Obscure lyrics…FTW!
I’m way late on this, but this evening I’ve discovered the brilliant blog “Consumerist”. Its been an interesting read, if only for the collection of customer service horror stories. Anyways, I came across this article, which ABC News (radio, anyway) also reported on.
http://consumerist.com/tag/fcc/?i=5020384&t=fcc-to-reevaluate-embedded-advertising-on-television
The FCC is going to look at “embedded advertising”. Basically, that’s product placement as well as product names being dropped into conversation. To give an example, the post mentions an episode of 7th Heaven where the characters talk about how great Oreos are. And really, who doesn’t like Oreos?
Anyway, it seems that a whole lot of people are upset about this sort of practice. Of course, if Tivo didn’t come along and give us the awesome power to skip commercials, we wouldn’t be here. Oh, and also, if your typical commercial break wasn’t 3 plus minutes.
Anyway, my question is, does having customers talk about Oreos and how awesome Walgreens is bother you? It doesn’t bother me. Maybe its from my sports watching background, where we’re inundated with ads. Every stat is sponsored, there’s usually advertising on or near the field, sometimes on uniforms, and on and on. If you think thats bad, play a sports video game. Not only do they put in thinks like the “Pontiac Game-Changing Performance” in the game, but it could be argued that the feature adds to the realism of the gaming experience. Its just like a broadcasted game because….its sponsored!
So, excuse me if I don’t care if Clark Kent says “Acuvue to the rescue” or if the cast of “Life on Mars” decides to mention their appreciation for all thinks Quizno’s. As long as the premise of an episode doesn’t revolve around a product…then who really cares?
After all, how many of us have brand loyalties in our own lives? Am I the only one who has gotten into a Better Cheddars vs Cheeze-Its debate? (Better Cheddars, btw. Cheeze-its are downright gross.) I think in our daily lives we drop brand names and preferences without second though. Yet, then our favorite characters refer to it as anything other than BRAND X COOKIES, we’re supposed to grab the torches and burn down the evil, corporate network?
I don’t buy that argument. I just consider this the natural evolution of television entertainment. Look, in Blade Runner, there’s a Coke ad the size of an LA skyscraper. Congrats to the TV industry for catching up with the movies.
Thank you, that is all.
Alan
Starbucks has a lot to chalk up to product placement. I mean hell, look at Sex and the city! Not only does she have a starbucks in several scene in most episodes, but in the movie they filmed in a real starbucks! I can’t tell you how many times I see a sbux cup and tell the person next to me… “product placement, go starbucks”. This gets annoying to the other person I’m sure considering coffee trips tend to happen more than once in a show or movie. Anyways, I guess if they don’t cheese up the shows with it, then who cares. Advertising is a HUGE part of our lives and no one can seem to figure it out that without it, we would have no newspapers or be able to afford them even if we did, we wouldn’t hear about a new product and think, wow that might be my new favorite thing… they’d be stuck with some nameless brand that hopefully isn’t sketchy, and also what the hell is it anyways? Yeah, I agree with you Hoffmann. Also if people dislike it so much, STOP WATCHING SO MUCH TV and go do something with your life! And… I’m done.
Alan,
I thought of your post tonight as we were driving the boys to swimming lessons. Jason pointed out the starbucks we drove by. He can’t really read, but he recognizes the letters and logo’s of every Starbuck’s we pass. And he doesn’t even consume any of their products!.
Wendy
A group once did studies where they took kids that couldn’t read and tested them for brand recognition. American kids pass with flying colors. Brand recognition is an incredibly powerful force. I don’t know how much tv advertising Starbucks does (I don’t think its much) but I would venture that Jason knows a lot of logos from watching TV ads.
The point of this post isn’t so much though to talk about advertising in general. Its a very specific type of advertising. Its not even product placement, really. Its brand names being written into dialouge. In a way, I support THIS type of advertising, because its fairly forgettable. If they go on and on about how how great oreos are, then whatever. It still might be advertising, but its not putting up a bright logo and screaming “BUY ME!” Its intrusive, yes, but not nearly as much as taking a 3 minute block of ads in the middle of a show. The FCC feels like this is something to look at, but I’m not the biggest fan of their priorities. The FCC currently advocates allowing people to buy larger and larger market shares (and in the meantime get rid of local radio…and also has the gall to complain about the XM-Sirius merger….) but wants to over-censor everything and investigate non-intrusive advertising.
Sigh…