From: Mark Steven Heyman (markheyman@infoproconsulting.com)
Date: Thu Jan 27 2005 - 16:06:41 GMT
Hi all,
Just wanted to thank Marsha for posting the essay on Product
Placement, pasted below, since it applies directly to the Bias in
Commercial Media thread.
Whether or not one sees that the commercial mass media are more often
slanted right than center -- something that should be obvious to
anyone who REALLY watches and is objective in his or her analyses
(there needs no EXPERT come from the grave to tell us this) -- it is
impossible to deny the bias toward the only "political" party that
matters, The American Business Party.
The Quality effect of this bias is clearly negative, and should be
equally obvious. First, the BILLIONS spent on advertising are passed
along to consumers in the form of higher prices; second, these
BILLIONS are tax-deductible as business expenses, which means that a
sizable chunk of the tax burden of wealthy corporations is passed
along to others (you and me); third, commercial interruptions have
always detracted from the quality of programming, but, now, with this
renewed interest in product placement, product-driven story, and
perpetual commercials (those portions of your TV screen that
constantly remind you of what's coming up can just as easily be used
to flash regular commercials), whatever quality programming remains
will surely take another serious hit.
Anyway, thanks to Marsha for the interesting essay.
On 27 Jan 2005 at 5:45, MarshaV wrote:
Hi all,
Here is a fun new tactic to mull over. I wonder if the desperate
housewives will soon be discussing the advantages of
no-child-left-behind.
Marsha
Published on Monday, January 24, 2005 by Knight-Ridder
Product Placement Turns TV Programs into Commercials
by Beth Gillin
PHILADELPHIA - When the ladies of Wisteria Lane strode the runway in
a charity fashion show on ABC's "Desperate Housewives," they wore
Halston gowns.
Like their kitchens furnished by Thermador and Bosch, and the Buick
LaCrosse that Gabrielle posed alongside for a modeling gig, the
Halstons were product placements, little commercials embedded in
scripts in exchange for goods or money.
Such placements aren't new - remember "Seinfeld's" Snapple and Junior
Mints? But their numbers are exploding as programmers seek new
revenue to meet rising production costs and advertisers try to
counter fragmenting audiences and ad-skipping technology such as the
TiVo and similar recorders, which cable and satellite firms are
increasingly providing to customers.
As the placement industry approaches an estimated $1 billion a year,
products are even advancing the plots, a practice called "script
integration."
Even a viewer who fast-forwards through commercials cannot escape
brand names.
"This is no fad. This is where the industry is going," said Nicole
Cashman, president and chief executive officer of the
public-relations firm Cashman & Associates in Philadelphia, which
does media placement for clients. "From a public-relations
standpoint, I know that if I can get a shower gel into the hands of a
celebrity on `Queer Eye,' I can create more product awareness than by
buying an ad."
Nielsen Media Research, the TV ratings firm, now tracks placements.
So does Advertising Age magazine, in a newsletter aptly named Madison
and Vine.
Critics, though, say that blurring the line between art and commerce
is "stealth advertising," and they want it stopped.
"It is inherently deceptive if people don't realize that ads are
ads," said Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, a
Portland, Ore.-based consumer advocacy group with ties to Ralph
Nader. The group has challenged the legality of embedded ads before
the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade
Commission, which have taken no action.
Viewers haven't risen up against the practice.
"Consumers are exposed to advertising everywhere they look," said
Dave Harkness, senior vice president for strategy and development for
the VNU Media Measurement & Information Group, which includes
Nielsen. "... A TV program with no branded products would be unreal.
I don't look kindly on folks who try to protect me from television.
The normal viewer knows how to filter information."
But viewers may not be aware that the reason lowly forensic civil
servants on CBS's "CSI: Miami" drive $55,000 Hummers is that General
Motors donated the vehicles, just to keep them in the public eye.
Product placement also explains those lingering camera shots of folks
weeping for joy over Kenmore washing machines on ABC's "Extreme
Makeover: Home Edition." The footage is shot at the request of Sears,
which reportedly paid $1 million for the first season for commercials
plus verbal and visual references to its products in every episode.
