As reported in a Mediaweek article by Katy Bachman, television is counting on political advertising as a big part of its upcoming revenue stream. Indeed, a hot political season is expected this fall as the November elections approach.
A professor of politics and media we know at Montserrat College of Art recently asked if some of that political ad money might eventually find its way into mainstream film or television productions as a new form of paid product placements (the form of advertising in which a product is featured within a scene). Good question. If it works for cars, would it work for candidates?
Conservative commentators have complained for years that mainstream Hollywood productions are often overt vehicles for liberal posturing — a claim rejected by liberal commentators, who note that the major studios are owned by large corporations. Some people think the industry already has a political agenda and that it skews representations according to ideological preferences.
True or not, would it really be such a large step to just insert outright political ads within the productions? Sounds crazy, but marketing gurus could surely come up with many ways to insert paid political messages within movies and TV programs in a way that is much more subtle than we might think. Imagine, a sympathetic George Bush on a television set playing the background of a dramatic scene, or a movie character attending a dinner function at which a thoughtful John Kerry is speaking in the background.
Stay tuned.
© 2006 Film and Politics Review
Article comments
1 - Bliffle
Product Placement is just another reason to bailout of watching commercial TV.