FCC To Reevaluate "Embedded Advertising" On Television
The FCC has announced that they will be examining the practice of "embedded advertising" on television and will decide on what additional disclosure messages should be provided to protect the audience. This differs from simple product placement in that embedded advertising interweaves products into plot lines and dialogue, essentially, transforming a normal scene into an advertisement. The FCC contends that additional disclosure messages are necessary to protect viewers who may not be aware that advertisers are paying to have their products written into the plots of TV shows. Details, inside...
The article says,
Among examples cited by critics are episodes of the family-oriented show "7th Heaven," which included plot lines revolving around Oreo cookies. Other examples include "The Office" in which characters work at a Staples office supply store; a "CSI" show in which characters promote features of a General Motors vehicle; and a "Smallville" episode in which the dialogue included the line "Acuvue to the rescue," a reference to the contact lens maker.
7th Heaven provides a sparkling example of embedded advertising. Below, the characters are so busy choking down Oreos that they can barely spit out their dialogue.
In another scene, we hear the dialogue, "How about some cookies and milk? Oreos? It's my favorite. Hey, mine too!" It seems that Nabisco is so vain that they even have to change the time-honored phrase "milk and cookies" to "cookies and milk."
The AP says,
Writers, who have to incorporate products into scripts, and actors, who shill for products without getting paid for it, are especially unhappy.
The Writers Guild of America West, a union that represents Hollywood television and film screenwriters, wants "real time" disclosure at the time the product is mentioned, like a text "crawl" at the bottom of the screen.
"Since DVRs and other such devices allow viewers to skip or fast forward through opening and closing credits, requiring disclosure at some other moment in the programming will simply not offer adequate protection," wrote Patric Verrone, president of the organization, in a letter to Martin.
Jeffrey Perlman with the American Advertising Federation said running a crawl is an "absolutely terrible idea" and that it would be "terribly disruptive" for television viewers.
We suppose some additional disclosure is a decent idea but we're not exactly sure who the FCC is trying to protect. Does the FCC think that there are people out there (besides children) that believe that these TV characters are real people who are actually enjoying these products? Who exactly would benefit from additional disclosure? Naturally, Consumerists are much too savvy to become unwitting victims of embedded advertising. In fact, we're so savvy that we don't even feel like grabbing a gallon of cold milk and devouring a sleeve of creamy, crunchy, delicious Oreo cookies.
FCC may put stealthy advertising on audience radar [AP] (Thanks to Dan!)
Post a comment
Comments:
How about trying to protect from interruptions? Like how TBS does freezes a family guy show randomly to have bill engvall advertise his show?
Wouldn't the crawl at the bottom of the screen provide even more advertisement for the product it is outing as an advertisement?
My worst experience with embedded advertising was the season 2 premiere of Heroes, where Claire's dad gave her a Nissan Rouge, I think. Later in the same episode, it was stolen. I guess they only paid for one episode's worth of advertising.
Anyone not intelligent enough to realize what is being done probably can't read the warning anyway.
Running a crawl at the bottom of the screen is disruptive? How about the Olympics animation that takes up the bottom 1/4 of the screen?
Would you rather people mention real products in shows, or just have more commercials? How do you think networks pay for shows?
So does Makeup have to clean the actors' teeth every time they take a bite of an Oreo?
Seriously, this is getting more and more pathetic. Commercials to break up the show, plus commercials within the show, plus the cable bill just keeps going up and up. No wonder I download all my shows.
They're investigating "Product Integration?" Anyone moved by this has got to be freakin' naive. I could care less about Shawn and Gus having a bowl of "Fruity Puffs," while Hiro wrecks his Nissan Versa, and the GE convection oven blows up setting someone's house ablaze.
Embedded advertising gives me a huge headache, thank goodness for this huge bottle of Tylenol I always have handy.
But Burns and Allen just really like Carnation milk and Fibber McGee just really HATES hearing about Johnson's Wax!
