See

discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247495850

Brand Placements in Korean Films, 1995–2003:

A Content Analysis

Article in Journal of International Consumer Marketing · September 2008

DOI: 10.1080/08961530802129227

CITATIONS READS

12 36

3 authors, including:

Federico de Gregorio
University of Akron
12 PUBLICATIONS 224 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Federico de Gregorio on 23 August 2016.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Brand Placements in Korean Films, 1995–2003:
A Content Analysis
Yongjun Sung
Jongsuk Choi
Federico de Gregorio

ABSTRACT. A content analysis was conducted of the top 10 most popular Korean films of each year
between 1995 and 2003. The study examines to what extent and in what context brands have been placed
in Korean films over the nine-year period. Results indicate that brands are prevalent and occurrences
have increased over time. Comedy and action were the most popular genres for placement. In terms of
product/service categories, non-alcoholic beverage, alcoholic beverage, automobile, clothing, and food
brands appeared most often, and Coca Cola was the most frequently occurring brand. Marketing and
public policy implications and future research directions are provided.

KEYWORDS. Product placement, brands, content analaysis, Korea

Ever since the deliberate placement of a
box of Lever’s Sunlight Soap in several films
of the late 1890s (Segrave, 2004), films have
proven to be an exceedingly popular medium
for the insertion of brands because they are
compelling media for capturing and holding
audiences’ attentions as well as engendering
positive affective reactions. PQ Media estimates
that the 2006 worldwide spending on film-based
product placements totaled $885.1 million, with
the U.S. comprising the majority of that amount
(PQ Media 2007). Brand messages which appear
in the context of a film have been found to
effectively influence audience awareness and
have a positive impact on consumer preferences
and intentions to buy (e.g., d’Astous and Chartier
2000; Morton and Friedman, 2002).
Since the appearance of the first published
study by Nebenzahl and Secunda in 1992, there
has been a burgeoning amount of research
investigating brand placements within media
programming. However, thus far the vast ma-
jority of the research has been confined to U.S.
samples and content (for notable exceptions
see Gould, Gupta and Grabner-Kräuter, 2000;
Karrh, Frith and Callison, 2001; McKechnie and
Zhou, 2003). Although brand placement has its
roots in the U.S. and is commonly considered
to be an American phenomenon, as a result
of the concomitant processes of globalization
and Hollywood’s rapid expansion into foreign
markets (Crawford, 2004), the practice may
be spreading to other cultures. However, there
is a particular dearth of empirical knowledge

Yongjun Sung is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Advertising at the University of Texas-Austin,
Austin, TX.
Jongsuk Choi is a doctoral student in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the
University of Georgia, Athens, GA.
Federico de Gregorio is an assistant professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at
the University of Alabama, AL.
Address correspondence to Yongjun Sung, Assistant Professor, Department of Advertising, University of
Texas–Austin, Austin, TX 78712. E-mail: yjsung@mail.utexas.edu
Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Vol. 20(3–4), 2008
Available online at http://jicm.haworthpress.com

