Procter & Gamble's Marketing Madness Continues

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For the past few months, I've been blogging on "WIMN's Voices," a group blog hosted by the organization Women in Media & News. The subtitle of the blog is "Women, Media, AND..." The 50-some women contributors add their area of expertise to the "and," such as marketing, popular culture, immigration, and LGBT issues, to name just a few. It's been interesting to read others' posts and it's great to be a part of the project.

Yesterday, I blogged on WIMN's Voices about Procter & Gamble's latest aggressive marketing stunt: product placement in a book targeted to teen girls. Here's an excerpt (you can read the entire post here):

On June 12, Motoko Rich reported on an upcoming "young adult novel" whose publisher "has signed an unusual marketing partnership" with Cover Girl. The book, titled, "Cathy's Book: If Found Call (650) 266-8233," follows the character Cathy as she tries "to learn why her boyfriend, Victor, has dumped her." Maybe because she wasn't wearing enough makeup? ...

Another unusual aspect of the arrangement is that neither the authors nor the book publisher is being paid for the product mentions. Instead, Procter & Gamble will promote the book on its website Beinggirl.com, which the New York Times described as featuring "games, advice on handling puberty and, yes, makeup tips". ...

The book deal and website aren't that surprising, given P&G's history of pushing the marketing envelope. Since 2001, P&G has had a word-of-mouth marketing program that recruits teens to promote products to their friends. As of a few months ago, 225,000 teens had signed up. In 2005, P&G launched a similar word-of-mouth or "buzz" marketing program for "the most influential group of shoppers in America: moms," according to BusinessWeek.