Suggestive Television

A couple of reports released last week revealed nothing terribly surprising about the state of television. And while it would be funny, in a Monty-Python-sort-of-way, to leave it at that and move on to this week’s real topic, I’m afraid I won’t be doing that.

Last week, Nielsen Media Research released a report on brand name product placement on network TV, and the results won’t shock you. In the 2004-05 season, product placement in primetime network programming was up 30% from the previous season. And while the metoric rise may not be shocking, the numbers might.

NBC led the pack with a startling 21,286 instances, nearly doubling the frequency of product appearances in the 2003-04 season. CBS came in at a distant second with 12,294 product placements, Fox was third with 10,422, and ABC finished fourth with 8,272. (Fox’s “American Idol” racked up nearly 3,000 by itself.) So, between the big four networks, you were potentially exposed to 52,274 instances of this sneaky, subliminal form of advertising for which companies are dishing out big bucks.

But does it work? Does a close-up shot of Joey’s pantry make you buy a box of Saltines? If you’re watching “The O.C,” and Marissa and Johnny are walking along the beach, talking about how Lunesta helped get them over their nightmares, will you go out and buy a bottle?

According to the experts, it’s not likely. Most marketing experts believe that product placement in this vein only reinforces the brand to its existing consumers. For example, in the past ten years Apple has gone to great lengths to get its computers in front of television and movie cameras. Nearly every computer you see on TV and in movies is a Mac, yet Mac sales have remained relatively flat.

So why do manufacturers dish out that kind of money for product placement when there is no proof it works? It’s all about branding their product to its existing consumers. In our brand-conscious society, if viewers see Joey drinking a Heineken, it casts the beer in a favorable light. And when “Joey”-watchers/Heineken-drinkers go to the supermarket, they are more likely to stick with Heineken than to try a Guinness or Bass (even if they don’t remember seeing Joey drink it).

Another report released last week by the Kaiser Family Foundation indicates that, to no one’s surprise, the amount of sex on the tube is on the rise. According to a KFF press release, “the study found that 70% of all shows include some sexual content, and that these shows average 5.0 sexual scenes per hour.” However, only 14% of those shows also had safe sex messages, such as discussions about contraceptives and abstinence. (The full report can be viewed at www.kff.org.)

So what do these findings tell us about today’s TV? Probably not as much as they tell us about its advertisers and ourselves. We know that sex sells. We know that television is demand-driven. So while these public-interest groups always seem to zero-in on the networks, it seems their real targets are sitting behind those Hungry Man dinners.

-From Pulse
November 17, 2005