Stone, Brad (2005) No place left to hide NEWSWEEK, 5/9, e 32.

With tivo and the mute button along with other technology, you can get rid of advertisements. In any half hour, 22 minutes go to programming and the rest to advertising. If you have a gizmo out there that can kill the message, there is a new strategy to still get the message to you.

In other words, it is called product placement. Do you think that this is new? Think again.
Product placement as you remember means that the message is in the content of the 22 minutes. It is the Pepsi can on the table in one episode or a beer bottle. There may be an overlay in the corner or a transplacement in the football field. The Nike logo is on every foot ball jersey.

Stayed up one night and watched the old game show WHAT’S MY LINE? It was extremely popular in the early 50’s. The panel tried to guess what the guest did for a living. On the panel desks were STOPETTE DEODORANT or HELENE CURTIS advertisements. The cards that were flipped over and each had the sponsors name on it.

Got it? Rather than 22 minutes of commercial free content, you get 30 minutes of hard sell and soft sell.

It works. Enjoy your next NASCAR race. Every car is clobbered with commercial messages.

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