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Group Asks Gov't to Crack Down on Product Placement
Buck Mulligan writes "The rise of commercial-skipping Tivo has resulted in greater reliance on "product placement," and Commercial Alert has filed a petition (pdf) with the Federal Trade Commission urging the agency to crack down on the practice. Gary Ruskin of Commercial Alert writes: "The interweaving of advertising and programming has become so routine that television networks now are selling to advertisers a measure of control over aspects of their programming. Some programs are so packed with product placements that they are approaching the appearance of infomercials. The head of a company that obtained repeated product placements actually called one such program 'a great infomercial.' Yet these programs typically lack the disclosure required of infomercials to uphold honesty and fair dealing.""
Guarantee void in Tennesee.
Yes, as I sit here reading with my ice cold, refreshing Coca-Cola, I think that you are correct. The only way to get this to stop is by signing the Adobe Acrobat PDF petition.
I just heard: the Mattel and Mars Bar Chocobot Hour just got cancelled.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
I use my TIVO(c) DVR and I can fast forward through any of those annoying commercials. Did I mention that I love my IKEA(c) bed? It's so comfortable.
Now, let me finish typing this on my APPLE(c) Powerbook G4.
talk about wishful thinking - are the mega-corps really going to pass on this opportunity? Every time Jennifer Anistion gets her hair cut millions of American women run out and get the latest new hairdo. So why not include candy bars, soda pop, and autos? I say lets bring back smoking on TV and really get the money rolling in!
As I sit down in front of my Dell monitor drinking Mountain Dew Code Red ("A taste as real as the streets"), I can't help but wonder the depths to which product placement has affected us. After all, wasn't it in "The Matrix" - Catch The Matrix Revolutions only in theaters this November where we are encouraged to "free our minds"? I can't believe that TiVo - TV Your Way is being blamed for a decline in traditional advertising on networks like Fox -- check out their new Monday night line-up!.
I think people need to mellow out with a Guinness Draught - drink straight from the bottle and just learn to enjoy the ride. After all, if you really wanted to enjoy some independent thought, you wouldn't watch Philips High-Definition Plasma Screen - higher-resolution than reality.
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Damn.. you consider this an intelligent retort while quoting something that says "honesty" and "Informercial" in the same sentence????
Today, I was watching something called the "Home Shopping Network", and the amount of product placement was truely appalling! Really! The government needs to do something about this!
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
There's actually plenty of product placement in the news. Most of those products are F-15s, F-22s, Apaches, and other stuff made by companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin. They're constantly admiring and raving about the cool weapons. The final product they want to sell is of course war.
When I was ([post sponsored by Politrix) writing this I was thinking ([Sponsor) thinking about how much money ([Symantec) product placements generate. Maybe ([Pepsi) Slashdot should look into this for ([RSA) revenue generation?
MoFscker
In reality clueless CEOs very frequently put random complex looking software boxes on the shelves in their offices. They think it gives them "street cred". It's much like the high end computer on their desk that never gets turned on.
-- your Web browser is Ronald Reagan
I hate Fraudulant product placement. I watched 2001 and I want to go into space aboard a Pan-Am space ship!
lying bastards.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Thanks, you explained why I went out and bought ArcServIT for my home desktop. I was helpless to resist--I couldn't really justify it, but just had to have it.
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
That said, if there is one thing to fix on TV, I would make the language get fixed. Prime time TV has become a sewer.
Amen. I'm glad someone else has enough backbone to come out and say this.
Even more disturbing than TV's gratuitous profanity, IMHO, is the fact that just about every show these days glorifies immoral lifestyles. It seems like every sitcom out there depicts unmarried couples living together, having sex, etc. Then there's junk like "Will & Grace", which proclaims that flagrant homosexual practice is acceptable, and even normal. Yikes.
Watching primetime trash these days makes me want to destroy my TV. I probably would, if it weren't for generally high-quality shows like L&O, which actually go for thoughtful plotlines rather than the promotion of immorality...
Just me $0.02...
We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from the machinations of the wicked.
Nothing satisfies like the rich, warm aroma of a fresh cup of Sanka.
Oh, wait. You said Paul Anka.
Nevermind.
So go hop in your Ford Focus, drive down to the 7-11 and pick up a case of Coca-cola. Then go back home, pop some Orville Reddenbacher popcorn, turn on your Zenith 32" TV and set your Tivo to record your favorite show.
I'm going to go down to Blockbuster to rent Return of the Killer Tomatoes.
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And we also have a cancel button...in case you don't want toast.
when Sesame Street is brought to you by the letters S, C, and O, and the number 699.
Remember the days when Republicans were the party of fiscal responsibility?
but if the program itself is annoyingly-packed with advertisements, do you really want to watch it?
No, not at all, but people will watch anything. Have you ever been in one of those awful awkward social situations where people are watching the WB? In such cases I usually feel like gouging my eyes out, but don't only because it would be impolite and distracting to the group if someone had to clean up the mess. It might be nice if at the very least the misery of these situations wasn't compounded by terrible ad placements that the drooling WB crowd seems to be oblivious to (although they do develop a unexplained craving for Sprite Remix and the latest line of Gap brand earmuffs).
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