product placement and comics

the newest trick in the industry is also the oldest one

The advertising industry seems to have rediscovered a beautiful classic communication medium: comic books. As we all know, kids are just one half of the comics' fans. The other half is formed of avid, still-childish adults (mostly boys) that crave for Marvel or DC stories just as some of their peers crave for stylish cars or nice houses for their future families.

Anyway, advertisers understood that they have to catch consumers wherever they are - and how better to catch someone who mostly stays at home, plays videogames and lives in a world of his own than by invitedly entering his home?

Comics have always been used for product placement - they've been welcoming advertising in their pages since 1935 as MIT advertising lab shows us. Above (left) you can see a comic strip featuring all-time hero Green Arrow (via tomorrow's heroes), saving some kids from trouble and also offering them "a big delight in every bite" of Hostess Fruit Pies.

To the right there's a more contemporary piece of the New X-men comic book (via clickable culture), presenting the Nike swoosh in a pretty favourable light.

So what does the future hold? A nice partnership between comics and a whole range of products - beauty&care are next, after the car invasion - as Brian Steinberg writes in "Look--Up in the sky! Product placement!", citing DC staff.