C 2008 by The Haworth Press. All rights reserved.
doi: 10.1080/08961530802129227 39
40 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING
regarding the extent of the practice in non-US
markets.
The $940 million South Korean film indus-
try (Korean Film Council, 2006) provides an
excellent site to begin filling in this gap in
knowledge. Thus, the overall objective of the
present study is to examine to what extent
and in what context brands have been placed
in Korean films. To the authors’ knowledge,
there is only one study looking at product
placement in Korean films (Devanathan et al.,
2003). However, their sample and analyses need
to be expanded, as only 10 Korean films were
analyzed. Thus, a more comprehensive investi-
gation of product placement in Korean films is
warranted. To that end, we report the findings
of a content analysis of the top 10 most popular
Korean films in each year between 1995 and
2003.
Conceptual Logic
The conceptual logic of the current research
follows in the footsteps of those few who
have gone before (Devananthan et al., 2003;
Galician and Bourdeau, 2004; Sapolsky and
Kinney, 1994). In order to understand how
brand placement has spread into the Korean
film market (if at all), we investigate three core
areas of focus, with various specific variables for
each. Firstly, to provide a better picture of the
ongoing proliferation of placement, we examine
incidence of the placements themselves. This
involves the basic analysis of number of brands
within the sample films as well as an analysis
over time to chart any long-term changes.
Analysis of incidence also involves an evaluation
of the films in which the brands appear, in
particular relation to genre. The second core area
of analysis focuses on the brands themselves,
specifically the kinds of product categories
represented by those brands. For the final domain
of analysis, the focus is shifted to the portrayal
of the placed brands, including issues of char-
acteristics of the actors/characters associated
with the appearing brands. By providing such
a tripartite focus on extent, portrayal and the
brands themselves, the research seeks to expand
the knowledge of brand placements in non-US
contexts.
Brand Placement Popularity—Advertisers
One of the primary reasons for the recent
popularity of brand placement deals is the cost-
benefit ratio of the practice, particularly in light
of constantly increasing media placement prices
(Wasko, Phillips and Purdie, 1993). With a single
film placement, advertisers’ brands can not only
be seen or heard by consumers at the local
cinema, but reach an even wider audience when
that film later opens in overseas theaters, appears
on video and DVD, and is later broadcast on net-
work television and pay cable channels (Wasko,
Phillips and Purdie, 1993; Crawford 2004).
Another reason brand placement has received
particular attention in recent years is due to audi-
ences increasingly avoiding the advertisements
that comprise a significant portion of media
content. Indeed, there is evidence of significant
rates of such ad avoidance in the U.S. for TV
commercials (Krugman, Cameron and White,
1995), ads included as part of video-recorded
programming (Cronin and Menelly, 1992), radio
commercials (Heeter and Cohen 1988), and
magazine advertisements (Speck and Elliott,
1997). The sole reported study thus far that
has compared Korean and U.S. respondents’ ad
avoidance rates revealed, although lower than
their American counterparts, significant levels
of avoidance on the part of the Korean sample
(Yoon, Muehling and Cho, 1996).
The recent advent and ongoing diffusion in
the U.S. of personal video recording (PVR)
technology, allowing the convenient skipping
of commercials with the press of a button, has
led to even greater concern over advertising
ineffectiveness. Industry reports suggest that
PVR service subscribers skip anywhere from 50
to 90 percent of commercials (e.g., Mandese,
2004). In Korea this avoidance of advertising,
particularly TV commercials, is forecasted to be
a growing problem for marketers. LG Electronic
Co. recently released a product it calls a “time
machine TV” that can digitally record 13 con-
secutive hours of televised content, and provides
similar functions as TIVO, allowing TV viewers
to skip TV commercials (Kim, 2005).
In the face of such concerns, brand placement
is receiving increased interest as a marketing
strategy due to audience captivity. Captivity
refers to the notion that, unlike with other media,
 Sung, Choi and de Gregorio
movie goers have no control over exposure to the
content (i.e., they cannot stop the film or change
channels, and there are no expected commercial
interruptions during which they can engage in
other activities), short of leaving the theater or
deliberately ignoring what is on the screen.
Brand Placement Popularity-Content
Creators
One of the most appealing aspects of brand
placement for those involved in the content-
creation side of media (e.g., film directors)
is financial in nature. Brand placement deals
assist in offsetting continually rising produc-
tion and marketing costs. The average cost of
producing and marketing a Hollywood film in
2005 rose to $96.2 million, with marketing
costs alone accounting for $36.2 million. As
a point of comparison, the average combined
marketing/production cost of a film in 1985
was $41.34 million, adjusted for 2005 inflation
rates (Motion Picture Association, 2006). A
similar pattern of constantly increasing theatrical
costs (an industry term combining marketing
and production expenses) has been found in the
Korean film industry, with the average theatrical
costs of a film rising to $4.2 million in 2004 from
an average of $1 million in 1996 (Korean Film
Council, 2005). In particular, a large portion
of these theatrical costs goes to skyrocketing
actor and crew salaries, leading one observer
to conclude that it is almost impossible to cast
popular actors in a Korean production without
using brand placement as a form of financial
assistance (Limb, 2005).
There is also an often-cited aesthetic reason
for content creators to purposively include real
brands—namely the enhancement of the realism
of the world that has been created in their
product (Govani, 1999). Many claim that if they
were to not use real brands, products would
either have to be brand-less (unrealistic), labeled
with fictitious brand names, or identified with
generic labels such as “PEN,” any of which are
disliked by consumers and cause a “break” in
their level of immersion. Indeed, the attitudinal
studies of brand placement practice demonstrate
remarkably consistent agreement with this claim
among consumers (e.g., DeLorme and Reid,
1999; Stern and Russell, 2004).
41
The relatively recent popularity of brand
placement in Korea may have also been fostered
simply by exposure to Hollywood’s films and
its business practices. Korea is somewhat of
an anomaly among global markets in that local
films consistently have a greater market share
than those of Hollywood (Jin, 2006). In fact,
despite the watering down of each new iteration
of the country’s Screen Quota system (a govern-
ment regulation mandating the number of days
that local theaters must screen Korean-produced
films) at the behest of U.S. trade negotiators,
the market share of local films has not only held
steady but actually increased (Paquet, 2006). Jun
(2006) points to the fact that this increase in
local films’ market share in the face of increasing
numbers of imported American films paralleled
the adoption of Hollywood-style storytelling
conventions, filmmaking styles/techniques, re-
liance on special effects, and ever-increasing
budgets. The foundations of this trend were laid
out in the mid-1990s when Hollywood studios
began a wave of joint ventures, affiliations, and
distribution deals with their Korean counter-
parts. Thus, it is perhaps not surprising that
Hollywood’s business methods and marketing
practices, including the penchant for offering
films as advertising vehicles, would eventually
find its way into Korean productions. As Jun
(2006, p. 16) notes in reference to the hugely
successful Korean film Swiri, local filmmakers
“seemed to have learned something from Holly-
wood about product placement.”
Brand Placements in U.S. Films
While most academic articles cite trade and
popular press pieces to substantiate the claim
that brand placement in films is rapidly gaining
ground as a marketing tactic, there exist few
actual analyses of extent and manner in the
brand placement literature. The first reported
content analysis (Troup, 1991) found 454 brand
placements in the top 25 U.S. films of 1989,
averaging 18.2 brands per film. Additionally,
comedy and drama genres accounted for 57 and
28.2 percent of total placements respectively. A
few years later, Sapolsky and Kinney (1994)
noted 292 brand placements within the US’s
top 25 grossing movies of 1991 (a 35 percent
decrease from Troup’s findings), and an average
42 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING
of 11 brands per film in that year. In addition, the
majority of brands appeared in the foreground of
scenes, often being interacted with by the main
character. More recently, Galician and Bourdeau
(2004)’s examination of the 15 top-grossing
films of 1977, 1987, and 1997 uncovered 546
placements and a longitudinal increase in brands
per film over time.
Brand Placement in Korean Films
Since the mid 1990s, brand placements have
frequently been used in Korean films and,
although the practice does not have a long
history in Korea, it has rapidly become a popular
marketing technique among advertisers. The first
known occurrence of a marketing-driven brand
appearance in a Korean film can be found in
Marriage Story (1992). The film was the first to
be officially “sponsored” and partially financed
by one of Korea’s largest business conglomer-
ates, Samsung Electronic Co., as part of the
government’s initiatives to financially bolster the
local film industry (Kim, 2004a). One aspect
of the sponsorship involved Samsung providing
branded home appliances for filmmakers to use
in exchange for prominent visual airings of its
brand name. Paralleling the aftermath of the
1982 placement of Reese’s Pieces in E.T. in
the U.S., Samsung’s placement spurred Korean
advertisers to consider brand placement as an
alternate and effective marketing communica-
tion strategy (Kim, 2004). Two years later, the
Cass (beer) and Juicy Fresh (chewing gum)
brands provided financial support worth roughly
$25,000 to The Old Fox (1994) in exchange for
positive brand portrayals in the film.
Over time, the number of placements within
Korean movies has increased greatly. For ex-
ample, in Swiri (1998), the third most successful
film in Korean box-office history, approximately
30 different brands (e.g., Asiana Airlines, Mo-
torola, Maxim Coffee) were placed as part
of marketing arrangements (Kim, 2004b). The
categories of brands placed in Korean films have
been quite diverse as well. These categories
include products and services such as home
appliances, beers, cell phones, credit cards, and
gas stations. Devanathan et al. (2003) provided
the results of a content analysis of product
placement in films across five countries (U.S.,
India, Brazil, Thailand, and Korea) between
1995 and 2001. They found that the average
brand incidences per Korean film was 4.9 and
products tended to be low-involvement products
such as soda and beer. Further, the findings
indicated that Korean movies feature more
background than prominent placements and a
high percentage of visual elements.
Notwithstanding the above examples of and
trends in Korean brand placements, and despite
trade and popular press articles in the Korean
media consistently citing the popularity of
such placements, as stated only one empirical
investigation (Devanathan et al. 2003) of the
extent of the practice have been reported thus
far. Although their cross-cultural study provides
some initial findings about product placements
in Korean films, a more comprehensive investi-
gation about the longitudinal patterns of product
placements in Korean films is needed to provide
more meaningful and generalizable data. Thus,
the following research question was developed:
RQ1: What longitudinal patterns, if any,
can be discerned in the incidence of
brand placements in popular Korean films
between 1995 and 2003?
In order to minimize any potentially negative
reactions on the part of audiences to brand
exposures in films, filmmakers take into con-
sideration film genres and storylines to naturally
fit brands and products into scenes. A pertinent
brand placement at the right time enhances
advertising effects such as brand recognition and
recall (Karrh, 1998). Indeed, placements that are
perceived as intruding into or breaking the flow
of the story or scene in a film have resulted in
high levels of audience displeasure (DeLorme
and Reid, 1999). There has also been some
preliminary evidence that placement effects vary
by film genres (e.g., Stern and Russell, 2004).
RQ2: What genres of films are prevalent for
the practice of brand placements in Korean
films between 1995 and 2003?
Sapolsky and Kinney’s (1994) analysis found
that the most frequently placed brands were
for automobile, food, and beverage categories,
while Galician and Bourdeau (2004) revealed
similar findings in that automobiles (21% of
 Sung, Choi and de Gregorio
placements), beer (14%), and non-alcoholic
beverages (11%) comprised the leading brand
product categories. Based on this body of
analyses conducted on U.S. film content, the
following research question was put forth:
RQ3: What kinds of product/service cat-
egories are prevalent among brand place-
ments in Korean films between 1995 and
2003? Is there any longitudinal pattern?
Through brand exposures in movies, film-
makers often develop and explain characters’
personalities to audiences (Sauer, 2004). Many
brands can be associated with personality traits
in much the same way as human beings, and
those brands can simultaneously communicate
and reinforce certain qualities or attributes of
film characters. If a villain, for example, is
shown drinking Budweiser while James Bond is
portrayed with a bottle of 30-year-old Ballantine
whiskey, different characteristics and impres-
sions about those characters are communicated
and reinforced to audiences. At the same time,
while watching a movie audiences may develop
favorable (or unfavorable) impressions about
exposed brands depending on the qualities of
the character using them (e.g., the BMW Z-
3 Roadster in Golden Eye and the Ray-Ban
sunglasses used by the Terminator—each saw
increases in sales following their release in
theaters). Thus, the types of human character-
istics associated with a brand is a key issue in
analyzing placements in films.
RQ4: What types of human characteristics
are associated with brand placements in
popular Korean films?
Previous studies in the U.S. (e.g., Gupta and
Lord, 1998; Russell, 2002) have examined the
effect of brand placement modes in relation to
audience reactions. Thus, in this study brand
appearances were coded as either visual-only,
verbal-only, or a combination of both. Further,
such variables have also been examined in the
context of whether the brand name appeared on
a related product (e.g., Nike on shoes) or on a
non-related product (e.g., Nike on a mug), if the
brand placement is prominent or subtle, whether
the product is shown in use, and the extent to
which the brand placement is important to the
storyline of the scene or film as a whole. Thus,
43
RQ5: What types of portrayals are preva-
lent among brand placements in popular
Korean films? And, in what contexts do
such brand placements occur?
METHOD
Sampling Procedure
A database of the top ten films for each year
between 1995 and 2003 was compiled using a list
provided by the Korean Film Council (2004).1
This is an annual report that provides rankings
of the most popular Korean films for every year
from 1990 to the end of the most recent year,
as calculated based on the total size of the film
audience in the city of Seoul. The decision to
limit films to those in the top 10 of every year was
based on the notion that these would represent
films that have the widest exposure through
theater release, VCR and DVD availability, and
even Internet film sites in Korea. Note that a list
consisting of only nine films was available from
the Korean Film Council for two years (1996 and
1998). Thus, we identified a total of 88 Korean
popular films during the period.
Next, each film was then screened for the pres-
ence of at least one brand mention. Preliminary
coding showed no brands in films considered
to be in the historical genre. This pre-screening
step eliminated 10 historical Korean films from
the analysis. During this pre-screening segment,
Friedman’s (1986, p. 200) definition of a brand
name as “a distinctive commercial term used by
a firm to identify and/or promote itself or one of
its consumer products or services” was expanded
upon to include slang derivatives and alternate
references to brand names (e.g., “Beamer” for
BMW or “Henney” for Hennessey). Celebrities,
government agencies, countries, street names,
media pieces (e.g., film or music titles), and
fictional characters were not counted as being
brand mentions. Using this system, a list of 78
films was identified.
Coding Scheme
The coding instruments and codebook de-
veloped by Avery and Ferraro (2000) were
adopted and modified for the current study. As
their coding instruments were developed for
44 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING

