BP (which bought Amoco) and Shell advertise on TV quite a bit, touting the quality of their gasolines (particularly their detergent additives). I believe that Chevron does, as well, though, as they’re more of a regional brand (primarily in the West), you don’t see their ads on national networks very often.
And the average consumer is too stupid to realize that the new items have little or nothing to do with the name brand. Just one example: It wasn’t so bad when Special K cereal started coming out in a gazillion flavors, including varieties with tiny chocolate chips mixed in. But breakfast bars and protein water mix?
Oil companies and some other businesses love to target certain types of shows for political/PR influence reasons. So you see a lot of PBS shows sponsored by oil companies and the like. E.g., Nova is sponsored by David H. Koch of the petrochemical (and many other industries) family. Famously conservative and well known for trying to sway public opinion and many matters that Nova might cover such as climate change.
The Sunday network talk shows (Meet the Press, etc.) are heavily targeted by oil companies, ADM (the corn giant), and so on. Not because they want to sell or influence the audience, because they want to be friends with the network news bureaus, who in turn might tend to look the other way on negative things the companies do.
Again, it’s a question of what types of shows you watch and when.
I used to have a client who was a big advertiser on the Sunday shows. Their real target was actually the inside-the-Beltway Washington people – Congressional staffs, lobbyists, etc.
Next time you watch a TV show, pay attention to the product placements. If you see the main characters eating or drinking a recognizable product, it wasn’t just because the props person bought it on the way to the set that morning.
Doritos get a pass from me, since the different flavors are just seasoning on the same underlying chip. But any Mountain Dew that isn’t neon yellow/green isn’t Mountain Dew. I’ve tried the different flavors and I can’t find anything “Mountain Dewy” about them beyond the name on the bottle. Not saying they’re bad, just that they aren’t Mountain Dew as far as I’m concerned.
I miss the PSAs warning kids not to touch blasting caps found casually laying around construction sites. Either the ATF cracked down on such storage methods or they stopped caring if little Johnny blew his fingers off.
Is now.
It’s even more common in Chinese TV shows, ubiqitous even.
I get what you mean, but I don’t agree with the first example. Dry breakfast cereal chunks and dry breakfast cereal bars have lots in common
Could it be that when you were 10, you did most of your TV watching at a different time of day than you do now, in your 20’s? Because I think ads for grocery items and detergents are more common on daytime TV.
Ipana anyone? (Extra points if you even know what Ipana is/was.)
Back in the day, Geritol was synonymous with Lawrence Welk.
Fer sure – Major-branded, pre-packaged hot dogs and all sorts of luncheon meats and all sorts of other stuff have been around as long as I can remember, that is, at least as far back as the early 60’s. (Now let’s all argue about whether 60’s or 60s should be written with an apostrophe.)
Sea Monkeys - I’m sure I saw commercials in NY in the 70s. Also, Chicken of the Sea tuna.
The best was Crazy Glue - always thought that construction worker was ballsy hanging from the I-beam by his helmet.
Finally, Smucker’s jelly- ‘with a name like Smucker’s it has to be good’.