Lady Gaga's Music Ads Video?

Is Lady Gaga for sale? Her nine-minute video for "Telephone" has fans and critics going crazy, but what they don't know is that it is one big advertisement.
The babes-behind-bars clip features a bounty of product placement. You can see the video HERE (warning: PG-13 content).
And here are the products it's pushing:
Virgin Mobile - A phone is snatched from a butch prison yard toughie's waistband (2:07)

Diet Coke - Cans are used as rollers in Lady Gaga's hair (2:22)

Wonder Bread & Miracle Whip - Those are the magic ingredients in sandwiches made by Gaga (6:35)

Polaroid - A camera is used to photograph Beyonce (5:45) [By the way, Gaga is Polaroid's creative director and inventor of specialty products after inking a deal with the brand in January.]

Also look out for Heartbeats Headphones (1:34), Chanel (2:17), PlentyOfFish.com (4:27), and Hewlett Packard (4:24).

Are these brands getting value for money? Quite possibly. "Telephone" has notched up more than 22 million plays on YouTube since its launch on March 13. It's enough to make it one of the top-rated clips of the week.
Gaga's manager, Troy Carter, told Ad Age magazine that several of the companies, including Diet Coke and Wonder Bread, didn't pay to be featured in the video--although he admitted that Miracle Whip did pony up some dough, so to speak. (A spokesperson for the faux mayo confirmed this to Ad Age.) Carter also said that the Virgin Mobile, Heartbeats, Polaroid, and Hewlett Packard placements were technically unpaid, as they were extensions of his star client's existing marketing partnerships. As for Plenty Of Fish, which has reportedy experienced a 15 percent traffic increase since the video's debut, company VP Kimberly Kaplan told Ad Age that the dating site made into the video via an ongoing partnership with Gaga's label, Interscope Records.
"If Michael Jackson was making 'Thriller' [today], he would do this too," insisted Carter. "These million-dollar music videos have to have partners to be produced."
Gaga's video ends with this promise: "To be continued." It's a good bet that advertisers already are scrambling for some exposure in Part 2.  But is Lady Gaga in danger of selling out? What do you think?

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Posted in: Lady Gaga's Music Ads Video