analyzing brand appearances on prime-time reliability coefficient of .90 on average, ranging

television programming, we modified and added from .87 to .99.
new variables for the film context.
To address questions related to the nature
of brand portrayal in Korean films, the current RESULTS
study analyzes the characteristics of brand ap-
pearances based on the dimensions of brand RQ 1: Incidence of Brand Appearances
types, extent of brand portrayal and mention
Number of brand occurrences. A total of
(e.g., number of all incidences and unique
1,280 brand placements and 481 unique brands
brands in a film), scene setting, visual/verbal
were identified in the 78 Korean films over
prominence, character involvement, length and
the nine-year period (1995–2003). On average,
repetition of portrayal (e.g., having greater than
16.2 occurrences and ten unique brands were
two seconds of camera time or being mentioned
identified per film. As shown in Table 1, there
more than once in the dialogue), position in
appears to be an increase in the number of
the scene (e.g., foreground, close-up shot),
brand appearances from 1995 (10.8 per film)
roles of characters (e.g., main actor, supporting
to 1999 (25 per film). Brands appeared most
actress), and their demographic characteristics
frequently in 1999 when 250 brands were found
(e.g., gender, age).
in ten films. The results indicate that the overall
number of brand appearances decreased after
1999. Although the number of brands actually
Pilot Test and Coding Procedures increased slightly in 2001 (18.9 per film) over
2000 (15 per film), overall results suggest that
Two non-author, graduate students served as
brand incidences decreased after 1999. Overall,
coders for this project. After the pre-screening
our findings are not consistent with Devanathan
of films, coder training was conducted to discuss
et al.’s (2003) average of 4.9 brands per movie.
and clarify each item of a preliminary coding
This may be due to the relatively small number of
sheet and code book. Subsequently, the authors
films they used in their sample, which potentially
and both coders conducted a pilot test of nine
limited the picture of placements that could be
films (one film from each year between 1995
discerned.
and 2003) not included in the study sample.
Number of unique brand names. The results
These nine films were selected using the same
indicate that the number of unique brand names
lists provided by the Korean Film Council
placed in popular Korean films has increased
(2004). Intercoder reliabilities were computed
over the last decade. Table 1 demonstrates that,
using percentage of agreement, which is the
on average, seven different brands appeared
ratio of agreement to the total number of coding
in each of the Korean films in 1995, while
decisions (Kassarjian, 1977). The coders had
12 different brand names were identified in
an acceptable percentage of agreement on all
2003. The findings reveal a somewhat consistent
variables (e.g., over 85 percent agreement).
increase in the number of unique brand names
After achieving satisfactory reliability levels
placed.
in the pre-test, the two coders independently
coded all 78 films. Using a random numbers RQ2-Brand Placement by Film Genres
table, films were randomly assigned so that each
coder analyzed 39 films in this stage. As a Table 2 presents frequencies and percentages
final reliability check, approximately ten percent of popular Korean film genres for brand place-
(seven films) were randomly selected and coded ment over the nine-year period. Comedy was the
by both coders again. The coders achieved a most popular film genre (27 out of 78), followed
satisfactory percentage of agreement across the by drama (21), action (9), and romance (7). In
films (ranging from 83% to 100%). In addition, terms of the average number of brand incidences
Perreault and Leigh’s Ir (1989) was employed as per film, the action genre ranked first (24.1
a more rigorous reliability test. We obtained a brands per film), followed by comedy (17.52
 Sung, Choi and de Gregorio 45

