And Now, a Hidden Word from Our Sponsor

by Diane Farsetta — September 30, 2005 - 2:19pm
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The Wall Street Journal reports that Subway Restaurants "launched a new sandwich last night by having it written into the story line of NBC's 'Will & Grace'." Such advertising is increasingly spreading beyond television and movies, and into magazines and newspapers. According to a media consulting firm, "Revenue from product placements in magazine editorial copy - the stories and photographs - is expected to rise 17.5 percent to $160.9 million this year, and in newspapers by 16.9 percent to $65 million." The Christian Science Monitor points out, "Product placements, if done in exchange for payment, would violate the operating guidelines of most publications, which usually insist on a clear division between stories or 'editorial copy' and advertising as a mark of responsible journalism."

Main Source: 
Christian Science Monitor, September 29, 2005

Comments

Product Placement Protested

Submitted by Laura Miller on September 30, 2005 - 5:10pm.
"Demonstrating against the practice of product placement in TV programs, a group of protestors armed with Writers Guild of America West literature disrupted the Madison & Vine session of Advertising Week at New York University's Skirball Center in Greenwich Village this morning," Advertising Age reports. Ad Age owns the Madison & Vine program, which focuses on the "emerging business of mixing advertisements into various kinds of entertainment and journalistic content including TV programs, movies, radio shows, Web sites, video games magazines and other media."

First Week

Submitted by first week on October 1, 2005 - 7:32pm.

After the First Week of the new season we see a lot of that placement. But in most magazines we don't really have journalism, but entertainment. I see ti as a problem when it is supposed to be a "news magazine" as opposed to "Ladies Home Journal" or "Flex"