Television: Now with More Stealth Ads!

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Local television stations are increasingly open to product placement. The Meredith Corporation's "syndicated hour-long lifestyle program 'Better' (named in part after the company's Better Homes & Gardens magazine)" includes space for local stations to add in sponsored segments. The "three-to-five minute videos" have pushed products related to "child-care topics such as baby-proofing the home, installing a car seat and visiting the doctor," for sponsors including State Farm Insurance, General Mills, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson and Kimberly-Clark. "National and local product integration is one way Meredith generates revenue from its 'Better' program. Up to eight minutes ... can be 'localized,' which could include the sale of local product integration, as well as sponsorship of news and entertainment features." CBS also has a "special unit ... aimed to spark discussions of product integration earlier in the program development process," while its new senior vice-president of branded integration and online is "branded-entertainment executive Greg Bennett." At the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Steve Bornfeld lists examples of what are -- or at least appear to be -- product placements in local TV news. "Channel 3's allergy prevention story, interviewing a St. Rose Hospital pediatrician who has been a station source more than once? No allegations of an arrangement," he admits. "But not knowing equals not trusting."