TABLE 1. Brand Placement Appearances in Popular Korean Films (1995–2003)

95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 Total

Brand Incidence
Frequency 108 81 174 138 250 120 151 149 109 1,280
Mean (per film) 10.8 11.6 17.4 17.3 25.0 15.0 18.9 16.6 13.6 16.2
Unique Brand Names
Frequency 70 59 92 78 127 82 88 88 96 481
Mean (per film) 7.0 8.4 9.2 9.8 12.7 10.3 11.0 9.8 12.0 10.0

brands), fantasy/sci-fi (16.0), thriller (14.3), and
drama (14.3). In contrast, such genres as crime,
noir, and horror were the least likely to be
used for brand placement. Finally, Attack the
Gas Station (1999, comedy) ranked first among
all the films analyzed, with the appearance of
53 brand placements and 20 unique brands,
followed by The Foul King (2000, comedy, 45
occurrences, 30 unique brands), and Swiri (1999,
action, 39 occurrences, 24 unique brands).
RQ3-Brand Names and Product/Service
Categories
Brand Names. A total of 481 unique brands
were found. As shown in Table 3, Coca-Cola
was the most frequently placed brand in Korean
popular films (52 incidences out of 1,280),
followed by Hyundai cars (48), Hite beer (41),
Jinro liquor (33), Nike (32), Chilsung cider
(29), and Cass beer (22). Note that among the
top 20 brand appearances, six were alcoholic
beverage products and one brand was a tobacco
product.
With regard to the number of films in which
each brand appeared, the brand that was placed
in the most films was Hyundai auto (33 different
films), followed by Coca-Cola (32), Chilsung
(21), Hite (18) and Cass (16). In addition,
the most frequently exposed brand in one film
was Kodak (15 times in Christmas in August),
followed by Hyundai oil bank (14), Pepsi
(7), Fuji (7), Nike (6) and Coca-Cola (5). Finally,
Korean brands (12 brands, e.g., Hyundai, Hite,
Jinro, and Cass) appeared most frequently in
Korean films, followed by American brands
(6 brands, e.g., Coca-Cola, Nike, Kodak, and
Pepsi), Japanese brands (2 brands, Pocari Sweat
and Fuji), and one German brand (Adidas).
Product/Service Category. The results of the
product/service category analysis indicate that
clothing was the single largest product category

TABLE 2. Brand Placements by Film Genre (1995–2003)

Number of Films Brand Incidence

Brand Incidence per
Film Genre N % N % Film (Rank)

Comedy 27 34.6 473 37.0 17.5 (2)

Drama 21 26.9 300 23.4 14.3 (5)
Action 9 11.5 217 17.0 24.1 (1)
Romance 7 9.0 95 7.4 13.6 (6)
Fantasy / 3 3.8 48 3.8 16.0 (3)
Sci-fi
Thriller 3 3.8 43 3.3 14.3 (4)
Crime 3 3.8 40 3.1 13.3 (7)
Horror 3 3.8 38 3.0 12.7 (9)
Noir 2 2.6 26 2.0 13.0 (8)
TOTAL 78 100.0 1,280 100.0
46 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING

TABLE 3. Top 20 Brand Names and Types Appearing in Korean Films

(1995–2003)

# of Films
Brand Name Brand Type Frequency Percent Appear

Coca-Cola (U.S.) Beverage 52 4.1 32

Hyundai Auto (Korea) Automobile 48 3.8 33
Hite (Korea) Alcoholic Beverage 41 3.2 18
Jinro (Korea) Alcoholic Beverage 33 2.6 14
Nike (U.S.) Sporting Good 32 2.5 15
Chilsung (Korea) Beverage 29 2.3 21
Cass (Korea) Alcoholic Beverage 22 1.7 16
Pocari Sweat (Japan) Beverage 20 1.6 12
Adidas (Germany) Sporting Good 19 1.5 11
Hyundai Oil Bank Gas Station 17 1.3 3
(Korea)
Kodak (U.S.) Photo Film 17 1.3 13
OB (Korea) Alcoholic Beverage 17 1.3 9
Pepsi (U.S.) Beverage 17 1.3 13
This (Korea) Tobacco 17 1.3 14
Daewoo Auto (Korea) Automobile 16 1.3 3
Polo Ralph Lauren Clothing 13 1.0 10
(U.S.)
Kia Auto (Korea) Automobile 12 0.9 10
Fuji Film (Japan) Photo Film 11 0.9 5
Budweiser (U.S.) Alcoholic Beverage 10 0.8 7
Seoul Milk (Korea) Beverage 10 0.8 9

