Apparently Fay Weldon has written a book length plug for Bulgari.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/03/business/media/03BOOK.html?searchpv=day01 Two questions:
Do other board members have any opinions on the desirability or otherwise of this becoming a general trend?
And more fun: what products would lead themselves to this approach in what genres?
Bingley
Long time ago, travel writers got "freebies" then wrote about the place/cruise/hotel etc.. ... the better writers -in general - were objective ... others wrote puff pieces. Now a day reputable magazines and publishers insist writers be able to prove they paid their own way.
In my newspaper days, Ottaway Newspapers/Dow Jones required that the company pay any charges associated with the subject of a story (i.e. theater tickets for a play) to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.
I can't see untried writers benefitting from payment-for-book ... just the well known. And do they need to do it?
I have no objection to names of products in books when they flow naturally in the narrative. But "Paid Placement?"
Too bad we can't hear an opinion on the subject from Truman Capote !
Bingley, would you mind giving a capsule of what the article is about? I categorically refuse to sign up with the NY Times, but I'd like to know what interested you.
The article just said that Bulgari (a jeweller's) had paid Fay Weldon (a reasonably well-known novelist in the UK, I don't know about the US and other parts) "an undisclosed sum" for their products to be mentioned at least 12 times in her latest novel, which she obligingly has called "The Bulgari Connection". It's described as the next wave of proudct placement and other advertisers may follow suit.
Bingley
Oh,
greedy people! Ooh, I hate that, though in actuality I don't think I'd mind reading brand names. I see them every day, after all. But it's the principle of the thing that gets me--grr!
Here's another link showing greed (thanks, Juanmaria) :
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,32179,00.html
When I read the first post in this I saw Bulgari and assumed the final a in Bulgaria was dropped. My immediate thought was that a book that plugged Bulgaria would be VERY short!