I think it is safe to say that we all have vices that get us through the ups and downs of everyday life, school and work. That being said, I admit mine is mindless television comedy. However, imagine my surprise when this somewhat shameful vice offered inspiration for this week’s blog. As I sat snuggled on the couch with my pack of dachshunds and my laptop, I geared up for some paper writing with TBS’s Cougar Town in the background. I continued along tuning in and out as I often do, when I noticed something not entirely new but certainly a new extreme. The Target brand was not only placed within the show, but served as a major feature to the storyline and setting (Cougar Town, 2013).
Product placement has long been a staple in our television viewing experience, from the cereal or ginger ale used on Everybody Loves Raymond to a new movie ad incorporated into How I Met Your Mother (Slatester, 2011). For that matter, we have long been subject to digital advertising incorporating products into reruns of previously filmed and aired shows. As the video from Slate News Channel via YouTube illustrates, digital advertising is nothing new, so why am I addressing it today? Previously product placement was fairly benign and ventured no further than a product placed on set in a unobtrusive way.
The recent episode of Cougar Town caught me off guard as it transformed the product or brand to become an integral piece of the episode (Cougar Town, 2013). This is definitely integrated marketing to the extreme! So how far is too far, is this type of integrated marketing too obtrusive and how often is this happening in television today? Well as it turns out, this is not an uncommon practice.
As I delved deeply into the world of brand and product integration in television shows, I came across the following Big Bang Theory episode that aired over a year ago with the iPhone and more specifically Siri playing a key role and love interest might I add to one of the main characters (Chucknoify, 2012).
This begs the question, what’s next? Will we begin to see brands and corporations managing television content and fully embedded in our programming? Moreover, how long will consumers tolerate this level of intrusion in their television viewing? I don’t claim to have the answers to all these questions, however when asking myself how I personally felt about what I observed, I’m astonished to say I didn’t mind it. In both examples, I found myself relating and laughing right along and then it hit me. As a millennial, these programs and advertising messages were targeted for people just like me. In addition, while the incredibly overt messaging was blatantly obvious we live in an ad infused digital world where pop ads target you in social media and Amazon recommends products that may be of interest. However, with the integration of DVR’s and Tivo did advertisers really have a choice? They have products that they need to sell and today’s audience simply isn’t listening like they used to. When contemplating my television viewing over the last few years, I can honestly say that product placement has become white noise that I rarely paid attention to, well this new era of product placement certainly has me listening. What about you?
References
Chuckinoify. (2012, January 27). The Big Bang Theory 5×14 – Raj vs. Siri. [YouTube].
Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZwx1zDTsSI
Slatester. (2011, September 14). Product placement goes digital. [YouTube].
Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4upslJhSW68
TBS. (2013). Cougar Town [website]. Retrieved from http://www.tbs.com/video
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Ramona C. Chiapa
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