My husband was watching “March Madness” on CBS this afternoon at about 2:30. A commercial came on, with the CBS War Logo on the screen. The announcer said: “If you think you’ve seen Shock and Awe, you haven’t seen nothin’ yet! Watch CBS News tonight!”
I really was appalled. Is this all this war boils down to for people? A realty TV show with cool explosions? The ad just struck me as incredibly callous . . . people are * dying, * for Christ’s sake! This is not fucking entertainment! It reminded me of a promo for * Survivor. * (“If you think the castaways have bickered, you ain’t seen nothin yet!”)
Strangely, although the news channels are getting much higher ratings, they’re not happy at all. They can’t sell advertising, since they can’t guarantee slots to show the adverts. Their own adverts may be everpresent and crass, but it’s a financial disaster for TV channels:
Yeah it seems that way. It seems to be more about the ratings war between the News Networks than about the war itself. The way it’s being conducted I think they should repackage the format. It should be like a Football forcast or maybe a reality show.
Well, apparently, the folks in charge of product placement have found a way to get their message across while the war’s going on. Did you see the Baskin Robbins uniform that Victoria Clarke was wearing during the afternoon briefing?
I can just see it now . . . Newscaster: “Fighting still continues along the Euprates river . . . but let’s take a moment to enjoy a cool, refreshing Coke. It’s the Real Thing!” Or, “The soliders are beginning to experience fatigue . . . they should eat a Snickers bar to boost their energy.”
Perhaps they could cover the soldiers’ uniforms with logos like those of race-car dirvers. The butt of a gun would be a good place to stick a logo sticker. If the army says no, they could electronically place logos on the sides of tanks like they do on the boards around the arena in hockey games.
I thought this war was going to be about those propaganda slots, with all those students saying they support the war:
“I support my country”
“If America’s gonna fight, I’ll support them”
“I support whatever they think is right”
Etc… fade to some bullshit slogan in appropriate red, white, and blue. Shit like that always makes me gnash my teeth.
My roommate said “I thought it was so funny – those shots of Baghdad looked just like a vegas show!”… I didn’t even bother telling him how disgusting that comment was. I’m so glad I’m moving.
Only slightly. That was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the outfit she was wearing. (If you missed it, it was a jacket pink on one side and brown on the other. She was wearing a gray turtleneck sweater, and the whole thing reminded me of Neopolitian ice cream, and I was going to post a tongue-in-cheek rant about it until I saw this thread. Oh, and wait till after the war’s over and CNN and others are advertising their “Shock and Awe!” DVDs and videos.
Hehe. I had this “idea” too. Product placement would be great for this war. Have fatigued looking soldiers refreshed after drinking an icy Pepsi Blue, Place the tres chic Target bullseye logo electronically onto buildings about to be hit by the tanks, Employ a few special effects to make the Euprates river look like a chocolate milk river, with Hershey Bars forming a chocolate bridge across it and little chocolate tanks crossing over it–all on live TV…all these are golden opportunites for product exposure are being lost!!
Not to mention endorsements from soldiers and pilots and such. “After a hard day of dropping Bunker Busters, nothing picks me up like a Coke. Heck, after one Coke, I’m ready to fly 10 sorties!”
