The state of the motion picture industry is reviewed, focusing on needed change in the practice of product placement. The study of the placements of advertising in films should be of interest to the student of visual literacy. Product placers are using films to advertise their products to entertainment seekers. The viewer, often a child, may not be aware that the products featured are being advertised. The director is no longer the person in charge of the film, as the film has become the property of the New Auteur, the product placer, the corporate huckster. The New Auteur movement is broken down into various stages of product promotion, culminating in the arrangement of movies specifically as vehicles for products. Regardless of the reaction of legislators or regulators, those who teach visual literacy need to teach the audiences of films to view them critically. (Contains 36 references.) (SLD)