8/14/2019 Branded: Negotiating Consumerism in Fiction

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In recent years, consumerism has taken an increasingly prominent place inentertainment. Powerhouse companies have gone from mere advertisements—commercials during television shows, billboards outside ballparks, joint adver-tisements with blockbuster movies—to what many people consider a blatantoveruse and occasionally even abuse of product placement in sports coliseums,movies, TV shows, and even books, such as Lauren Weisburger’s best-sellingThe Devil Wears Prada .

What probably began as a harmless and even unconscious attempt by authorsto bring a sense of realism and verisimilitude to their writing has been eagerlypounced upon by advertising firms, who now pay movie producers and authorsto feature their products in their stories. In the literary world, this has becomemost obvious in young adult fiction (specifically books aimed at girls), whicheven go to such lengths as interrupting the flow of the story in order to statelengthy product details.

As a writer who rarely reads popular young adult fiction, I remained mostlyunaware of this phenomenon until last year when I neared the conclusion of my

fantasy novel Dreamers Come . Because half of the novel takes places in 21st-century Chicago, it provided me the first opportunity in years to write about amodern-day setting, complete with brand names.

In my ever-evolving quest to find that perfect “telling” detail that will bringscenes to life before my readers’ eyes, I included brand names, especially whenit came to food and cars. My main character’s best friend owned a VolkswagenBug; his ex-girlfriend drove a Ford Mustang; his boss wanted a Dodge Viper. Inthe first draft, Orville Redenbacher, Egos, Nestea, Holiday Inn, Days Inn, Four

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Branded: Negotiating Consumerism in Fiction

8/14/2019 Branded: Negotiating Consumerism in Fiction

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8/14/2019 Branded: Negotiating Consumerism in Fiction

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About the Author : K.M. Weiland grew upchasing Billy the Kid and Jesse James onhorseback through the sand hills of westernNebraska, where she still lives. A lifelongfan of history and the power of the writtenword, she enjoys sharing both through hermany fictional stories and her novel, A ManCalled Outlaw. Visit her blog "Wordplay" toread her take on the writing life.

www.wordplay-kmweiland.blogspot.comwww.kmweiland.com/podcast/podcast.php

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