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Product Placement Catching On

Culture

from the it's-everywhere,-just-like-American-Express dept

Fri, Sep 6th 2002 1:06pm — Mike Masnick
We've talked before about how some are experimenting with non-commercial break methods of producing TV shows. MIT's Tech Review has an article pointing out that product placement is growing in popularity on TV shows, even if you hadn't noticed. Apparently, folks like Nokia and Ford have "sponsored" debut programs of Alias and 24 so that they could be shown entirely without commercials, but with plenty of well placed Nokias and Fords. Some think this is a bad thing, since it blurs the line between advertising and entertainment, but others say it adds a lot more "reality" to these TV shows by putting real brands and real products in the show. Of course, this means that those "real" products will never get used for anything bad, explaining why all the good guys on 24 had to use Macs.
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  • identicon
    Jason Scott, 9 Sep 2002 @ 10:16pm

    Actually, a Lot Worse in the Past

    I've gone to a lot of old Science Fiction festivals, which included some 1950's SF TV shows, and believe me, if you think the current move is new, you should see that stuff. The actors will literately be on the same set, in the same costumes, and suddenly, a conversation about cigarettes or breakfast cereal will start and they'll all naturally endorse a product, which is right there. They'll look right at the camera, tell the kids how great it is, and then saym basically, that if you're a fan of the show, you're a fan of the product.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]


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