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Morning News Anchors Drink McDonald's Coffee (For Cash)

LibertySugar — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:15:00 -0700

Each morning news anchors on Fox's Las Vegas affiliate sit in front of very visible McDonald's iced coffee cups, part of a product-placement deal. The fast-food chain sponsors the two-hour morning news-and-lifestyle segment, but instead of commercial breaks, the advertisement happens during the news.

Since advertisement dollars already influence networks, I think the product-placement deal raises some old conflict of interest concerns. The producers say they would pull the cups if they had to report a negative story about McDonald's, just as they would pull a regular commercial. Still, the covertness of the promotion could deceive some viewers not aware that McDonald's paid for the cups' placement.

To find out how political parties are incorporating product placement, and how the industry sees it,

Do You Think Product Integration Should Stop Trying to Be So Sneaky?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:30:16 -0700

The Writers Guild of America is sick of having to write storylines in TV shows solely to feature a product or brand, so much so that the group is bringing the issue to the FCC. The WGA is hoping to make it so that any kind of advertisement is blatantly disclosed, and writers don't have to sneakily work products into a plotline where they maybe don't make sense. geeksugar has questioned the product integration on Gossip Girl, noting that the show is clearly required to use Verizon products, but the gadgets used by the characters don't make sense for their characters. WGA West president Patric Verrone explains that with product integration, "the hope is that consumers, not expecting to find a commercial within their program, will fail to realize they are actually being advertised to. This practice exploits the emotional connection viewers have with shows and their characters in order to sell a product." He goes on to claim that audiences are alienated by these sneaky tactics, though "an industry source" counters that "product placement has not been an issue for viewers."What do you think? Should shows stop trying to work in products, sometimes at the expense of consistency within the story? Or does it not bother you?Photo courtesy of the CW

Do You Think Product Integration Should Stop Trying to Be So Sneaky?

Yes. Product placement is so obnoxious when they try to "work it in."

Maybe. I can definitely see how it would be troublesome for writers.

Nah. It doesn't bug me.

Other (tell us below)

30 Rock's Product Placement: Brilliant or Annoying?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:43:17 -0800

One of my favorite things about 30 Rock is the sly way the show savages corporate culture — from Jack Donaghy's title (Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming) to the hilarious Greenzo episode that poked fun at NBC's Green is Universal initiative. But I'm conflicted about the show's increasingly blatant product placement. I initially thought the gags were hilarious — remember the scene in the "Jack-Tor" episode where the writers complained about having to do product placement, all the while plugging Snapple? — but recently, they've been grating on me.

Unsurprisingly, NBC is getting paid for those placements, even when 30 Rock makes them into over-the-top jokes. The show has had 142 product placements this season — which, interestingly, isn't nearly as many as The Office, which has had 381 product placements so far. But I don't notice the advertising as much on The Office, probably because the show doesn't intentionally draw attention to the products it's plugging as much as 30 Rock does (the episode where Dwight quits to work at Staples notwithstanding).

With more and more people skipping commercials these days, product placement is probably here to stay. But would you rather have it done in a subtle way or in a direct and over-the-top style like 30 Rock's? As annoying as it can be, I do respect the way 30 Rock makes it obvious that we're being advertised to, and it fits the tone of the show — up to a point, anyway. Where would you draw the line? To watch a clip of the most obvious recent placement, just

David Lynch On Product Placement In Films

GiggleSugar — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 04:00:00 -0700

David Lynch's films may be long and inscrutable (Inland Empire was over three hours long) but his answers to obvious questions are short and sweet. (Well, not so sweet here.)