Spotted: Vitamin Water Uses Product Placement in Gossip Girl 11/23/14

It is no secret that the Gossip Girl series on TV was wildly popular.  It reached out to millions of fans during the duration of the 6 season show, and even today is watched by many over sites like Netflix and Hulu.  Gossip Girl is and was a big influence on (especially) teenage girls.  Gossip Girl, as summarized by Netflix, is a series in which "rich, unreasonably attractive private school students do horrible, scandalous things to each other.  Repeatedly."  Along with spouting unrealistic expectations for teens, Gossip Girl also conspicuously markets to them.  Vitamin Water is one example.

Vitamin Water is seen multiple times throughout the series.  The above example is when Vitamin Water is being served at a "Black and White Party," where the guests wear either black or white.  One of the really attractive men in the show, Chuck Bass, is seen drinking Vitamin Water in this seen.  By including Vitamin Water in the scene, it is marketing it in a way that is desirable for teens.  Teenage girls may see Chuck Bass drinking Vitamin Water and believe that if they too drink it, their life may be as wonderful as his.  Or they might get the impressions that Vitamin Water is drunk only by rich, good looking people with exciting lives.  Either way, it is clear that seeing Vitamin Water many times during the duration of the show will leave the viewers with a good impression of the product.  

Also in the party scene, this photo shows attractive people drinking Vitamin Water, again demonstrating the idea that only rich, good looking people drink Vitamin Water, and if the viewers too drinks it, surely they will live this kind of life.  People in the audience will project what they like about the show onto the product.  For example, if they love the show because it romantic, they may associate romance with Vitamin Water if it was drunk in a romantic scene.  

However, nowhere in Gossip Girl does in actually say how good or bad Vitamin Water is for you.  No warning is given to the amount of sugar or calories that are in these drinks.  The marketers for the product rely solely on the viewers' perception of the show to influence purchase of the product, and do not give any facts of the product itself.  

This is an ad for both Vitamin Water and Gossip Girl.  This ad directly ties Gossip Girl with Vitamin Water, and even though it is not as discrete as the product placement, it still encourages teens to buy Vitamin Water to be like the characters on Gossip Girl.  

-Liv