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« Today's News: Our Take
Don't You Hate Product Placement on TV?
Padma Lakshmi by Chuck Hodes/Bravo Photo
So does the U.K.'s media minister, who has made the shocking announcement that he is banning all product placement on British TV shows, according to Variety.
Despite the practice having already been approved by the European Union, Andy Burnham, the secretary of state at the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport, said that he won't allow it to "contaminate" the favorable international reputation of British programming. "There is a risk that, at the very moment when television needs to do all it can to show it can be trusted, that we elide the distinction between programs and adverts," he said.
I understand the chap's point; it's definitely a slippery slope. I am an avid TiVo user who is delirious with glee at the prospect of getting through an ep of Grey's Anatomy in 40-odd minutes. (Sidenote: Has anyone noticed there are "un-skippable" commercials now? Benjamin Moore Paints, I curse thee!) Plus, most product placement on TV is so obvious and bombastic, it takes me out of the moment of the programming. Like on Survivor when they award the contestants with Cheetos and Bud Light or whatever, just after they'd spent 12 hours standing on a block of wood or running half-naked down the beach toting pails of water over their shoulders. I mean, after 22 days on an all-rice diet, isn't that sponsored snacktime just going to make them puke... or worse?
That said, I don't think it's impossible to incorporate product placement in an acceptable manner. Bravo, for example, does it pretty well. Tim Gunn coos that it's time to head over to the Project Runway "L'Oreal hair and makeup room" without any hint of a scripted come-on. On Top Chef, host Padma Lakshmi frequently references "the Glad family of products" without making me want to run out and buy ForceFlex trash bags. I mean, unless Padma wants me to. Then I totally will. I mean, let's face it, I would sleep on a bed of nails for Padma.
What do you think? Has product placement gotten out of hand? Or are the networks actually getting better at incorporating their sponsorships organically? While you guys mull it over, I'm going to head out and get myself a delicious Subway Fresh Fit Sub.™ —Mickey O'Connor
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Jun 12, 2008 1:42 PM
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I would like to thank TV Guide reporter Mickey O'Connor for bringing this to my attention on the TV Guide Today's News blog.
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Jun 12, 2008 1:50 PM
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I myself do not mind product placement. I much prefer it to commercials - even though I fast forward through all of them anyway. I am a bit worried about how TIVO has totally spoiled me on not having to watch commercials. I recently was watching a basketball game live and found myself falling asleep during each and every commercial break!
I mean, let's face it, I would sleep on a bed of nails for Padma
I would gladly wrap her up in the glad family of products any day!
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Jun 12, 2008 2:01 PM
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What's this about "un-skippable" commercials?
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Jun 12, 2008 2:08 PM
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I don't mind product placement unless someone speaking a line in some way emphasizes the product name too much. "What's in the fridge, Mom? I need a COKE!" doesn't do it. But to have the kid walk into the scene drinking from a can of Coke doesn't bother me.
Actually, in bygone days of yore (just to properly date myself) before product placement, some shows would go to absurd lengths not to have a label showing and that was, to me, more annoying than most product placement of today. Real life had brand names and the awkward attempts not to show brand names ended up disrupting my suspension of disbelief. So, as long as there is not a blasting of trumpets when the brand's name is used, I'm okay with PP.
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Jun 12, 2008 2:12 PM
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Unskippable commercials? On Tivo? I haven't seen any yet, but how does that work?
The product placement issue always reminds me of that Studio 60 episode where they brilliantly realize they can make a set background out of the Sunset Strip's famous billboards - it fit the fictional show and wasn't painfully obvious. If real shows can come up with great ways of doing it, like that, I wouldn't mind at all.
But no more stories revolving around meteor rocks in Stride gum, please.
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Jun 12, 2008 2:27 PM
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Don't forget Snapple product placement on "30 Rock"! So obvious, it's absurd and that fits the show perfectly.
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Jun 12, 2008 2:39 PM
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Count me in on the "un-skippable" commercials confusion. Unless you're talking about viewing a show online, I don't know of ANYTHING I've recorded on my TiVo brand DVR  that prevents me from fast forwarding through anything. Unless you're talking about a commercial so clever that you WANT to watch it.
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Jun 12, 2008 2:53 PM
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Speaking of 30 Rock--I loved their product placement in the "Subway Hero" episode.
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Jun 12, 2008 3:32 PM
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Sometimes it's annoying, and sometimes it's not. It bugs me on Survivor, although you know they are sponsors, so what can you do? But it still bugs me.
As for Top Chef, at the start of each episode, they list off all the prizes, and one prize is donated by "the Glad family of products." So there's really not much that can be done about it. however, within each episode, there are always boxes and boxes of Glad products lying around for the cheftestants to use. That is more "product placement" than telling us about the ultimate prizes, but since Glad is putting up so much money, would you expect to see competitors products, or Glad products with their names covered up?
The real problem is when you're watching a show like Smallville and suddenly a character has to eat Stride gum to gain superpowers. And then there's a Stride gum commercial at the first break. Lame. That's the kind of product placement that needs to be done away with.
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Jun 12, 2008 3:38 PM
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30 Rock has product placements? Are you kidding? No seriously, that show is the most creative use of non-stop product placement! GE products (yes, the TRI-vection oven is real), NBC products, Soy Joy, Subway, Snapple, Verizon, Motorola,...
Once Liz even broke the 4th wall and asked for her money now. Blurgh!
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Jun 12, 2008 3:46 PM
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I don't mind the survivor product placements and in the first few season they used to show everyone running off to various 'bathroom's to go be violently ill!
The product placements that bug me is on American Idol, the coke room, the coke glasses with the label turned the right way, the ipods and ryan with the iphone intro he did.
I remember watching tv and trying to figure out what product they were using that was all covered up!
But causal product placement works for me.
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Jun 12, 2008 3:52 PM
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I myself would prefer that studios, networks, and program heads would elide the product placement altogether, but it's here to stay. It will make watching BBC and SkyOne programs more enjoyable.
(Guess who learned a new word from the British today?  )
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Jun 12, 2008 4:02 PM
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Certain product placement I don't mind. Having a casual shot of Kate Gosselin serving her kids Juicy Juice on Jon & Kate Plus 8...fine. Something like that does not feel forced, it feels more that the camera "happened to pick it up".
One of the most annoying product placements was Crest Whitestrips on What Not to Wear. Before the makeup artist, Carmindy, would apply lip gloss on someone, she would go into this whole schpiel of "But before i do that, the best way to make your smile beautiful is Crest Whitestrips!" and she would give the person a box. That was just straight up annoying and a wast of time. Luckily they do not do that anymore.
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Jun 12, 2008 4:19 PM
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Good for BBC! I would agree on the reference to Top Chef - this season was a bit much, since we saw them putting food in containers almost as often seeing the food actually cooked. The big problem overall, to me anyway, is that there's almost 20 minutes of (actual) commercials every hour now. That doesn't include the annoying flashes about when the next Law and Order episode is on or whatever. If you include those, and all the time devoted to product placement, we barely get to see any program at all. Maybe this wouldn't bother me so much if I wasn't spending so much money every month so I can see all these ads.
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Jun 12, 2008 5:03 PM
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