Participants who agree to have their houses demolished and rebuilt by
the "Extreme" team lavish a degree of affection on their new
appliances not seen since the 1950s, when hard-luck housewives hugged
Frigidaires on "Queen for a Day."
In the early days of television, embedded advertising on programs
such as "Queen" paid the programming bills. Sponsors, not networks or
studios, owned shows such as Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom and the
Colgate Comedy Hour.
Nobody blinked when a chorus line of guys dressed like gas-station
attendants danced onstage every week on Milton Berle's Texaco Star
Theater, singing a commercial: "You can trust your car to the man who
wears the star."
What's old is new again. Back then, they were inventing TV as they
went along. Now advertisers are desperately trying to get empowered
viewers to pay attention, and networks are happy to help.
"It's a much more complex media world today" and commercials aren't
enough, said John Faulkner, director of brand communication for
Campbell Soup Co., which sponsors "American Dreams" on NBC.
When Campbell Soup Co. sponsored "Lassie" in the 1950s, episodes
ended with Timmy having a bowl of soup in the kitchen, a scene
witnessed by one-quarter to one-third of all those with sets turned
on. There wasn't much to see on television then, so audiences for
each show were huge.
"Sponsors can no longer achieve that kind of household penetration,
given the number of channels available on cable and satellite,"
Faulkner said.
Not only is competing for audience share tougher, but digital video
recorders were in an estimated 6.5 million homes at the end of 2004.
More than two-thirds of DVR users skip some commercials, and more
than three-quarters of that group skip most of them, the research
firm In-Stat/MDR found.
So advertisers wonder whether it makes sense to spend $175,000 for a
half-minute ad - the average cost on ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox - when
they can invest in a plug that cannot be zapped. Most do both.
Volkswagen will spend $200 million over three to five years to place
its cars in Universal movies and in TV shows and ads on NBC, Bravo,
Sci Fi and USA.
When the WB offered to help advertisers get their brands into
scripts, Procter & Gamble signed a pact with "What I Like About You."
That's why characters Holly and Tina competed to be the Herbal
Essences girl - a plot point followed by a commercial for the shampoo
- and Val emoted over a Swiffer. Later, Pringles were served.
Such audio or visual brand "occurrences" on network TV doubled, to
8,145, in the first nine months of last year compared with the same
period in 2003, Nielsen found.
On "reality" shows such as "The Apprentice" and "The Biggest Loser,"
they're often easier to spot than on dramas and sitcoms, where
scriptwriters work with advertisers to make it all look seamless.
"The writer may be told that, in a particular scene, it would be nice
if a character could be shown drinking bottled water," Harkness said.
"You try to make it fit in a way that adds to the reality."
Niles: (Takes out a bag.) I brought you some of those cookies you
like.
Frasier: Milanos! Oh, well, thank you.
That exchange from the final episode of NBC's "Frasier" last year
made sense. Viewers understood the appeal of an upscale,
foreign-sounding treat to two fussy psychiatrists with status
fixations.
The Milanos reference tickled Campbell's Faulkner for a different
reason. Campbell owns Pepperidge Farm, which makes Milanos. The
dialogue was a product placement.
Faulkner is also happy that Campbell's tomato soup is in nine
episodes of "American Dreams" this season. As the 1960s-era drama
unfolds, daughter Patty enters a Campbell's-sponsored essay contest
and the family eats a lot of tomato soup. There are cans of it in the
kitchen, in commercials on a black-and-white TV, and in the hands of
a young artist visiting a college campus.
In a turn of events that would probably amuse him, Andy Warhol, who
elevated a Campbell's label to art, is resurrected to shill for soup.
"If you marry the right product to the right script, you won't turn
off viewers," Harkness said. Ideally, they won't even notice what's
going on.
Mark Steven Heyman (msh)
-- InfoPro Consulting - The Professional Information Processors Custom Software Solutions for Windows, PDAs, and the Web Since 1983 Web Site: http://www.infoproconsulting.com "The shadows that a swinging lamp will throw, We come from nowhere and to nothing go." MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org Mail Archives: Aug '98 - Oct '02 - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/ Nov '02 Onward - http://www.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/summary.html MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at: http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Thu Jan 27 2005 - 16:14:40 GMT