地點置入: 地方政府影視觀光政策的分析

Since 2004, local governments in Taiwan have aggressively initiated the so-called film tourism policy, setting up such agencies as film commissions and filmmaking assistance center and heavily funding media production, in order to promote tourist sites in the counties or municipalities. This article adopts the approach of critical studies in communication and proposes the concept of "place placement" to analyze why such policy is an emergent form of product placement, how it is institutionalized and what impacts it has on the content and production of subsidized films. The findings show that film tourism policy, aiming at city marketing rather than developing the media industries, is a paid form of product placement. It has influenced the shooting locations, scenes, plots and characters presented in media products. Despite the benefits of financial support, it also limits free expression of artistic creativity and cultural specification of films. However, such form of product placement is disguised with government funding and assistance.