Lexus Seeks Product Placement in Magazines

GM says it won’t

Toyota Motor Corp.’s luxury division is seeking national magazines willing to allow Lexus to provide cars in order to illustrate stories in “groundbreaking” ways, says Lexus division VP of marketing, Deborah Wahl Meyer, according to AdAge. While Lexus is actively pursuing print product placement, the company would not pay for placement or make advertising conditional upon placement, a spokesperson for the company says.

GM, Ford Motor Co., and DaimlerChrysler’s Chrysler group have claimed they are not pursuing print product placement, though if a magazine comes knocking with a need for a car, they’re happy to make that happen. “But it’s not part of our media buy,” says Ford spokesman Dave Reuter.

While industry watchdogs view the practice with alarm, the total value of product placements in magazines is on pace to grow 17.5 percent in 2005 to $160.9 million, MediaPost recently reported.

The American Society of Magazine Editors opposes product placement in magazines, according to the Society’s executive director, Marlene Kahan. New guidelines, with additional rules on product placement, will be published later this year, she says.