TiVo Causes Increase in Product Placement

ndansmith writes "Wired has got an article on how TiVo and other 'ad-skipping technologies' have caused an upsurge in product placements on network television shows. The 84% increase in product placements on TV over the last year has drawn protests from both the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild. An example from the article: 'In a recent episode of the NBC series Medium, writers had to work the movie Memoirs of a Geisha into the dialogue three times because of a deal the network made with Sony earlier in the season. They even had the characters go on a date to an early screening of the movie and bump into friends who had just viewed Geisha to tell them how good it was.' Readers may also remember a controversial Cisco Systems product placement on Fox's 24."

Comments

And the winner is...

[phpm0nkey]

Shake's 12 minute commercial for Boost Mobile!

OK, so they were taking a shot at product placement in TV shows, but still, damn. I hope everyone at Williams Street got some free phones.

Re:And the winner is...

[PhreakOfTime]

Dont forget Axe Body Spray! (tm)

In all seriousness, that was a pretty funny one. I havent seen any new ones of those in awhile, still like the PDA episode...

"Here, take it. It makes me look like a hillbilly."

Re:And the winner is...

[GeekyMike]

I like the Axe commercial with the hot girl bathing someone "ooh, you're a dirty boy, how old are you?" "22" "Ooh, yes you are"

I laughed so hard the first time I saw that. I don't think I would commercial skip because I am afraid I will miss some of the better forms of comedy on television (reference the CITI identity theft service commercial series). Then again, I could skip the personal injury lawyer commercials and their darn jingles.

Nothing for you to see here...

[imag0]

hehe. First thing I thought of after reading the blurb...

Nothing for you to see here. BROUGHT TO YOU BY CISCO SWITCHES AND NETWORKING APPLIANCES! Please move along.

Gone with the product placement

[king-manic]

"Frankly Scarlet I don't give a damn... But get some nike air masters and I just might".

As I sit here reading slashdot...

[Cherita Chen]

As I sit here, drinking a DITE COKE , reading slashdot... I'm asking myself, why don't I have a TIVO And if I did have one, which network would I choose to record... HBO ? Hmmm.........

Re:As I sit here reading slashdot...

[DeafByBeheading]

Benjamin: Wayne! Listen, we need to have a talk about Vanderhoff.
          The fact is he's the sponsor and you signed a contract
          guaranteeing him certain concessions, one of them being
          a spot on the show.
Wayne [holding a Pizza Hut box]: Well that's where I see things just
          a little differently. Contract or no, I will not bow to
          any sponsor.
Benjamin: I'm sorry you feel that way, but basically it's the nature
          of the beast.
Wayne [holding a bag of Doritos]: Maybe I'm wrong on this one, but
          for me, the beast doesn't include selling out. Garth, you
          know what I'm talking about, right?
Garth [wearing head-to-toe Reebok wardrobe]: It's like people only do
          these things because they can get paid. And that's just
          really sad.
Wayne: I can't talk about it anymore; it's giving me a headache.
Garth [Dumps two Nuprin pills into Wayne's hand]: Here, take two of these!
Wayne: Ah, Nuprin. Little. Yellow. Different.
Benjamin: Look, you can stay here in the big leagues and play by the
          rules, or you can go back to the farm club in Aurora. It's
          your choice.
Wayne: [holding a can of Pepsi] Yes, and it's the choice of a new generation.

The reruns are going to be even worse.

[TheNarrator]

20 years from now the re-runs are going to look really weird. If they started doing this 20 years ago we'd probably be watching Scooby Doo episodes where Shaggy mentions how comfortable his Dead 70s Brand bell bottoms are. Then again, with modern technology they might start editing old tv shows inserting new scenes to do product placement or just dubbing over them with new brand names.

Porn

[Freaky Spook]

Wait till the porn industry starts using product placment, it will soon filter down to mainstream media in a more popular way!

<i>"After giving head nothing gets the taste out of my mouth better then mentos, my mouth is fresh and im ready to do the double penetration shot"</i>

Re:Porn

[houghi]

You mean something like this: Warning adult content.?

Good AND bad.

[khasim]

Good - Victorias Secret product placement.

Bad - Hemorroid cream product placement.

Re:Good AND bad.

[Hamster Of Death]

Worse - It's the same commercial

Re:Good AND bad.

[StyxRiver]

There's nothing wrong with correctly placing hemorrhoid products.

I've heard it's quite relieving.

Re:Good AND bad.

[Sarisar]

Bill Engvall had a thing about that - I ate this whole tube of preperation H and I still got them hem'roids. My mouth's so small I can't even eat a peanut. But I can whistle real good.

OK probably badly paraphrased, but it's funny when he says it

Since reality TV is so popular

[2008]

I don't see the problem. One hour of the Big Brother contestents drinking Coke (tm), sitting on Ikea (tm) sofas and wearing Gap (tm) hoodies could pay enough to fill the remaining 23 hours with fresh Simpsons episdoes.

Re:Good or Bad?

[EABird]

If you want to see bad product placement...just watch The Island.

As for good product placement, you should not be able to even detect it. It should blend in, as if it was completely natural for the person to climb into a Lexus, pull into a McDonald's and order a LARGE COKE.

Apple in Vegas

[warren.oates]

Last week's Las Vegas revolved around a poker tournament, being broadcast live, and the announcers had these small, grey, Apple-branded laptops that (to my knowledge) don't exist -- they were just mock laptops with the white Apple logo on them. They never did a reverse angle so you could see the screen. Not to mention that that's a situation where neither Macs nor laptops would likely be used. I carefully watched the credits, and there was Apple listed in the support category.

This isn't even "product placement," it's "logo placement."

In the interests of fairness, I must point out that we are a happy Apple family.

Star Trek

[thebdj]

Next thing you know I am going to start seeing editted episode of Star Trek: TNG.

Worf: Captain, message coming in over *obvious dubbing moment* AT&T.
Picard: Patch it through.
*AT&T logo appears on view screen before person starts talking*

I think that will be when things hit the ultimate low. Well either that, or when they start putting product placement in shows where they should not be.

Re:Quite frankly,

[flyingsquid]

Yeah, product placement really galls me. After a long day at work, I come home and just want to unwind with a sitcom and a cold Budweiser, king of beers. But then I'm subjected to a bunch of product placement. I swear, it's enough to make me need an Advil, which is recommended by four out of five doctors. So instead of watching a sitcom, I go for a long ride in my Lexus, with its roomy interior, six-way adjustable seating, and powerful V6 engine.

Re:Good or Bad?

[LightningBolt!]

It's sort of a running joke in Norway that "60 minutes" is allocated a 50-minute program slot by us, because it's an /american/ hour -- which apparently consists of 10 minutes more comercials than we get.

In the US, we have a similar joke about the "Norwegian hour". Well, OK, we don't. But we would if we knew where Norwegia is.