I'm more for banning the shrinking of the credits to a sliver and the stupid crap that shows up at the bottom of the screen during the show advertising something else.
Reason #2342346 why I watch DVDs instead of live television.
How about when you are watching you're favorite show and an OSX like dock shows up and covers nearly 1/4 of the screen. I have seen it happen three times now and it really pisses me off. I forget if it is NBC or VH1 but it has ruined a few episodes of the office that I record and like to play back on my ipod.
@karmaghost: The Rogue showed up later when Sylar and the Mexican twins killed the guy driving it to get across the border. Still, it was nowhere near as prevalent as the Nissan Versa (I still think of "Heroes" whenever I see one of those on the road).
Nissan Versa! Nissan Versa!
The text crawl IS a terrible idea. At least commercials can be forwarded through. But if we get rid of advertisements entirely, there's going to be embedded advertising in everything, making the show unwatchable.
In truth, real life is all about embedded advertising. Considering our consumerist personalities, we're always talking about Heineken or Gucci. Stuff like that doesn't come across as fake in shows. But I can see how an excess would be disgusting.
*But if we get rid of commercials entirely,
Nice juxtaposition of this story and the public phone. Perhaps the FCC should spend less time worrying about content on TV and more time on public phone providers price gouging.
I think I'm as much pro-business as anyone else, but the notion of advertisers paying to have plugs for their products written into TV scripts is seriously disturbing.
@crackle:
If you remember way back when, one of the original, highly-touted benefits of cable televsion was that there would be no advertising.
There should be two types of cable:
The free kind that is bombarded with ads like we have now.
The kind you pay for that has no ads.
But hey who would make money off of that right? Absolutely ridiculous. Let's continue to educate our college grads in the way of down sizing, cutting corners, and get those profits way way up guys!
Nothing feels better like paying to see ads
Ya know, we oughta throw out that mower....get one of those new Elk Rotaries.
I just hate the animations at the bottom of the screen. TNT is the worst with it. I was watching a movie and there was a part that had subtitles but of course i couldn't read them because it was right at the exact momemnt TNT decided to have kyra segwick walk across the bottom of the screen to promote the season premier of the closer. i swear, someone should have been fired for that.
How long does it take to eat an Oreo? Even while talking -- seriously.
Jeffrey Perlman with the American Advertising Federation said running a crawl is an "absolutely terrible idea" and that it would be "terribly disruptive" for television viewers.
Is he kidding? That doesn't seem to stop them from advertising every other show in their network with some animated junk flashing around the bottom 25% of the screen during the program you're trying to watch. Yes, it's terribly disruptive, but it's okay when your idea, I guess.
"Protect the viewers"? What are we children? If this is the kind of crap the FCC wastes it's time with, then the agency needs to be shut down. Unless the advertising is false, there is no reason for the government to get involved.
I'm going to tell you why this is wrong. As I type on my very comfortable Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard, my wrists are incredibly comfortable because of the 12-degree tilt that only Microsoft offers. It allows me to type my complaints about product integration to the consumerist.com with ease and simplicity. After I take a drink from my Nalgene bottle, I'm reminded of the cool breeze that I faced when I was hiking the foothills of Europe with my L.L. Bean backpack.
Conspiracy alert: This is probably down to the fact that SAG (Actors Guild) is about to walk (well not quite but we're getting there) because they don't get paid to do the product plugs. Hence they want them to go away or pay out.
More importantly they're raising a lot of attention to the issue. So I suspect the poor incompetent FCC just wants to look like it's 'in the know' about these issues.
On a personal note I would prefer Product Integration (Or adverlingus as they call it on 30 Rock) to the way add breaks are handled now. You have no idea what effect those add breaks have on the writing of TV shows. Writers have to factor them into the story to make sure there is a 'hook' to keep the viewers interested through the adds. This wreaks havoc on a story's pace and timing. But hey I'm a writer so I guess I'm biased.
@bravo369:
Absolutely, TNT is HORRIBLE with those #@%$ animations!
