Product placement in manga and manhwa

Ian Wolf

Ian Wolf

Mushi-shi
AUKN Staff
I was wondering what the laws are concerning product placement in manga and manhwa are. I ask because last night I read "Lizzie Newton: Victorian Mysteries" Volume 2, and early on in the book it says that one of Newton's first books was called "Lawyer Detective K.F.C." and the picture of the books front cover depicts Colonel Sanders with a pipe and deer-stalker. Is this a joke or a plug?
 
Nothing to stop it happening. One that I always remember (in anime anyhow) is Code Geass where everyone only eats Pizza Hut pizza.
 
dapprman said:
Nothing to stop it happening. One that I always remember (in anime anyhow) is Code Geass where everyone only eats Pizza Hut pizza.
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I thought that one was official sponsorship?

I'm used to seeing "knock offs" in anime, like HNV (my personal favourite), WcDonalds etc. I was actually concerned about what the legality of this was when I was writing my book, as there's a scene where characters eat marmite and strangely enough, it's actually important. I tried to contact Marmite about it, but they said they themselves had no idea if it was legal or not (in the end, I didn't use the name "Marmite").
 
I'm pretty sure no-one ever got into trouble mentioning brand names in works of fiction, provided they're not making serious defamatory accusations against said product. And even if that is a problem I imagine it could be gotten around by having a fictional character (whose views are therefore not necessarily those of the author) make the controversial statements, like so:

"I've heard Marmite is made of liquidised horse penises" said Rita, which had a visibly negative effect on Eric's enjoyment of his morning toast.
 
I have absolutely no idea what it's like for Korea (it'll be different in different countries), but in Japan 99% of the official products shown are slightly concealed and not actual product placement. Instead, the author will be making a joke or reference to a product they like for realism. It would have to be a big series for the brands to take an interest and actively promote their stuff, so it's much more likely with an anime movie, and then it's usually pretty obvious that they're doing it. Tiger & Bunny is probably the best example of deliberate product placement ever.

We had a similar discussion once which hit a few of the most obvious cases:

http://www.animeuknews.net/forums/viewt ... p?p=322230

R
 
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