in terms of the number of brands identified. Out
of a total of 481 unique brands, the majority were
clothing brands (10%, 48 brands, e.g., Ralph
Lauren, Levi’s). Non-alcoholic beverages was
second (9.4%, 45, e.g., Chilsung and Pepsi),
followed by food (8.7%, 42, e.g., Pringles,
Choco Pie), financial services (6.4%, 31, e.g.,
Hyundai M Card, Visa, MasterCard), and al-
coholic beverages (6.0%, 29, e.g., Hite, Cass,
Budweiser). Thus, our findings are similar to
those of Galician and Bourdeau (2004) who
found that automobiles, alcoholic beverages, and
non-alcoholic beverages are the most common
product types in Hollywood films between
1977 and 1997, with Coca-Cola, Mercedes-
Benz, Miller, Chevy, and Pepsi as the most
frequently occurring brands. Finally, in terms
of the number of brands by product/service
category, out of a total of 1,280 brand appear-
ances, 16.2% (207) were non-alcoholic bever-
ages (e.g., water, milk, soft drinks). Alcoholic
beverages was second (13.4%, 171), followed
by automobiles (9.1%, 117), clothing (9.0%,
115), food (6.0%, 77), sporting goods (5.5%,
70) and communication (5.0%, 63, e.g., Internet,
phone service). Our results were similar to those
of Devanathan et al. (2003) who found that
Korean films tend to feature low-involvement
products such as beverages, food, and
beer.
RQ4-Human Characteristics Using
and Portraying Brands
Among the 1,280 brand incidences, approx-
imately 52.5% (672) appeared being used by
human characters (e.g., food was used if eaten,
a car used if driven) and 8.4% (108) appeared
as non-use portrayals (e.g., an advertisement
revealed while reading a magazine, a shopping
bag having a brand logo).
When looking at the types of characters who
used the brands, out of a total of 672 occurrences
of brands being used human characters, 46.2%
(311) of them were used by main actors or
actresses, followed by extras (18.4%; 124),
supporting characters (16.3%; 110) and both
main and supporting characters in the same
 Sung, Choi and de Gregorio
scene (4.5%; 57). As for brand portrayal, out
of 107 occurrences when being portrayed by
human characters, 55.1% (59) were portrayed
by main characters, followed by extras (17.8%;
19), supporting characters (15.0%; 16) and
both main and supporting characters in the
same scene (5.6%; 6). Compared to character
interactions with brand placement in Hollywood
films (Galician and Bourdeau 2004), main actors
were mostly associated with brand placement
(50%) followed by both main and supporting
characters (37%), and supporting actors/extras
(13%). The focus on main character use is
similar among Korean and Hollywood films, but
Korean films are more focused on use by an
individual film characters (main, supporting, or
extra character).
With regard to the gender of human characters
associated with any type (e.g., usage, portrayal)
of brand occurrence, we identified a total of
731 appearances associated with human charac-
ters (and where their genders are identifiable).
Seventy-one percent (516 out of 731) were
associated with male characters, followed by
female characters (15.5%; 199 incidences), and
both (1.3%; 16 incidences). In the association of
character gender with product types, beverage
and clothing are associated with both male
and female characters. Female characters were
more commonly associated with clothing, cell
phone, and communication brands, while male
characters were more commonly associated with
alcoholic beverage, sporting good, and tobacco
brands than female characters (See Table 4).
Regarding the ages of human characters, as
shown in Table 5, those in their 20s (41.7%)
were the most frequently associated with brands,
followed by those in their 30s (33.5%) and 40s
(9.6%). Characters in their 10s are likely to
be associated with sporting goods (30.3%) and
non-alcoholic beverages (13.5%), while those
in their 20s also tended to be associated with
non-alcoholic beverages (18.4%) and clothing
(13.5%). Further, characters in their 30s-40s
were likely to be associated with non-alcoholic
beverages (18.9%) and alcoholic beverages
(18.6%), while those in their 50s were linked
with alcoholic beverages and tobacco (each
24.4%). A noteworthy result is that alcoholic
beverages was the third most dominant product
47
type associated with teenage characters. Pre-
vious literature suggests that adolescents tend
to show high brand awareness and favorable
attitude toward brand placements (Nelson and
McLeod, 2005).
RQ5-Brand Portrayal Types
In examining the scene setting of the brand
occurrences, it was found that outdoors (27.2%;
348, e.g., street, park, beach), followed by within
the home (16.9%; 216), bars/clubs (11.1%,
142), stores (6.7%, 86) and transportation ve-
hicles (5.2%; 67, e.g., car, subway) were most
popular. Regarding portrayal modality, most
of the brand incidences were visual (92.3%,
1,182 incidences), whereas only 6.2% (79) were
verbal. These findings were consistent with those
of Devanathan et al. (2003) who found that
about 91% of placements were visually oriented.
Additionally, visual incidences were the most
frequently portrayed using a primary display
(66.1%; 846, i.e., a primary display refers to the
actual brand’s product being shown), followed
by advertisements (16.5%; 211, e.g., billboard,
magazine ad), and secondary types of portrayals
(10.9%; 139, e.g., brand name on a t-shirt if a
company does not make t-shirts, brand logo on
the side of a distribution vehicle).
Further, the length of portrayal was coded
in three different categories: extended portrayal
(i.e., brand is shown either continuously for more
than 2 seconds or shown repeatedly, but for
more than two seconds for at least one showing),
intermittent portrayal (i.e., brand is shown more
than once but not for longer than 2 seconds at any
one showing), and fleeting portrayal (i.e., a brand
is shown only once for less than 2 seconds). Out
of a total of 1,280 brand incidences, 48.4% (619)
were extended portrayal, followed by fleeting
(30.2%; 387) and intermittent (15.0%; 192).
We also coded whether the brand occurrence
was essential or not. It was considered to be
essential if removing or substituting the brand
would change the meaning or context of the
scene or overall storyline. Our results indicate
that only 2.2% (28 out of 1,280) were essential
to the scene. In addition, we examined the rela-
tionship between the usage of brands by human
characters and the length of brand portrayal.
48 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING
TABLE 4. Product Type Distributions by Character Gender
Male
Alcoholic Beverage (67; 13%)
Beverage (62; 12.0%)
Clothing (55; 10.7%)
Car (53; 10.3%); Sporting Good (53; 10.3%)
Tobacco (34; 6.6%)
Food (28; 5.4%)
Electronic (16; 3.1%)
Gas Station (11; 2.1%)
Credit Card (9; 1.7%)
Note. Parentheses indicate both frequency and percent of brand incidence within gender.
When brands were used by characters, 49.7%
were extended portrayals, followed by fleeting
(30.1%) and intermittent portrayals (19.8%).
Similar results were observed for brands not
used by characters. That is, extended portrayals
were most frequently used (53.2%), followed
by fleeting (34.4%) and intermittent portrayals
(11.2%). Proportional tests indicated that these
results were statistically significant, χ 2 (3) =
17.89, p < .001.
Finally, we analyzed the relationship among
the characters’ roles (e.g., main, supporting), the
type of visual portrayal, and portrayal length.
Regarding the type of visual portrayal, we
found no difference, χ 2 (3) = 5.47, p = .14.
That is, regardless of a character’s role in a
film, primary portrayal was the most frequently
used (93.9% for main characters and 96.2%
for supporting/other characters), followed by
secondary (2.9% and 3.4%), and advertisements
(2.3% and 0.4%). As for portrayal length, we
found a difference between main characters and
supporting/other character, χ 2 (3) = 10.75, p <
.05 (see Table 6).
DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS
While the practice in the U.S. has taken
off since the 1982 E.T. placement, in Korea
brand placement only started being popular as
a marketing tactic since the early 1990s, but has
dramatically increased over time. Our results
reveal a trend where the number of total, as
well as unique, placements has increased over
Female
Clothing (37; 18.6%)
Beverage (24; 12.1%)
Car (19; 9.5%)
Food (12; 6.0%)
Tobacco (11; 5.5%)
Cellular Phone (10; 5.0%)
Alcoholic Beverage (9; 4.5%)
Communication (8; 4.0%)
Sporting Good (8; 4.0%)
Cosmetic (6; 3.0%); Electronic
(6; 3.0%)
time. In 1999, both total brand appearances
and unique brand appearances reached their
peak over the nine-year period (1995–2003).
This can be partially accounted for due to a
comparatively high percentage of the popular
film genres of comedy and action, as well
as several specific films (e.g., Attack the Gas
Station, Swiri, Yonggari) that dominate the high
frequency rate of brand incidence. Our findings
provide evidence that brand placement has be-
come a significant consideration in advertisers’
marketing strategies, mirroring on a smaller
scale the longitudinal trend in U.S. placements
(Galician and Bourdeau 2004). The results also
hint at the extent to which a marketing practice
typically thought of as being American in nature
and origin has spread to other cultures through
the globalization process that occurs when
Hollywood studios release their films abroad and
set up joint ventures with local entertainment
groups in other countries. Even in Korea, where
local films still retain greater market share than
foreign films despite Hollywood’s increasing en-
croachment and weakening of the Screen Quota
system, exposure to Hollywood’s products and
practices seems to have contributed toward this
increase in placement. In many other countries,
however, Hollywood’s films dominate local box
offices—future studies investigating the extent
of brand placements in the local films of such
countries would provide a clearer picture of
whether there is truly a relationship between
exposure to American styles of film content and
practices and extent of brand placement.
 Sung, Choi and de Gregorio 49

