Abstracts & Papers
Selling the Bond Image. Merchandizing and Product Placement in the James Bond Movies
Is there any hope to look like Sean Connery or Pierce Brosnan after a shave with a razer beautified by the 007 logo? Do people buy a BMW expecting their cars to be equipped with changeable licence plates, remote control and rocket launchers? Would there be a chance for the normal down-to-earth person to do spectacular stunts in a skiing area that was once used to film a James Bond movie?
Well, one would guess not. So to be James Bond is impossible, to play James Bond lacking the right equippment rather difficult. What then still is so fascinating and encouraging about buying Bond related products? Still, even if there is no direct relation to the action hero, there seems to be quite some demand on products that offer the highest amount of possible heroic identification.
I would like to lead my questions into three directions, first concerning the product placement in the James Bond movies (e.g. BMW in Tomorrow Never Dies), second looking at products that are ornamented with a 007 logo (e.g. filofaxes, coffee cups and razers), and third I will focus on those products and images that make use of a certain reference to Bond (e.g. a skiing area in Switzerland that still calls itself Piz Gloria after the name given in the movie On her Majesty's Secret Service).
The Bond movies are not an exception to sell everything that can be sold. An endless list of films, tv series, soap operas, sitcoms and also music groups offer the same pattern of money-making. Looking at The Simpsons, Disney movies, Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten, Take That - you can buy even underwear decorated with Mickey Mouse, Robbie Williams or Bart Simpson. I feel a need to discover why and how merchandizing is economicly possible. How the demand of such products grows and forms. Moving on to explore the general nature and power of cult statusses, I hope to get a grip on the logic of the fascination cult figures can develop.
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