It is said that viewers these days are more savvy than they used to be, that advertising has changed to accommodate today's viewers. I don't know that viewers are more savvy, but advertising does continue to change, sometimes in very interesting ways.
Look at last night's episode of Eureka for an example of that. A plotline this season deals with a corporate "fixer" coming in to the town in order to stop wasteful spending. One of her genius ideas? Establish a new department for the making of commercial projects. A good idea, but as someone points out, starting up a new department costs tons of money. The fixer explains it's no problem, they've received corporate sponsorship that covers the costs. The sponsor is Degree antiperspirant. This season's Eureka is also sponsored by Degree antiperspirant.
It's genius. It's pure genius.
They're able to talk about Degree on the show, wink-wink, nudge-nudge style, claiming that they're only doing so because Degree is sponsoring the lab. They actually got their writers to write into the show a Degree commercial. It's there, it's certainly paid for… it's worked into show content itself. Do you see, it's pure genius. I just love it. Do you realize, they've even gotten me to say "Degree antiperspirant" over and over again.
The whole thing tonight reminded me of 30 Rock's cell phone sponsorship bit this past season in which Liz talked about some cell phone for a while and then looked at the camera and asked the sponsor for the show's money. Okay, it's very much like that. It kind of makes me wonder, as they're both on NBC-Universal networks, if the same bunch of folks didn't have a hand in both things or if someone didn't talk to someone else and point the Eureka folks to the 30 Rock people.
Article comments
1 - Joe Bua
I think it sucks. I'll never buy the product. I love the show. Starting not to like Frances Fisher, though
2 - Hlaode
Because of this I actually switched to old spice the other day. Not a major move, I didn't throw away stockpiles of degree in disgust only to switch brands but I was out and when I was in the deodorant aisle I remembered the commercials and bought old spice because of them.
3 - Brad
Same here... I didn't buy the product before really...but now I'll make sure never to do so. Silly way to sell a product and even worse to try and pretend it makes as good story line additions.. Shame on corporate decisions on what could have been writing. No Eureka for me anymore.
4 - maynard
This week's episode of Eureka (Here Come the Suns) took the Degree product placement concept to an insipid new low. Quips throughout the episode about staying cool under pressure were a continuous and tiresome reminder of the most overworked product placement in a show I have ever seen.
It's not genius. It's myopia at best, and stupidity at worst. It's alienating Eureka fans such as myself who are distracted by the ads, and while it's not quite enough for me to stop watching the show, it's certainly enough for me never to buy Degree. Ever.
If you want to see product-placement genius in a show, Mad Men's "A Night to Remember" worked Heineken so seamlessly into the script that I'd half-believed AMC didn't get paid for the privilege. Yes, it's a show about advertising which gives them a much longer rope, but near as I can tell, the writers have never hung themselves with it. Plus, they deliver the same quality service to long-dead products (go back and listen again to Draper's "Kodak Carousel Soliloquy" if you need a reminder).
"Mad Men" impressed by what's going on?? Puh-leeze. It's Sci-Fi who needs to be paying attention to AMC, not the other way around.
5 - demonmonk
Actually the last spat of product placement, going so far as to overtake the plot, was the final straw. I loved the series during it's opening season, but I stopped recording it after "Here Comes the Suns" and I will not watch another episode unless I find out they've stopped turning the show into a 1-hr antiperspirant ad.
The rampant product placement is a disgrace to the show's fans, and to the writers and actors responsible for the original series. They've gone waay too far, and they will lose a lot of fans over this in the long run. No one loves a blatant sell-out.
6 - Eric Rawlins
I agree with all the commentors here, and not at all with Mr. Lasser. The Degree sponsorship of the television series Eureka - which I have fondly followed from the very first episode - is nothing but an eyesore blight that sticks out like a sore thumb. Unlike demonmonk, I continue to watch, hoping the writers will find a way to achieve some degree (no pun intended) of subtlety, but what I've seen so far gives me no hope for the series' future.
I understand that art and entertainment are almost diametrically opposed ends, and that almost all of what we see - at least on free televised stations - is a compromise, sometimes well achieved, sometimes deleteriously one-sided, between network suits and corporate sponsors on one side and producers, writers, and directors on the other. But there are ways to work either with or around the system. The Heineken placement in Mad Men, the cell phone placement in 30 Rock, those were brilliant. Hell, even the product placement in Attack of the Killer Tomatoes was a riot (characters kept surreptitiously sneaking boxes and cans etc. into the scene from some mysterious sponsor ether off-camera). But Degree on Eureka is just clunky, obvious, crass, and obnoxious. I used to watch the show religiously, but now, even washing the dishes or vacuuming the rug may take precedence.
It's ironic that that the execs at Sci Fi sought out corporate sponsorship to bolster the financial losses the show was experiencing, only to have that very sponsorship ruin the show and send viewers away in droves, thus incurring even greater financial attrition. I hope the good folks behind the scenes manage to resurrect this show from Degree's choke hold soon, or you can count me as another lost viewer.