TABLE 5. Product Category Distributions by Character Age

10s 20s 30s 40s Over 50s

Sporting Good Beverage Alcoholic Beverage Beverage Alcoholic Beverage

(27; 30.3%) (79; 18.4%) (62; 18.0%) (21; 21.2%) (10; 24.4%)
Beverage Clothing Beverage Alcoholic Beverage Tobacco
(12; 13.5%) (58; 13.5%) (57; 16.5%) (19; 19.2%) (10; 24.4%)
Alcoholic Beverage Car Car Car Beverage
(10; 11.2%) (51; 11.9%) (44; 12.8%) (14; 14.1%) (4; 9.8%)
Clothing Alcoholic Beverage Clothing Gas Station Food
(10; 11.2%) (50; 11.7%) (26; 7.5%) (9; 9.1%) (4; 9.8%)
Gas Station Sporting Good Tobacco Credit Card/Food Car
(5; 5.6%) (17; 4.0%) (22; 6.4%) (4; 4.0%) (3; 7.3%)

Note. Parentheses indicate both frequency and percent of product incidence within age.

Of particular interest in this study was an
analysis of the product/service categories of
brands appearing in popular Korean films. Our
findings indicate that brand types such as
clothing, non-alcoholic beverages, food, finan-
cial services, and alcoholic beverages are the
most common in popular Korean films. The
findings are somewhat consistent with those
of Devanathan et al. (2003). Devanathan et al.
(2003) found that within the U.S., India, and
Brazil the placements tended to be more high-
involvement (e.g., cars, computers, cameras)
than low-involvement products such as beer.
On the other hand, within films from Thailand
and South Korea, products tended to be low-
involvement than high-involvement placements.
Overall findings of the current study suggest
that products placed in popular Korean films
over the nine years period tended to be low
involvement products. For example, as shown
in Table 3, fifteen of the 20 top brand names
appearing in Korean films were for beverage,
alcoholic beverage, photo film, and gas station
products. That is, low involvement products are
popular types for product placement in Korean
films.
In addition to being the fifth most prevalent
type of product placed, alcoholic beverages
accounted for slightly more than 10% of brands
appearing with teen characters. These results
suggest that alcoholic beverage products are
being aggressively promoted in Korean films.
In addition, we found that tobacco is one of
the 20 most heavily placed product types. As

TABLE 6. Character Roles, Types of Characters, and Visual Portrayals (N = 545)

Type of Visual Portrayal1

Primary &
Primary Secondary Advertisements Secondary Total

Main Character 292 (93.9%) 9 (2.9%) 7 (2.3%) 3 (1.0%) 311

Supporting and Other 225 (96.2%) 8 (3.4%) 1 (0.4%) 0 234
Character
Type of Portrayal Length2
Extended Intermittent Fleeting N/A Total

Main Character 170 (54.7%) 56 (18.0%) 85 (27.3%) 0 311

Supporting and Other 102 (43.6%) 41 (17.5%) 89 (38.0%) 2 (.9%) 234
Character

Note.1 Type of Visual Portrayal: X 2 (3) = 5.47, P = .14.

