Product placement was once a gnat buzzing around our ears. Now it’s a hurled pie, coming right at our faces. Depending when you were born, that may or may not be a problem.
It used to be that Jerry Seinfeld savoring Snapple or the “American Idol” judges seated behind Cokes was enough. Everyone was in on the idea that these were rather innocuous ways for TV networks to boost ad revenue and avoid inserting even more minutes of commercial interruptions while allowing producers to keep costs down. And it was a way to outsmart the folks fast-forwarding DVRs past commercials.
We went along with product placement to an extent, some of us more grudgingly than others, knowing that embedded advertising was beaming through.
Next came “product integration,” a more intrusive tactic, in which brands were inserted in plotlines, becoming part of the story. When a load of Target merchandise was airlifted to the “Survivor” castaways, with a prominent logo facing the camera, we knew something had changed. More recently, when “Modern Family” crafted episodes around the iPad and Oreos, we knew the accountants were overseeing the writing room.
Reality TV has especially embraced advertising gimmickry. “The Voice” has set new records for product mentions.
But the next step in this commercial creep is quite different, and may be a pitch too far for some viewers. This time, the sponsor created a show to introduce a new product, and put the name in the title: “Escape Routes,” concocted by Ford, stars the Ford Escape in a reality TV road race that aims to combine social media and television in celebration of an SUV.
The advertiser is in the driver’s seat.
“Rather than buy the time from NBC, Ford handed over the show and ceded all ad revenue to the network, stipulating only that Ford is the exclusive automotive advertiser,” Advertising Age reported. They don’t need to buy commercial minutes when the whole show is an ad.
“Knight Rider” wishes it had thought of it.
Depending on the age of the audience, reactions will differ.
The idea of subtle or covert advertisements skillfully embedded within entertainment programming is anathema to one generation, business as usual to another.
Decades ago, fans were shocked when Nike co-opted the Beatles’ “Revolution” to sell shoes. Had the heroes of rock sold out? Nowadays, indie/alt bands compete to get their songs on CW shows like “Gossip Girl.” There’s no such thing as selling out, only cashing in.
Baby Boomers may regard these practices as excessively commercial, an attempt to trick and influence consumers. Boomers have trained themselves to sniff out and avoid sales pitches whenever possible. They defend regular speech as qualitatively different from commercial speech.
Their kids, the Echo Boomers (also known as Millennials), regard the pitches as part of the show. They expect commerce within their entertainment the same way they expect invasions of privacy within their communications. Their personal and consumer habits are open to social-media dissemination.
Today’s 20-somethings would no sooner live commercial-free than they would decline to identify their location to any marketer who asked. Millennials don’t distinguish commercial speech from regular speech.
The new age of TV economics has worn us down. We’re inured to seeing brands pop up in character’s hands. Now the question becomes, which is more honest: a series that slaps brands into the story line and hopes it’s not off-key to viewers, or a series that proudly puts its brand into the title?
If you’re going to shill, then shill.
“Escape Routes,” starring Ford, brought to you by Ford and all about Ford, may represent a survival strategy for TV network in the post-TV, streaming, webcasting future.
It may be cleverly cost-effective, especially on Saturdays, TV’s least-watched night of the week.
Whether it also passes as worthy entertainment remains to be seen.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
