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, read more.
Product integration happens a ton in scripted television, so much so that the Writers Guild of America wants it blatantly disclosed. The WGA says: "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." Perhaps this expectation of neutrality increases significantly when dealing with news, as opposed to entertainment.
Going the overt-sponsorship road, the Democrats will be handing out AT&T logo-plastered bags at the Democratic National Convention. It's almost impossible not to see a conflict of interest here (telecom cough cough immunity) but, the Democrats assure that sponsorship does not equal access to politicians.
How should news stations and political parties reconcile high costs with integrity?
Disney
APC
Alessi
I think that it overall it is a buiness and to them its probley just another way to make money on the air. But in a way I do think that depending on what the product is it's not so bad. I mean next week abc may start showing starbucks on thier morning show.
1As long as the product isnt negative like ciggerettes or something. (before yall get me i am a smoker lol)
Product placement drives me insane but then so does just about any type of advertising. I look at advertising as a necessary evil but product placement crosses the line in my opinion.
2I'm sick of corporate logos and products showing up everywhere. TV and film producers make plenty of money without slipping advertisements into shows and movies. I don't care to see your business considerations when I'm watching the news or a t.v. show. Political parties can throw conventions without all the boosterism that just reminds us all whose vote really counts.
3I remember back in 2000 when the Daily Show was covering the conventions then and Jon said something like "The Republican National Convention is being brought to you by old rich white guys and the Democratic National Convention is brought to you by Old Navy... "Old Navy, Old Navy, Old Navy performance fleece!"
I have no idea why that sticks in my head!
That iced coffee looks sooo good... its over 100 here today. I could use some!
4Product placement annoys me--it's not even halfway subtle anymore. Jeez.
Cab, I've had that McDonald's iced coffee, and it was pretty gross, IMO. The only thing worse is 7-11 iced coffee.
5You know who has good coffee?? Wawa gas stations!
I know it sounds crazy, but they even have Kenyan AA, my fav! And its really good and cheap! I miss Wawas!
6i haven't had a 7-11 iced coffee, but around here they have really good sandwiches! real ones that get replaced every day, instead of sit in the cooler for 3 weeks.
7Man, the only halfway decent coffee around me is Starbucks.
Kris, that's a miracle. All the sandwich/fruit stuff at my neighborhood 7-11 is beyond nasty.
8"the Democrats will be handing out AT&T logo-plastered bags at the Democratic National Convention. It's almost impossible not to see a conflict of interest here (telecom cough cough immunity) but, the Democrats assure that sponsorship does not equal access to politicians."
Why can't AT&T and hand out the bags and pay the money directly to the Network for advertising costs? Why does the DNC have to be the middle man at all?
9I for one would rather see subtle product placement rather than have to deal with commercials myself and the pesky ads that run across the bottom of the screen during my favorite show blocking part of the picture driving me out of my blipitygivits mind.
Look at the movie Transformers it was like a parade for every new GM model.
I also hate TV ads at the theater that $#!+ drives me crazy. I don't want to know about heart burn or when the Emmy nominated The Closer is coming on. The President of the Motion Picture Association of America lied too. In the late 90's when people were complaining about the new ads his explanation was the reason tickets keep going up and up and food at concessions is so high is because theaters really aren't making a profit. Allowing this kind of advertising will allow us to ease some of that cost to the consumer. Well ten years later Mr. President and I'm still paying $10 for a freakin hot dog and a med. drink. Liar Liar Pants On Fire!
What they where banking on is that people would give up complaining and as kids grow up going to the movies with the ads they'll see it as the norm and not complain about.
10Ooh, I didn't even think about those movie theater ads, hypno--those are so freaking irritating!
11That's probably the most important point Hypno - all this advertising hasn't saved the consumer anything.
12I cannot express how angry those movie theater ads make me.
I do not want to pay to see an ad! I
try to get to some movies a little late so I don't have to see them, but when I know a movie will be super-crowded, I want to get there at least a few minutes early to get a decent seat!
13I think a lot of it (product placement on tv in particular) has to do with the fact that people have new methods of watching tv (i.e. DVR or online). Therefore, advertisers need to come up with new methods. It bothers me the most when it's blatant, a la Coke on American Idol or Victoria's Secret on the latest season of the Real World. (I only watched like 2.5 episodes and it was still obvious!)
14"I think a lot of it (product placement on tv in particular) has to do with the fact that people have new methods of watching tv"
That's a great point.
For online TV, I think Hulu is pretty decent--I found the occasional commercials a little annoying, but one commercial per break online is a lot better than the, what, 5 or 6? per commercial break on TV.
