The newest characters on TV shows: Product plugs

THE NEWEST CHARACTERS ON TV SHOWS: PRODUCT PLUGS
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Gary Levin]
NBC has high hopes for Friday Night Lights, a new drama about a Texas high school football squad based on a best-selling book and feature film. Viewers will see some familiar names on the sidelines -- and not just the actors. It's all part of a rapidly growing trend called product integration that marks a sea change in the TiVo era. For years, movies and some TV shows have featured real products instead of generic “cola” bottles. Such placements were often paid for by sponsors but lingered in the background. Ever since Survivor began plying famished contestants with Doritos and American Idol's Simon Cowell was never far from a big red Coke glass, the script has changed. Sitcoms and dramas are the new product showcases as a shrinking ad market, climbing production costs and ad-skipping technology lead networks to become more blatant about dropping product names into their shows. Rather than exist as mere props, products are being woven more tightly into story lines as crucial plot points or subjects of dialogue, making ad messages impossible to skip. If Friends aired today, the gang might sip Starbucks Frappuccinos instead of the daily brew at the fictional Central Perk.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060920/1a_cover20.art.htm