Group Asks Gov't to Crack Down on Product Placement

Buck Mulligan writes "The rise of commercial-skipping Tivo has resulted in greater reliance on "product placement," and Commercial Alert has filed a petition (pdf) with the Federal Trade Commission urging the agency to crack down on the practice. Gary Ruskin of Commercial Alert writes: "The interweaving of advertising and programming has become so routine that television networks now are selling to advertisers a measure of control over aspects of their programming. Some programs are so packed with product placements that they are approaching the appearance of infomercials. The head of a company that obtained repeated product placements actually called one such program 'a great infomercial.' Yet these programs typically lack the disclosure required of infomercials to uphold honesty and fair dealing.""

Re:Just don't look.

[DaveSchool]

Guarantee void in Tennesee.

I agree.

[jjp5421]

Yes, as I sit here reading with my ice cold, refreshing Coca-Cola, I think that you are correct. The only way to get this to stop is by signing the Adobe Acrobat PDF petition.

Damn

[Sloppy]

I just heard: the Mattel and Mars Bar Chocobot Hour just got cancelled.

Oh, I don't worry about that.

[cliffy2000]

I use my TIVO(c) DVR and I can fast forward through any of those annoying commercials. Did I mention that I love my IKEA(c) bed? It's so comfortable.
Now, let me finish typing this on my APPLE(c) Powerbook G4.

trying to hold back the ocean with a bucket...

[another misanthrope]

talk about wishful thinking - are the mega-corps really going to pass on this opportunity? Every time Jennifer Anistion gets her hair cut millions of American women run out and get the latest new hairdo. So why not include candy bars, soda pop, and autos? I say lets bring back smoking on TV and really get the money rolling in!

Product Placement in comments

[generic-man]

As I sit down in front of my Dell monitor drinking Mountain Dew Code Red ("A taste as real as the streets"), I can't help but wonder the depths to which product placement has affected us. After all, wasn't it in "The Matrix" - Catch The Matrix Revolutions only in theaters this November where we are encouraged to "free our minds"? I can't believe that TiVo - TV Your Way is being blamed for a decline in traditional advertising on networks like Fox -- check out their new Monday night line-up!.

I think people need to mellow out with a Guinness Draught - drink straight from the bottle and just learn to enjoy the ride. After all, if you really wanted to enjoy some independent thought, you wouldn't watch Philips High-Definition Plasma Screen - higher-resolution than reality.

Re:A little First Post happy??

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn.. you consider this an intelligent retort while quoting something that says "honesty" and "Informercial" in the same sentence????

This must be stopped!

[El]

Today, I was watching something called the "Home Shopping Network", and the amount of product placement was truely appalling! Really! The government needs to do something about this!

Re:Stop inviting the government everywhere

[Brahmastra]

There's actually plenty of product placement in the news. Most of those products are F-15s, F-22s, Apaches, and other stuff made by companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin. They're constantly admiring and raving about the cool weapons. The final product they want to sell is of course war.

It's funny so laugh

[segment]

When I was ([post sponsored by Politrix [politrix.org]) writing this I was thinking ([Sponsor [sponsor.com]) thinking about how much money ([Symantec [www.symantec]) product placements generate. Maybe ([Pepsi [pepsi.com]) Slashdot should look into this for ([RSA [rsa.com]) revenue generation?

non tech CEOs of tech companies

[garyrich]

In reality clueless CEOs very frequently put random complex looking software boxes on the shelves in their offices. They think it gives them "street cred". It's much like the high end computer on their desk that never gets turned on.

Fraudulant product placement.

[geekoid]

I hate Fraudulant product placement. I watched 2001 and I want to go into space aboard a Pan-Am space ship!
lying bastards.

Re:NBC and Computer Associates.

[jazman_777]

I was watching ER, and they had three of their products in promenetly displayed near some binders at the check-in nursing station thing. Why would a nurses station need to have software such as ArcServIT, BrightStor, UniCenter, etc.. all nicely lined up next to the monitor of their PC? It's just so odd, and does not fit in with the audience at all. These are Enterprise software suites that cost thousands of dollars.

Thanks, you explained why I went out and bought ArcServIT for my home desktop. I was helpless to resist--I couldn't really justify it, but just had to have it.

Re:I agree.

[Nom du Keyboard]

reading with my ice cold, refreshing Coca-Cola

Your check is in the mail.

Re:Bigger Fish to Fry

[Kevin DeGraaf]

That said, if there is one thing to fix on TV, I would make the language get fixed. Prime time TV has become a sewer.

Amen. I'm glad someone else has enough backbone to come out and say this.

Even more disturbing than TV's gratuitous profanity, IMHO, is the fact that just about every show these days glorifies immoral lifestyles. It seems like every sitcom out there depicts unmarried couples living together, having sex, etc. Then there's junk like "Will & Grace", which proclaims that flagrant homosexual practice is acceptable, and even normal. Yikes.

Watching primetime trash these days makes me want to destroy my TV. I probably would, if it weren't for generally high-quality shows like L&O, which actually go for thoughtful plotlines rather than the promotion of immorality...

Just me $0.02...

Re:Just don't look.

[Crispen]

Nothing satisfies like the rich, warm aroma of a fresh cup of Sanka.

Oh, wait. You said Paul Anka.

Nevermind.

How about a nice, cold Pepsi?

[neomiasma]

Product placement doesn't bother me as long as it integrates well into the story. Look around you. The majority of us buy brand-name items. Why shouldn't our fictional characters enjoy the same luxuries?

So go hop in your Ford Focus, drive down to the 7-11 and pick up a case of Coca-cola. Then go back home, pop some Orville Reddenbacher popcorn, turn on your Zenith 32" TV and set your Tivo to record your favorite show.

I'm going to go down to Blockbuster to rent Return of the Killer Tomatoes.

You'll know it's gone too far...

[daveo0331]

when Sesame Street is brought to you by the letters S, C, and O, and the number 699.

Re:Just don't look.

[binarybum]

but if the program itself is annoyingly-packed with advertisements, do you really want to watch it?

No, not at all, but people will watch anything. Have you ever been in one of those awful awkward social situations where people are watching the WB? In such cases I usually feel like gouging my eyes out, but don't only because it would be impolite and distracting to the group if someone had to clean up the mess. It might be nice if at the very least the misery of these situations wasn't compounded by terrible ad placements that the drooling WB crowd seems to be oblivious to (although they do develop a unexplained craving for Sprite Remix and the latest line of Gap brand earmuffs).