Would Fonzie Sell You A Lexus?

Faux_Pseudo writes: "In an attempt to flood your field of vison with more advertising the NY Times (free reg)has an article on how "digital technology may be used for the first time to place "virtual" products in scenes of a syndicated television series." If you were taken aback by The Duke selling Coors beer you might want to unplug the TV now." This sort of digital manipulation isn't totally new, but it seems like what we've seen so far is just the tip of the reality-distortion iceberg. As xueexueg puts it, "With any luck we'll see Capt. Janeway ask the food replicator for a meal, and a personal pan pizza will materialize."

Comments

Hmm.... Marketing meets FUD. . .

[Salgak1]

(include wacko_conspiracy_theory.h)

That would explain the cancellation of The Lone Gunmen. After all they used LINUX (or at least Langley and Byers did. . . ). M$ obviously paid Fox to take 'em off the air. . .

(/include)

Interesting Antithesis...

[ShieldWolf]

I was watching Happy Gilmore the other day on network television and I noticed that a lot of the product placement ads were digitial REMOVED. For those of you who haven't seen this movie, it is very funny but the product placement goes WAY overboard. For instance TWO scenes take place at a Subway(TM) restaurant and Happy wears a Subway shirt for the last 40 mins of the movie. The weird thing was that the Subway logo was digitially greyed out (correct spelling - I am Canadian :) ) most of the time as were other ads. Technology is a double edged sword ;), we just have to make sure that consumers don't get screwed out of their side of the sword by legislation.

-Shieldwolf

What's the excitement?

[west]

I'm not a free-marketer in general, but it's certainly not a right to have advertisment free entertainment. If the placed ads begin to detract from the enjoyment of the show, then it will start to lose viewers. Obviously, there's a sweet spot somewhere that maximizes revenue.

Is there any reason why the people who own the rights to the shows shouldn't be allowed to attempt to maximize their revenue? I don't see how society would suffer as a whole if the practice became widespread. Obviously the viewers lose, but that's the perogative of a seller who has what a buyer wants: in this case, entertainment.

Of course, when advertising and (theoretically) objective news mix, that's a whole different matter.

It's inevitable

[wiredog]

Making TV programs, and movies, takes money. With Tivo and other PVRs allowing a person to skip over the commercials easily, and home video editing becoming ever easier, the old model of the 'commercial break' is beginning to fail. The alternatives are preventing, through copy controls, consumers from recording or time shifting shows, or going out of business.

The question is, how obtrusive will it be? Will it be ads on billboards in the background, or on the sides of buses as they go by. Or will it be logos on the characters t-shirts?

Re:It's inevitable

[NumberSyx]

If I were an Ad Exective, I'd be looking for a way to advertise to people who use the fast forward button. The obvious way is to have static signs in the background which are easily read even at FFwd speeds. A clever producer however could come up with a long slow gesture done by the actor, which may or may not be meaningful at normal speed, but when viewed at FFwd speeds takes on a completely different meaning, or the meaning becomes obvious.

Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.

This is why I stopped watching TV.

[solios]

Television is a waste of time- it requires no thought, no action, and fails on nearly every count to be mentally stimulating (excepting PBS and the BBC, but including BBCAmerica)- and to top it off, it tries to cram the thing I hate the most down my throat- ads.

The ads got to me, to the point of violence. It was interesting, when I was a kid, to tape an episode of Star Trek DS9 and come to the cold realization that out of that 60 minutes of time, less than 45 minutes of it was the program. Deduct credits and intro, and you're down to 42, if that. And probably less these days. That boiled down to three minutes of clutter and fifteen minutes of ads for beer, preparation H, and cadillacs.

I realized I was getting more out of books, computers, and talking to people that I ever managed to squeeze out of the accursed idiot box. The constant volume shifts between the incessant ads and the blase content were giving me headaches, and the pervasiveness of the marginally talented local news personalities with their overblown egos really started to get to me after I realized that nothing I'd seen on the news bore a direct affect on my day-to-day life. I haven't watched television in over a year- I've made a few exceptions for movies, mostly older films, but in general I've turned off, tuned out, peeled my ass off of the damned couch and done something with my life.

Turning on a television is a waste of energy. Watching the damned thing is a waste of your life- what's going to make for better memories- a brain full of Voyager and Buffy episodes or a brain full of conversation, creative work, and real experience that the television is never going to come close to giving you?

Kill the damned thing- it's completely opt-in, so you have no right to bitch about the fucking ads when you can turn it off and do something meaningful.