2
Portrayal Length: X 2 (3) = 10.75, P <.05.
50 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING
noted, among the top 20 brands appearing in
popular Korean films between 1995 and 2003,
six brands were alcoholic beverage products and
one brand was a tobacco product. These findings
suggest that in addition to traditional ad formats,
such ethically-charged products as alcoholic
beverages and tobacco are heavily marketed
indirectly via brand placement. While the place-
ment of such ethically charged products as
alcohol and tobacco has caused concern among
U.S. consumers (e.g., Gupta and Gould, 1997;
Gould, Gupta and Grabner-Kraüter, 2000), our
findings suggest future efforts in gauging the
Korean public’s attitudes towards the commer-
cial insertion of such product brands in film
content. Such future investigation will provide
very important insights to the public policy
makers and consumer interest groups who are
concern about public well-being.
In terms of character involvement, approxi-
mately 63% of brand appearances were either
used (e.g., an actor driving a car) or portrayed
(a brand is placed in a scene, but is not
used by a character, e.g., a Timex wrist watch
sitting on desk) by human characters (e.g., main
and supporting actors/actresses), suggesting that
character interaction is central to brand place-
ments in Korean films (Ferraro and Avery, 2000).
Karrh (1998) suggested that audiences process
information about media characters in much the
same way they process information about people
in everyday life. As suggested by Solomon
and Englis (1994), this reality effect is one of
the most powerful of marketing concepts. This
reality effect is more critical to the format of
films, where elements (e.g., plot, characters, and
dialogue) are intended to portray everyday life
(Abrams, 1988), and therefore, consumers’ per-
ceptions of a brand’s usage may be influenced by
those characters that are realistically portrayed
in everyday situations.
Results also indicate that the majority of
brand appearances were visually oriented (over
92%). Further, approximately 50% of the vi-
sual brand appearances were characterized by
extended portrayals, leading to the conclusion
that the majority of brands in Korean films are
characterized by visual prominence. Finally, we
found that only 2.2% of total brand incidences in
Korean films were essential to the scene. These
results, coupled with the negative reactions
toward “blatant” placements found by studies
such as DeLorme and Reid (1999), suggest that
future researchers would be wise to investigate
how such prominent, extended placements that
are not perceived to be an organic element
of a storyline or plot are influence audience’s
attitudes towards the practice as a whole.
Implications for Practitioners
and Policy Makers
The findings of this exploratory study have
implications for practitioners dealing with global
brand accounts. Our results indicate that product
placement in Korean films has become a com-
mon practice among global marketers and brand
managers. In particular, in terms of country of
origin of the brands placed, the results clearly
evidenced the entry of foreign global brands and
the presence of them was quite noticeable. For
example, among the 20 most placed brands, nine
brands are foreign global brands such as Coca
Cola, Nike, Kodak, Pocari Sweat, etc. Further,
the most common brand placed within Korean
films was Coca-Cola, appearing in 32 different
films between 1995 and 2003, and Nike was
the fifth most commonly placed brand (15 differ-
ent films). By effectively placing global brands
within popular Korean film contents, foreign
global brand managers can communicate Korean
consumers more easily and effectively. In addi-
tion, the results suggest that low-involvement
products such as alcoholic beverages are most
common product types placing in Korean
films.
The findings of the study also provide some
implications for public policy makers. Solomon
and Englis (1994) use the term “reality engineer-
ing” to describe the successful and constant ef-
forts of marketers to shape the social images (or
social reality) presented through popular cultural
vehicles such as advertising, public relations,
infomercials, and product placement. As a result
of theses efforts, marketers blur the boundaries
between commercial signification and popular
culture. Today’s consumers are more likely to
treat mass media images as reflections of reality
which are a natural part of everyday life; thus,
their realities are engineered by marketers. As
 Sung, Choi and de Gregorio
discussed, most brand incidences in Korean
films are not essential to the scene. Although
one of the primary benefits of placing real brand
in media content is to increase realism, such
haphazard placement may increase consumers’
materialism as well as commercialization of
our society. Indeed Korean regulators have
brought a series of actions against advertisers
and marketers engaged in product placement
in television programs. However, Korea has no
legal regulations regarding placements in films
as of yet. The findings of this study indicate a
need for future research on this issue.
Further, the findings of the study indicate
that both alcoholic beverages and tobacco have
been actively promoted in popular Korean film
contents. For example, when branded prod-
ucts were associated with characters, alcoholic
beverages are the most frequently associated
with male characters. Further, tobacco is one
of the top five product types for both male and
female that associated either main or supporting
characters of the films. Today a number of young
moviegoers can be exposed to top Korean films
via theater, DVD, Cable TV, and Internet. If
their favorite actors or actresses are engaging
with such ethically charged products, they may
try to imitate resulted in such behaviors. As
suggested by social learning theory (Bandura,
1977), human beings benefit from observation
and experience, and often imitate the actions
of others. Young audience’s behaviors can be
easily learned through the observation of others
engaged in a behavior and subsequent modeling
of this behavior, through a process of imitation
and identification.
Limitations and Future Research
While this exploratory content analysis re-
veals interesting trends, its generalizability is
limited. Though the nine-year period selected
for study was sufficient to yield noticeable
patterns, the sample is limited to the top ten
films of each year. Therefore, future research
could utilize a more extensive set of films
so that more precise longitudinal trends in
brand placements within Korean films can be
made. Further, while content analytic studies
can provide a wealth of descriptive data, the
51
next step involves research to help international
marketers and brand managers understand how
Korean consumers respond to brand placements.
Further research into the potential for films to
serve as brand placement vehicles should adopt
methodologies more conducive to determining
consumer perceptions and reactions, such as
surveys, in-depth interviews and experiments.
To the authors’ knowledge there exists no
prior investigation of Korean consumers’ atti-
tudes toward brand placement in films. Attitudi-
nal investigations using other Asian respondents
have found that Singaporean consumers are
more concerned about the perceived ethicality
of the placement strategy itself than their U.S.
counterparts (Karrh, Frith and Callison, 2001),
and that more negative attitudes toward place-
ment on the part of Chinese audiences versus
Americans exist (McKechnie and Zhou, 2003).
In addition, no study has investigated possible
cross-cultural differences in how East Asian and
Western cultures respond differently (or simi-
larly) toward brand placements. For example, as
noted by Nisbett (2003), prior literature suggests
that individuals in East Asian cultures are more
likely than individuals in Western cultures to
pay attention to the context and situational cues
(e.g., the background in a picture). Indeed,
this conceptualization is consistent with Hall
(1976)’s high vs. low context cultures. This
cross-cultural difference might suggest that Ko-
rean film audiences pay more attention to the
brands than do Americans audiences. A study
gauging attitudes and behaviors among Korean
consumers would provide additional insights
into how culture influences perceptions such a