15Well product placement also helps pay for movie's expenses, movies today are NOT cheap to make, someone has to foot the 100 million+ price tag and the producers don't always have the money themselves. So some movies take the placement so the movie can get made. Yes, its annoying, but I still want my movies!
16Remember when they spoofed product placement in Wayne's World? What was that, 1991? They didn't even know the worst of it!
17UGH! The worst offenders are those that put mandatory ads on DVDs - I bought a 2 discs BBC movie for $30 in US format and at the begining of EACH disc there is a 5 minute ad of every BBC movie ever created! I can't even watch my entire movie at once, I have to sit through the ad in the middle as well as in the begining - you can't fast forward!
At first I thought I might be DVD-stupid but I tired everything and it won't let me skip the damn ad - (if anyone knows how, don't hold back).
It made me so mad, I paid more than enough to not have to watch that stupid ad twice everytime I watch my movie, at least have the decency to allow people to skip it or all them to skip it after the first time - hell charge me more if thats what it takes!
18I agree movies are expensive - but an awful lot of producers are rolling in money out here: it still seems to me that we're suffering through extra ads because their main focus is the profit not the product.
19Which I understand many people are okay with that because that's what business is all about etc., but to me, if I have to extend any extra effort, i.e. endure extra advertising, your product begins to lose my interest and support. I don't watch t.v. or go to the movies to worry about your profit margin.
This just makes me think of Wayne's World and giggle. Little, Yellow, Different.
20
21http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFYhupmhhBw
22My comments are sponsored by Skyy Vodka.
23Mine are brought to you by Tums, TumsTums, Tums Tummmmmms.
24with tivo and dvr people are just fast-forwarding through commercials so this seems like a more cost-effective way of advertising. this is just an old advertising practice being re-hashed for modern convenience. personally, i really don't mind something negligible like coffee cups on a local morning news program or coca-cola in a movie... it's only mirroring real-life anyway. it beats sitting through a 30 sec commercial and you know what? those mcdonald's iced coffees are actually pretty darn good. i agree with jennisuga- as long as it isn't negative or offensive, what's the harm?
25I wish we didn't have product placement advertising, but it's a smart idea, so all we can do is pay attention. Anyone want to buy a Mercedes, go shopping for Manolos while drinking Starbucks and chatting on your iPhone pulled out of your purse on loan from Bag, Borrow, or Steal after watching the Sex and the City movie?
26Only if I can have Smart Water, too!
27reeses pieces first product placement ever in E.T. remember the scene?
28Of course! They wanted to use M&Ms, but M&Ms didn't want to be associated with a "monster movie."
29Right, Smartwater in your LV bag. The advertising was distracting in that movie. I half expect Carrie to get a Nike tattoo on her forehead in the sequel.
30THE MARK OF THE BEAST!
31Didn't Sugar have a deal with Vitamin Water a few months back....
32I think so. Weren't all the Sugar characters wearing Banana Republic and holding Vitamin Water? At least they were upfront about it, though. There was some announcement about the deal.
33where's the pot calling the kettle black emoticon?
34Well, those were not covert. There's still a lot of brand placement, though. Pop has a Chanel bag, Fit is using an iPod. Surprisingly, Geek is not holding an iPhone. I don't think those were paid for, though.
35well I guess if we want a free site, we get ads, huh?
36Right. Did anyone else see that post on PetSugar quite a while back about those WholeMeals bars? They had been advertised on the site for a while, and then there was a regular post about them. The first, like, 5 comments were all like, "I get why you let them advertise but I can't believe you endorse such a low quality product!" and I think in about an hour it had been grey boxed and marked more clearly as advertising.
37i think it's part of making money
38as more and more americans turn to TiVo and bypass commericials
companies are forced to become more innovative in their product placement
personally i think it's business and doesn't bother me none
advertorials make me do this
that happened on Fit Sugar once too. She had posted this whole "Fittingly Mad" post about how stupid the machine leg magic was and tearing it apart. And then I started noticing a few months later advertisements for the product!
39I think there is a conflict of interest with these product placement thingys showing up in a newscast, sorry. It's fine for a light talk show like Regis & Kelly for example, but I don't want to see that stuff in a newscast.
40It's a local morning show. How serious could it be?
41Do they want to signal to the audience that it's just a local morning news show and it shouldn't be taken seriously?
42So no one knows if there is a way to get rid of my DVD commercial....it really is a mandatory commercial...
I was hoping I was DVD incompetent!
43The McDonalds coffee is horrible!! It tastes like it has been kept on the warmer for a week...and then they throw a few ice cubes in it. The announcers probably pour their starbucks coffee into the McDonalds cups.
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