a marked preference for YooHoo cola. I think these touches make the
novels and the characters seem more real. I would miss them if they
were left out of a novel, and I don't think they make me want to use
the product at all. It is not as subliminal or as subversive as the
product placement in a movie.
Linda Lucke
Learning Center Director
Butterfield School
1441 W. Lake Street
Libertyville, IL 60048
******************************************************************
Don't know, but as a writer, I can see that you might need the
immediate mental picture the word Hummer or Rolex or The Ritz brings to
mind...
I hope she isn't. Don't we get hit with enough commercials already??
Betty Winslow, Media Center Director
BGCA
Bowling Green, OH
******************************************************************
~a~
Anne Berkey
Media Specialist
Gamble Rogers Middle School
St. Augustine, Florida
anneb@aug.com
"If I can't be a good example then I'll
just have to be a horrible warning."
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