آیا شخصیت های منفی در نمایش صابونی برای جایگذاری محصول مثبت هستند؟  Can negative characters in soap operas be positive for product placement?

1. Introduction Product placement – also known as brand placement, brand integration or in-program sponsoring (Marchand et al., 2015) – is a communication technique characterized by the subtle integration of brands, products or concepts within audio visual content as paid messages (Balasubramanian, 1994; Karrh, 1998). It has emerged as a viable alternative to traditional advertising (Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2001) and is an increasingly important tool in the communication strategy of brands (Karniouchina et al., 2011; Wiles & Danielova, 2009). A reason for the growth of product placement is the skepticism about traditional television advertising (Fransen et al., 2015; Paço & Reis, 2012). Audiences are more likely to counter-argue in response to advertising than to product placement as they perceive the explicit persuasive intention of advertising (Balasubramanian et al., 2014). Therefore, informed consumers look at advertising as a partial and less credible source of information and tend to resist strong advertising pressure (Ries & Ries, 2002). Additionally, marketers express concern about advertising clutter, the proliferation of television channels, and the availability of zapping mechanisms to avoid advertising viewing (Kotler, 2005; Uribe, 2016). For these reasons, investment in product placement has steadily increased and the subject has received greater attention from the academic community (van Reijmersdal et al., 2009). This interest is likely to continue as product placement is currently considered a hot topic in the field of communication research (Taylor, 2013). Product placement is also beneficial from the point of view of audiovisual production because the inclusion of brands adds realism to fictional action, helps identify the time period in which the action takes place, and contributes to defining the character’s role (Balasubramanian et al., 2006). It also shows the viewers something (e.g. brands) that they use in their daily lives (DeLorme & Reid, 1999) thereby enhancing viewer involvement with the program (Balasubramanian et al., 2014). Finally, the interaction between characters and brands in fictional television programs or movies provides the audience with clues about the character’s personality and lifestyle (Russell & Stern, 2006). The relationship between brands and characters is seen in a range of television programs. The regularity, duration and narrative features of soap operas make them particularly suitable for creating this connection between character and viewer; the story and characters are designed to appeal to viewers’ fantasies about an exciting life full of emotions so as to boost the link with the viewer. This link benefits from the soap opera structure as it encompasses an array of plots with intertwining stories (Stern et al., 2007) and the viewer experiences a strong emotional release, personal gratuity, companionship, and escape from reality (Stern et al., 2005). Similarly, viewers discover the characters’ interrelationships (La Pastina, 2001) and develop strong and lasting bonds with their favorite characters (Stern et al., 2007).