Brad Pitt’s F1 Movie: A Billboard on Wheels

Watching the new F1 movie with Brad Pitt, I was trying to keep a mental count of the number of brands whose products were prominently placed in the movie. Sure enough, I lost count 15 minutes in. From sleek Apple products to the numerous brand patches on the main characters’ uniforms, the movie was chock full of product placement. Even the movie’s name — F1 — is an advertisement for the racing league it portrays (imagine a movie titled NHL).

This did not necessarily detract from the experience. It was a wonderful, fun film that attempted to portray the world of F1 in a realistic fashion. Real drivers in the F1 Grand Prix are walking billboards for brands — team names are simply names of companies. The inclusion of real brands in the film enhanced the realism because it accurately reflected the prevalence of sponsorship in the F1 circuit.

Watching the film, I began to think about the prevalence of product placement in video games.

Product Placement in Racing Games: A Natural Fit

Walking through this thought exercise, the first thing to pop into my mind was racing games. Games like Forza and Gran Turismo prominently feature real cars from real car manufacturers. These games are bona fide car commercials for the biggest auto manufacturers. However, the strength of these games comes from the fact that players get to “drive” real vehicles. These games advertise themselves as racing simulators. To be an accurate simulation, there needs to be real vehicles. I don’t think these games would be as fun if players were stuck driving “Pissain BTRs” and “Jamborghini Tourcans.” These games serve as wish fulfillment for anyone who has ever wanted to see what it feels like to get behind the wheel of a $500,000 sports car. Racing games, or “simulators,” foster a symbiotic relationship between the developer, the player, and the advertiser.

Firearms in First-Person Shooters: Real Brands, Real Impressions

In a comparable manner, some FPS games foster a similar relationship. Games like Call of Duty and Battlefield prominently feature real guns — or close variations of real guns — from real manufacturers. Call of Duty infamously featured the “ACR” in Modern Warfare 2 after reaching a licensing deal with Remington Arms. While the weapon was well received in-game, it did not lead to increased sales due to issues with the weapon in real life.

However, the use of these weapons in video games has left an impression on most gamers under the age of 30. I can count on one hand the number of times I have shot a gun in real life. But I could identify a long list of weapons from photographs and tell you all about their handling and firing characteristics simply because I’ve grown up playing FPS games. While including real weapons in these games does enhance the realism, I’m not sure it’s as necessary as including real vehicles in racing games. I don’t yearn to fire a real ACR, yet, through its inclusion in Call of Duty, I am extremely familiar with the weapon. The product placement has worked.

Sports Games as Simulated Advertisements

Madden, NHL, and NBA 2K are all officially licensed versions of their real-life counterparts. I grew up loving these games, but they are bona fide advertisements for the leagues that license them. Like the racing games, a football game featuring fake players would not be as effective. Part of the fun of these games is playing as your favorite team with your favorite player. These games work because they are simulations of the real-life thing. Again, wish fulfillment.

Traditional Product Placement in Games

The examples above all feature product placement that is integral to the game. The products being advertised are essential elements of the gameplay. However, other games take the more traditional route, advertising products in-game that are ancillary to the gameplay. Sometimes this takes the form of cosmetics. Returning to NBA 2K (which is one of the absolute worst offenders), players can purchase real Nike clothing or Jordan Brand shoes. The irony here is that players can spend real-world money to own virtual versions of cosmetics they could purchase in real life.

Other games, like Death Stranding, prominently feature a product in the same way a movie would feature a product. In Death Stranding, players see a can of Monster Energy in their room, which they can opt to drink in-game. This type of product placement feels a bit more jarring. Since this type of product placement is ancillary to the core gameplay, it feels more forced — or, to phrase it differently, greedy. Done wrong, it can completely remove the player from the experience, rather than enhancing it.

When Product Placement Doesn’t Fit

And of course, there are games that simply do not feature product placement. I’d like to think this refusal to include real-world products is due to developer integrity. However, I wonder if it is simply because product placement is not feasible in certain games. For example, I don’t think it would be possible to include real-world products in a game like Elden Ringor God of War. These games feature deeply immersive, fictional worlds completely removed from reality. Finding a can of Monster Energy in Limgrave would be jarring. Modern products do not have a place in these worlds.

Why Branding May Not Work for Advertisers

On the side of the advertisers, there is some risk to putting your brand in a game. Unlike a movie where the product placement can be scripted and controlled, video games feature player autonomy. I doubt car developers would license their vehicles to a Grand Theft Auto game only to have players commit atrocities behind the wheel of their vehicles. When a brand places its product in a game, they lose control over how that product will be used by the player. Advertisers must be wary about the dangers of cutting their products loose in a virtual world where unintended player interactions are common. Gamers do not have the best track record of being respectful, so choosing the right game to advertise in is important.

Product placement can enhance a game when the product is crucial to the gameplay. Product placement can also be a jarring world-breaker and a reminder of the late-stage capitalist society we live in. It really depends.