E-Lites in Lily Allen's new video
Friday, November 15, 2013 at 3:07 I've met Mike Ryan, chairman of E-Lites, twice recently.
He was at the E-Cigarette Summit in London on Tuesday.
A few days earlier we had a long chat at another event and he let slip that E-Lites were going to feature in a forthcoming Lily Allen video.
The video was released this week and has attracted a lot of publicity, but for reasons other than product placement.
Described by the Guardian as a "sweary, controversy-stirring ode to gender inequality", 'Hard Out Here' was allegedly "created specifically to drum up controversy, engage a debate and represent the now".
If so it's succeeded. See Lily Allen denies accusations that Hard Out Here music video is racist (Guardian), and Why people are angry about Lily Allen's new video (Time).
With all the arguments about sexism and race, the presence of E-Lites might have gone unnoticed. Not a bit of it.
Marketing reports that E-Lites secures product placement 'first' in Lily Allen's 'Hard Out Here' video.
Meanwhile the New Statesman (which sent a journalist to the E-Cigarette Summit) has listed "five things you need to know about Lily Allen's [new] video". One of them is 'You need electronic cigarettes':
Product placement became legal in 2010, but has kept itself fairly low key since the law changed. There’s no denying that electronic cigarettes E-Lites are after the demographic who know and love Lily Allen’s music videos. Proper bitches smoke electronic cigarettes ...
Released two days ago the video has already been viewed almost three million times.
Mike Ryan and the rest of the E-Lites team must be thrilled.
Reader Comments (4)
Released two days ago the video has already been viewed almost three million times.
Right, so the fact that it has been viewed so many times means that it is wonderful? Who can say? As I see it, it is crude and ugly, but not illegal. That is my personal opinion. Frankly, I think that it 'stinks like an ashtray'. I would certainly not wish to involve myself with E-lights.
Having said that, I must admit that some of the girls on the vid are 'smokeable'.
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A vague thought. We know that ASH ET AL rely entirely upon statistical surveys, generally conducted by YouGov.
Question: IS THERE A SIMPLE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VIEWS AND UPTAKE, or is the relationship minuscule.
That leads us to the idea that people who deliberately seek out some information are far more likely to accept that information.
That idea leads me to think that any demand which may have come from videos is massively transient. The demand for knowledge in these transactions is almost non-existent. It is almost all emotion.
E Lites - are they not the ones who sent out press releases to denigrate tobacco consumers at work by claiming they skive off more than those who don't smoke - or who use E Lites of course.
An apology would be nice plus a promise that they won't attack their potential customers like this again. Until then, they should be boycotted and I certainly don't want to read about them - or be bothered to watch the video
"E Lites - are they not the ones who sent out press releases to denigrate tobacco consumers at work by claiming they skive off more than those who don't smoke - or who use E Lites of course."
Exactly, Pat. This is just hypocrisy writ very large as it's an attack on the very people on whom they are wholly dependent. Talk about biting the hand that feeds them.
Indeed Blad - which is why recently when I noticed them on sale at my local shop, I explained the situation and asked my shopkeeper if he would stop supplying them and seek another product manufacturer's goods to stock instead as an alternative.
I have no problem with E Cigs - just abusive E Cig companies. You might like to pass the message on to Mike Ryan if you should happen to bump into him again, Simon.