What does Greeking mean?
Greeking refers to the practice of replacing real, recognizable brand names, logos, text, and signage with fictional or illegible substitutes in a production’s props and set dressing — to avoid trademark issues, clearance costs, and unwanted brand associations. Rather than showing a real product’s label, logo, or name on camera, the art department creates generic or fictional alternatives. The term derives from the expression ‘it’s Greek to me’ — implying text or information that is meaningless or unreadable. Greeking is also used in graphic design to describe the use of placeholder text.
Example:The art department greeked all the cereal boxes on the kitchen set — replacing real brand names with fictional ones — ensuring the production would not need clearance from any cereal manufacturer for their appearance in the background of the scene.
Example: The prop master was asked to greek the laptop screen so that no real software interface, website, or application would be visible — covering the screen with a fictional interface designed to look generically realistic without triggering any clearance obligations.
Did you know?
The degree to which productions must greek their props and sets depends significantly on how prominently products appear and in what context. A product clearly visible in a positive context might actually welcome the free exposure and grant permission willingly. The same product appearing in a negative context — associated with criminal activity, poor lifestyle choices, or unflattering scenarios — will almost certainly deny permission and must be greeked. Productions that fail to greek appropriately face the risk of expensive legal demands from rights holders discovered during post-production.
You can also find “Greeking” and related terms in this category: Filming and Production.
