Adventures in Product Placement

Network television is in a weird place right now. Ratings are down, budgets are tight, and last winter's Writer's Guild strike did a serious number to the network's schedule. Despite all this, the Associated Press reported last week that Americans are watching more television than ever before. The report states that the typical household had a TV on for 8 hours and 18 minutes a day.

If this is true, then how are television ratings down? It is because the Nielson ratings only record live television viewers, not DVR recordings, programs streamed online, or purchased through iTunes. This is the new way we are watching television and both networks and advertisers are having a tough time adjusting to the fact that the viewer now controls when and how they watch TV shows. That is good for viewers, but bad for advertisers and the networks. Here's why:

• Television networks make most of their money from selling commercial time to advertisers





• The higher the television ratings, the more advertisers are willing to pay for commercial time





• The more money the networks make off of advertisers, the more money they have to invest in their programs and creative development





• With ratings down, networks are having to charge less for ads, make less money, and have smaller budgets to produce their shows (Hello seven million hours of cheap reality shows).

With viewers fast-forwarding past commercials, advertisers are desperate to get their branded message across to all those people watching an endless amount of TV. Enter product placement, and old television staple that is learning a few new tricks.



I am sure while watching your favorite shows you have noticed close-up shots of cell phones, MacBooks, and every vehicle ever driven by every television character ever. This is standard product placement. The advertisers pay to have their products placed prominently in programs, get brand exposure that will not be fast forwarded over, and the networks receive more money to cover their expensive production costs.


Now normally I do not mind product placement, except when it is so obviously a commercial within a show that is takes me out of the program for a second. These are the types of product placements that I feature in Adventures in Product Placement. Moments that are so bad that they are laughable. Here are a few clips, courtesy of hulu.com.


Towards the end of last week's episode of Chuck the characters took a time out from a frantic escape to discuss the features on the new Toyota Matrix that make it "the perfect getaway car:"





That was not TOO bad, but the dialogue sure seemed out of place during an escape. If I'm looking for a getaway car, ipod capability isn't going to be a deal breaker for me.

Next up is a clip from the 24 TV-movie 24: Redemption. The product being featured is the 2009 Hyundai Genesis. In the clip character A has called character B because something of URGENT NATIONAL SECURITY has come up and character A is racing to meet up with character B (who happens to be the president-elects' son and is about to leave for the inauguration ceremony so he doesn't have much time to talk!!!!!!). Although he is in a hurry, character A makes sure to stop mid-sentence to play with all the cool new features on the Genesis. The camera gets the necessary glamor shots, then the urgent conversation continues:






Yes, it was quick, but to stop a scene mid-sentence to show off a product seems a bit like Character A saying, "We'll be right back after this brief message from Hyundai."

That brings us to the award for worst product placement ever. This honor goes to My Name is Earl (a show that has been on for four years now, and yet I have never met anyone who would call themselves an avid fan). A recent episode actually featured an entire B-story that revolved around a product. Seriously. The entire story line revolved around the character of Joy wanting a Kay Jewelers' Jane Seymour heart necklace thing. They even managed to throw in a real commercial for the product IN THE SHOW as well as an appearance by Dr. Quinn herself:




From that point on, Joy makes a point to mention the Kay Jeweler's necklace in nearly every scene she is in. AND during the commercial breaks for the show they showed the exact same commercial for the necklace that Joy was watching in the clip. This is pathetic. I tolerate a little cheesy placement here and there, but to force the writers to work a product and a pitch into an entire storyline is a new low. Besides, Joy is not a likable character. Why would Kay Jewelers want to associate their brand with the tastes of a person like Joy? I doubt that endorsement did much to push sales.



Well that's all for today's Adventures in Product Placement. I'm sure there will be many more in the future. Do you notice product placement like this? Does it bother you? Do you retain more information about the product than you would through a commercial? If you have any favorite product placement moments let me know and I'll try to post them.