Archive for July 6th, 2007

FOX’S UNDERRATED AND UNDER-WATCHED COMEDY
“The Loop” offers arguably the most refreshing take on product placement of any prime-time series. It’s far from a reality show that can beat a viewer over the head with, say, a 5-minute scene with a mini-tube of Kraft mayo never out of camera-shot. And it isn’t a drama with a detective driving a Pontiac G6 Coupe to a crime scene that’s followed by a billboard at a commercial break essentially saying, “If you didn’t realize we were trying to sell you the car via product placement in the show, we want to make sure you know now because the show is ‘BROUGHT TO YOU BY PONTIAC, MAKER OF THE NEW SUPER-TREMENDOUS G6 COUPE!’” Instead, “The Loop” takes a delightfully tongue-in-cheek, we-know-viewers-aren’t-that-into-product-placement-so-we’re-going-to-do-it-but-admit-we-are-and-hope-to-win-your-affections-by-being-straightforward-about-it approach. The show then will integrate a product in such an over-the-top, campy manner - no subterfuge, no subliminal messages, no legerdemain — that it likely wins points with viewers and delivers a message successfully anyway. It’s overkill that actually works. Read the rest of this entry »

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If you think you’ve seen Mr. Sub bags on display during City TV’s broadcasts of Hell’s Kitchen, you aren’t hallucinating.

A Canadian submarine-sandwich restaurant getting a plug on an American-produced reality show? Welcome to the wonderful world of virtual product placement.

Hell’s Kitchen originates on Fox in the United States. But since the current season began last month, eagle-eyed Sun Media readers have noticed the insertion of the Mr. Sub logo in every episode on City, sometimes for only two seconds, at other times for as long as 12 seconds. Read the rest of this entry »

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