So That’s Why They Drink Coke on TV

SO THAT'S WHY THEY DRINK COKE ON TV
[SOURCE: New York Times 12/9, AUTHOR: Louise Story]
[Commentary] Advertising is often like a game of cat and mouse. Consumers try as hard as they can to run away from sales pitches and commercial jingles, so marketers continually seek new ways to hunt them down. One of the more popular tricks — umm, make that tactics — advertisers are using today is branded entertainment, which ranges from plopping a Pepsi can into a scene to writing entire television scripts based around Oreo cookies. They like this approach so much that they’re increasing the money they spend on so-called product integrations at double-digit rates, making it one of the faster growth areas for an otherwise stalled television industry. But does product integration dupe consumers? The Federal Communications Commission is considering investigating this question, and the commissioners may add it to their public agenda as early as Tuesday. Some of the proposed solutions to the problem sound more annoying than the product placements themselves. For example, every time Paula Abdul takes a sip from a giant red cup splashed with the Coca-Cola logo on “American Idol,” a disclaimer box could be superimposed over the cup. When young guys flirt with beautiful babes on “The Game Killers” on MTV, a banner on the bottom of the screen could say, “This program was co-created by Unilever’s Axe deodorant.” Other proposals include a partial ban on branded entertainment during the day and early evening to keep children from viewing it, or even a total ban. But it’s hard to imagine advertisers agreeing to any of that, and, remember, they hold the purse strings.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/business/media/09maker.html?ref=todays...
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