Is it just me, or has it gottena lot worse within the past 5 years? I just don't remember feeling marketed to death in the past. The network 'bug' in the corner is horrible enough.
I love how a crawl disclosing a show's shitty whoredom to an advertiser would be "terribly disruptive" for television viewers." I wonder what that guy would call the "crawl" for the Bill Engvall show on TBS, during which he actually fucking pauses Family Guy.
I'd imagine that, since that crawl is the advertisement, he would say that it is in the viewer's best interest to see it, and would be aghast at any attempt to have it removed.
Wow. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes lampooned this years ago.
Personally, I don't mind, so long as it isn't glaring. "Hey! A Jello mold!" sounds a lot better than "Hey! A gelatinous dessert mold!" for example.
@Kaisum:
There should be two types of cable:
The kind you pay for that has no ads.
Kinda like movies? What's the going rate for product placement these days?
I would rather see a 1/2 hour show last for 30 minutes and just "embed" a few commercials into the 30 minute show.
Anyway, who cares - I don't mind. For years - YEARS - MANY MANY years, in movies & TV - looking around you could always see perfectly placed cans of Pepsi or Coke sitting on a table - ALWAYS with the logo towards the screen.
@Bladefist: I'm impressed, you haven't found a way to blame this on the liberals yet.
Anyway, anyone that knows a little TV history would remember that back in the day, entire shows were sponsored by one company and the product would always be worked into the script. It's just an evolved version of the old system.
It's getting to the point that I just torrent the shows I want to watch to avoid having half of the screen taken up by advertisements for shows I will never watch and products I never use.
I saw that Bill Engvall pause commercial once and swore I would never watch TBS or TNT ever again.
On a related note, I can't stand when the credits are shrunken down to a small box and an announcer comes on to tell you what's on next... especially when the show is continuing through the credits, as Transformers: Animated did with it's finale this weekend.
Most of these write-in ads are so blatantly obvious, only the seriously impaired would be 'influenced' by them. I don't think consumers need to be warned by the FCC about this, nor should there be additional disclaimers on these shows.
Who doesn't understand that television shows are supported by ad revenue? Don't people know that audiences are the true product of television; that TV shows are being paid to produce you!
It's the commercials on paid-for-cable that have me miffed, but that's a different issue.
ads have been... and always will be 'everywhere'. i don't care if oreos or nissans or cokes or apple computers get placed as everyday items in a tv show or a movie.
'embedded placement' won't get me to buy. james bond driving a BMW won't entice me to buy one. i could care less what fictional characters eat, drive and consume...
now a friend or acquaintance who says "hey, this is pretty good, check it out"... that i'll believe.
advertising is FICTION anyways...
This same season of 7th Heaven also featured a two-episode arc about Campbell's Soup and no, I am not kidding. (I watched purely to mock, which does make me pathetic I realize).
The only time product placement ever worked for me was Arrested Development. In Motherboy XXX, when Carl Weathers and Tobias go to Burger King? I mean, the original episode title was "The Tendercrisp Chicken Comedy Half-Hour" (until FOX made them change it). If a show can incorporate with genius, I will purchase that product.
Hah! You beat me to the punch while I was looking it up!
Carl Weathers: [at Burger King] I'm going to go get a refill. You know you can get a refill on any drink you want?
Tobias Fünke: It's a great restaurant!
Narrator: It sure is!
The movie "Evolution" and a certain P&G product come to mind...
I see companies like Netflix getting more and more business because of these practices.
I need to cancel my cable service. I honestly can't remember the last time I watched a show that wasn't on DVD.
Product placement in television usually doesn't bother me. Now, the Apple product placement in Metal Gear Solid 4 stood out to me, though. In the not-too-distant future, people are still using present-day Apple Powerbooks and iPods while saving the world, I guess.
I can't lie...some Oreo's sound pretty good right about now.
I dunno. I think I'd rather do away with commercials altogether and trade them for the embedded advertising to be honest :p