Re:This is why I stopped watching TV.

[The Good Reverend]

and to top it off, it tries to cram the thing I hate the most down my throat- ads

You can feel free to move to the Pay-Per-View model for broadcast television anytime you want. In the meantime, ads pay for your television viewing. With newer technologies like Tivo or the "VCR", you can skip them all together.

It was interesting, when I was a kid, to tape an episode of Star Trek DS9 and come to the cold realization that out of that 60 minutes of time, less than 45 minutes of it was the program.

A nitpick: Most shows, including Deep Space Nine (in it's original run, syndicators often edit more) run for 48 minutes. The end credits are approximately a minute, as are the start credits. You're only down to 46 minutes of show.

I haven't watched television in over a year...

While I'm sure you think this noble, there's plenty that local television can give you that other media can't. No matter your hatred for local news, in an emergency, they're you're best source for updates. And I'm of the opinion that if you think EVERYTHING on television is a waste of time, there's probably something wrong with your perception, not necessarily the boob tube.

Watching the damned thing is a waste of your life- what's going to make for better memories- a brain full of Voyager and Buffy episodes or a brain full of conversation, creative work, and real experience that the television is never going to come close to giving you?

Books will also never give you "a brain full of conversation, creative work, and real experience". While I understand your point, it's silly since the only way to get those things is through those things. Cooking dinner doesn't do it either, but I don't think you're going to stop eating. Television is for entertainment. If you don't find it entertaining, don't watch it. But you shouldn't go in expecting to better your life. It's a nice diversion. That's all. Don't take it so seriously, it's not meant to be.

Kill the damned thing- it's completely opt-in, so you have no right to bitch about the fucking ads when you can turn it off and do something meaningful.

Doing something meaningful is wonderful. I don't suggest sitting in front of the television all your waking hours. But "kill" your TV? It's a piece of hardware. When you want to kill plastic, glass, and electronic equipment, the fault is yours and your mental condition, not the collection of parts.

The Good Reverend
I'm different, just like everybody else.

Does this matter?

[Hnice]

and i'm asking, not being rhetorical. i mean, the issues relating to 'editorial content' and altered reality, i mean, these are fictional shows, so from a certain standpoint, it's all altered reality and editorial content.

as it stands, advertising already has a much more insidious impact on the determination of the content of the shows that we watch than adding a few coke cans represents. putting a pizza hut box in friends is a clear endorsement of pizza hut -- is this honestly worse for its digital fabrication than, say, behind the scenes deals to decide what they should wear on the basis of the gap's agenda, or giving plot vetos to large conservative corporations like P&G?

if you aren't going into this with your eyes open, you're setting yourself up. if you aren't watching with the understanding that TV's job is to deliver audiences to advertisers, you'll miss the point every time.

now, what if dan rather starts putting up fake billboards in 'documentary' footage? that's the real question, and i know it's been done, but what about, for example, changing all signs to read in english when reporting from other countries? where's the slippery slope here? i'm not really sure.

this is pretty effed up, tho, i'll say that much. makes my head spin a little.

Dukes of Hazard

[Ukab the Great]

I'm just waiting for the day that Bo and Luke get lost and fire up the General Lee's OnStar system.

You'll watch my commercial and you'll LIKE it!

[Greyfox]

I came up with the perfect one for Lexus. Check this out:

Guy's crusing along in his generic car at 80-85 mph, when suddenly a Lexus pulls on the onramp at 45 mph and cuts across 5 lanes of traffic, cutting him off. He slams on his brakes and tailgates the Lexus and tailgates the car down to the next exit where it gets off. At the bottom of the exit ramp the light's red so the Lexus stops. He gets out of his car and walks up to the Lexus. He knocks on the window and it rolls down. Inside is a tiny old woman who can't see over the steering wheel. He says "Excuse me, you cut me off back there..." She looks at him, gives him the finger, and says "Fuck you! I drive a Lexus!" and then floors it. Fade to black, voice over, "Fuck you. I drive a Lexus."

I want to pitch this to Lexus. Think they'll go for it?

It's cool with me...

[ZoneGray]

I don't see a problem with this. I'll just buy the advertised products, and pay for them with superimposed images of dollar bills.

What's the big deal?

Sorry xueexueg

[Obliqueness]

But under the DMCA, use of the food replicator would violate Pizza Hut's intellectual property rights to the recipe of Personal Pan Pizza.

Or maybe not, if it's used for liscensed, official marketing purposes.
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