Consumers’ Responses to Product Placement in Movies

ABSTRACT Product placement, a covert yet influential advertising technique, has garnered sufficient attention from marketing professionals. To better understand its effectiveness, the present study examined consumers’ perceptions and responses to product placements. The present study used a within‐subjects experimental design. Participants ( N = 600) were asked to watch movie excerpts containing product placements. Following this, they were asked to fill out a structured questionnaire. The results demonstrated that execution factors (prominence and character product interaction [CPI]) and individual difference factors (brand familiarity, product involvement, and appreciation of media content) significantly impact consumers’ brand attitudes, which in turn positively impact purchase intentions. The results also demonstrated that brand self‐congruity positively impacts purchase intentions. This study can help practitioners formulate effective product placement strategies to reach the audiences.