globally expanding marketing practice as brand
placement.
Finally, to date, no research study documents
the prevalence of brand appearances non-film
media in Korea. In recent years there has been
an increase in the extensive appearance of
commercial brands in many Korean television
shows, particularly nightly dramas, due to their
short production-to-air schedules and command
of large audiences (e.g., Limb, 2005). This
increase may be a contributing factor in the
decline placements within Korean films in the
past few years. Additional further research
in different media contexts such as television
52 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING
shows, video games, songs, or novels will
provide more complete picture of the extent of
brand placement in Korea, as well as revealing
broad trends in the commercialization of media
content.
NOTE
1. Initially, we were to examine the top 10 Korean
films for each year between 1992 and 2004. Since the first
practice of brand placement in Korean films appeared in
Marriage Story (1992), we believed that the period of 1992
to 2004 is a sufficient timespan to examine longitudinal
trends of brand placement in Korean films. However, we
were not able to obtain copies of many Korean films for
the designated years of 1992, 1993, and 1994. In addition,
at the time the data were collected, the Korean film list for
2003 was the most recent available. For the completeness
of our data, we decided to examine nine years (1995–2003).
REFERENCES
Avery, R.J. & Ferraro, R. 2000. Verisimilitude or adver-
tising? brand appearances on prime-time television.
Journal of Consumer Affairs, 34(2), pp. 217–244.
Crawford, K. 2004. Saving ‘Alexander’. CNN Money.
(http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/20/news/fortune500/
yir04 movies/index.htm).
Cronin, J.J. & Menelly, N.E. 1992. Discrimination vs.
avoidance: ‘zipping’ of television commercials. Journal
of Advertising, 21(2), pp. 1–7.
d’Astous, A. & Chartier, F. 2000. A study of factors
affecting consumer evaluations and memory of product
placements in movies. Journal of Current Issues and
Research in Advertising, 22(2), pp. 31–40.
Devanathan, N., Nelson, M.R., McCarty, J., Deshpande,
S., Paek, H.J., Punnahitanond, R., Stein, S.E., Vilela,
A.M., & Yaros, R. 2003. Product placements go global:
An examination of brand contacts across five countries.
Advances in Consumer Research, 30, pp. 170–171.
DeLorme, D.E. & Reid, L.N. 2000. Moviegoers’ experi-
ences and interpretation of brands in films revisited.
Journal of Advertising, 28(2), pp. 71–95.
Ferraro, R. & Avery, R.J. 2000. Brand appearance on prime-
time television. Journal of Current Issues and Research
in Advertising, 22(2), pp. 1–15.
Friedman, M. 1986. Commercial influences in the lyrics of
popular American music of the postwar era. Journal of
Consumer Affairs, 20(2), pp. 193–213.
Galician, M. & Bourdeau, P.G. 2004. The evolution of
product placements in Hollywood cinema: embedding
high-involvement “heroic” brand images. Journal of
Promotion Management, 10(1/2), pp. 15–36.
Gould, S.J., Gupta, P.B., & Grabner-Kraüter, S. 2000.
Product placements in movies: a cross-cultural analysis
of Austrian, French and American consumers’ atti-
tudes toward this emerging, international promotional
medium. Journal of Advertising, 29(4), pp. 41–59.
Govani, S. 1999. Product placement in movies - is it really
so bad? Christian Science Monitor, 91(52), p. 11.
Gupta, P.B. & Lord, K.R. 1998. Product placement in
movies: the effect of prominence and mode on recall.
Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising,
20(1), pp. 47–59.
Hall, E.T. 1976. Beyond culture. Anchor Press, Garden
City, NY.
Heeter, C. & Cohen, E. 1988.Viewing style differences
between radio and television. In C. Hector & B.S.
Greenberg (eds) Cableviewing. Norwood, NJ: Ablex
Publishing, pp. 113–122.
Jin, D.Y. 2006. Cultural politics in Korea’s contemporary
films under neoliberal globalization. Media, Culture &
Society, 28(1), pp. 5–23.
Karrh, J.A. 1998. Brand placement: a review. Journal of
Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 20(2), pp.
31–49.
Karrh, J.A., Frith, K.T. & Callison, C. 2003. Audience
attitudes towards brand (product) placement: Singapore
and the United States. International Journal of Adver-
tising, 20(1), pp. 3–24.
Kassarjian, H.H. 1977. Content analysis in consumer
research. Journal of Consumer Research, 4(3), pp. 8–18.
Kim, D. 2005. TV without commercials. Dong-A Daily
News. December 30.
Kim, S. 2004. Developing PPL Marketing. HanKyung
Business. May 17.
Kim, J. 2004. PPL Marketing. Dongyang News. December
02.
Korean Film Council. 2006. Korean Film Industry Statis-
tics, July1. (http://www.kofic.or.kr/contents/html/ in-
dex.aspx?MenuId = 131).
Korean Film Council. 2005. Box Office, 31 August.
(http://www.kofic.or.kr/movie/movie.asp).
Korean Film Council. 2004. Exports of Korean Films by
Year, 31 August. (http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr /statis-
tics/statistics01 06.asp).
Krugman, D.M., Cameron, G.T. & White, C.M. 1995.
Visual attention to programming and commercials: the
use of in-home observations. Journal of Advertising,
24(1), pp. 1–12.
Limb, Jae-un. 2005. Paying off the stars through advertis-
ing. JoongAng Daily. May 13.
Mandese, J. (2004). Facing the DVR’s Future. Television
Week, 23(11), p. 27.
McKechnie, S.A. & Zhou, J. 2003. Product placement in
movies: a comparison of Chinese and American con-
sumers’ attitudes. International Journal of Advertising,
22(3), pp. 349–374.
Morton, C.R. & Friedman, M. 2002. ‘I saw it in the movies’:
exploring the link between product placement beliefs
 Sung, Choi and de Gregorio
and reported usage behaviors. Journal of Current Issues
and Research in Advertising, 24(2), pp. 33–40.
Motion Picture Association. 2006. US Entertainment
Industry: 2005 MPA Market Statistics.
Nebenzahl, I.D. & Secunda, E. 1992. Consumers’ attitudes
toward product placement in movies. International
Journal of Advertising, 12(1), pp. 1–11.
Nelson, M.R. & McLeod, L.E. 2005. Adolescent brand con-
sciousness and product placements: awareness, liking,
and perceived effects on self and others. International
Journal of Consumer Studies, 29(6), pp. 515–528.
Nisbet, R.E. 2003. The geography of thought: How Asians
and Westerners think differently and why. New York:
The Free Press.
Paquet, D. 2006. Koreans cut pic quotas. Variety, 401(11),
p. 19.
Perreault, W.D., Jr & Leigh, L.E. 1989. Reliability of
nominal data based on qualitative judgments. Journal
of Marketing Research, 26(2), pp. 135–48.
PQ Media 2007. Product Placement Spending in Media
2006.
Russell, C.A. 2002. Investigating the effectiveness of
product placements in television shows: the role of
modality and plot connection congruence on brand
memory and attitude. Journal of Consumer Research,
29(3), pp. 306–318.
Sapolsky, B.S. & Kinney, L. 1994. You oughta be in
pictures: product placements in the top-grossing films
of 1991. In Proceedings of the 1994 Conference of the
American Academy of Advertising, (Ed.) King, K.W., p.
89. Athens, GA: American Academy of Advertising.
View publication stats
53
Sauer, A. 2004. Brandsploitation: A New Genre in
Film. September 27, (http://www.brandchannel.com/
feature effect.asp).
Segrave, K. 2004. Product Placement in Hollywood Films:
A History. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
Solomon, M.R. & Englis, B.G. 1994. The big picture: prod-
uct complementarity and integrated communications.
Journal of Advertising Research, 34(1), pp. 57–64.
Speck, P.S. & Elliott, M.T. 1997. Predictors of advertising
avoidance in print and broadcast media. Journal of
Advertising, 26(3), pp. 61–76.
Stern, B.B. & Russell, C.A. 2004. Consumer responses
to product placement in television sitcoms: genre, sex,
and consumption. Consumption, Markets, and Culture,
7(4), pp. 371–394.
Troup, M.L. 1991. The Captive Audience: A Content
Analysis of Product Placements in Motion Pictures,
Master’s thesis, Florida State University.
Wasko, J., Phillips, M. & Purdie, C. 1993. Hollywood meets
Madison Avenue: the commercialization of US films.
Media, Culture, and Society, 15(2), pp. 271–293.
Yoon, K., Muehling, D.D & Cho, C.H. 1996. A comparison
of Korean and American attitudes towards advertis-
ing. Journal of Marketing Communications, 2(4), pp.
231–245.
SUBMITTED: December 2005
FIRST REVISION: February 2006
SECOND REVISION: February 2007
ACCEPTED: June 2007