# The Future of TV Commercials **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 5, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582 "2013-12-05T16:34:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582/21 "2013-12-06T00:30:38Z")
Popular as it may be not everyone has a DVR. If you try to timeshift by watching shows you missed on OnDemand, they usually block you from being able to skip ahead. Which BTW totally screws you over if you just want to watch the very end of the show. ---
**Author:** ![SpeedwayRyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@SpeedwayRyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpeedwayRyan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582/22 "2013-12-06T18:37:54Z")
\*The Andy Griffith Show \*always featured Fords, so this isn’t new by any stretch. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582/23 "2013-12-06T18:43:27Z")
> [@SpeedwayRyan](#): > > \*The Andy Griffith Show \*always featured Fords, so this isn’t new by any stretch. 🙂 No, it’s been very common with cars for a long time. In most shows, one make is predominant, and often the names and symbols are removed from vehicles of other brands. Funny to see a Mercedes or Cadillac (brands with fairly unique appearances), for example, with the brand name and symbols removed. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582/24 "2013-12-06T19:36:55Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > No, it’s been very common with cars for a long time. In most shows, one make is predominant, and often the names and symbols are removed from vehicles of other brands. Funny to see a Mercedes or Cadillac (brands with fairly unique appearances), for example, with the brand name and symbols removed. Curiously, I noticed an incident of product de-placement in _ **The Blacklist** _ earlier this statement. A very obvious Ford, recognizable from that ugly grille and hood they’ve got going on now, with the logo either removed or replaced. It was actually more jarring than much product placement. Go too far in scrubbing every brand from your fictional TV show and the absence can disrupt the audience’s suspension of disbelief, particularly for highly “branded” products like cars and soda. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582/25 "2013-12-06T21:03:37Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > However, at other times, we will have a program like _Big Band Theory_ or some other sitcom running in the background while we pursue other activities. Is that the one about the nerdy musicians, working on swing theory, who live across the hall from this hot blonde chick? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582/26 "2013-12-06T21:34:59Z")
And it stars Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Count Basie. With Veronica Lake as the hot blonde girl. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582/27 "2013-12-07T00:32:39Z")
> [@SpeedwayRyan](#): > > \*The Andy Griffith Show \*always featured Fords, so this isn’t new by any stretch. 🙂 Yeah, but I don’t recall any episodes where Andy paused in the middle of a pursuit or a call to tell Barney about the unique performance characteristics of the Galaxie’s Cruise-o-Matic transmission. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582/28 "2013-12-07T00:47:24Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Trust me, every way viewers can figure out to avoid ads just spurs the networks to find a new way to get them in. This. I won’t watch a show I haven’t recorded first, including those on PBS so I can skip past the opening ads. I resent the ads inserted at the bottom of the TV screen while the show is playing. I won’t watch video clips on the computer when ads prevent them from playing. Forever after I won’t go to any net site that manages to slip an ad past the browser’s eight blockers and filters. When the screen splits to run ads, I’ll dump the TV. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582/29 "2013-12-08T20:46:37Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > Go too far in scrubbing every brand from your fictional TV show and the absence can disrupt the audience’s suspension of disbelief, particularly for highly “branded” products like cars and soda. I always find it kind of odd when characters are drinking / eating products that are clearly not the standard ones. For example, on many shows, they drink “Heisler” beer or some other sort of prop brand beer (HIMYM and Burn Notice come to mind), and on shows like “Big Bang Theory”, they have cans that look like Diet Coke, but say something like “Diet Cola” in actuality, and don’t quite look right. I’d think that the soda and beer companies would pay a pretty penny to be Sam Axe or the HIMYM crew’s beer. > **[While Watching the Oscars, Have a Heisler](http://beervana.blogspot.com/2011/02/while-watching-oscars-have-heisler.html)** > > Today we have that alt Superbowl known as the Oscars, and for you movie buffs, I have a beery recommendation: Heisler Gold Ale. "Brewed with... [http://popartinferno.tumblr.com/post/453922320](http://popartinferno.tumblr.com/post/453922320) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582/30 "2013-12-08T21:02:33Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > However, at other times, we will have a program like _Big Band Theory_ or some other sitcom running in the background while we pursue other activities. In those cases, we do see the ads if we happen to be looking at the program right then. So, it seems to me, the trick for advertisers is going to be getting me to turn and look at the ad while avoiding pissing me off in the process. (I am turned off by ads made to look like an emergency news announcement or play some blaring sound that forces attention. Annoying me is not the way to get me to consider your product.) I remember reading somewhere that one trick advertisers were using was to hire more stars from popular TV shows to appear in their ads. Celebrities have of course always been used in ads, but using TV stars in particular can help catch the attention of people who are zoning out during ads or even trying to fast forward through them. If you see or hear one of the stars of the show you’re currently watching, you’re more likely to pay attention/hit play because you may think the show has come back. I know I’ve seen ads where actress Jane Lynch is even dressed in a track suit that looks like the ones her character wears on _Glee_, and not because the ad has anything to do with sports or exercising. ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582/31 "2013-12-08T22:18:00Z")
If you ask me, the “good” product placement ads, where the product displayed blends in nearly seamlessly with the flow of story, those are in reality the worst. And it’s\* because\* you hardly notice them. Then it slips by your brain’s ad filters sort of subliminal like, and making you more likely to buy that product next time you’re shopping. Say for instance you’re out buying cokes, but you don’t happen to have any particular preference for either coca-cola or pepsi. You find them both equally tasty. You waffle briefly and then decide on the pepsi. You pick it, not because you’re thinking, “I wanna drink pepsi because so-and-so on tv does and he’s just the neatest!”. You don’t conciously pick one over the other, but unconciously, because there was that product placement on your favorite tv show last night promoting pepsi, that brand has more prominience in your mind. The ad just put a spotlight on the name that you’re not conciously aware of. Your internal ad filters only work if you pay attention to the ad, and then dismiss it. As irritating and even infuriating as proper commercials are, they have less influence on your decision making because the crappy little films have made you enraged. So to my mind, they are the lesser evil. Even though I hate every last single one of them with an unquenched passion. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582/32 "2013-12-08T22:39:48Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I’d think that the soda and beer companies would pay a pretty penny to be Sam Axe or the HIMYM crew’s beer. They would, but it’s a nightmare to negotiate. Does the beer want to be a sponsor on the first run? Then it’s a negotiation with the network. How about when the show is in syndication? Then it’s a negotiation with the producer or studios. What about online? Suppose, two years after the series goes into syndication, one of the actors gets an offer to become a spokesperson for a different beer but the two companies argue about how much the old endorsement hurts the new one? What if the beer gets sold to a different brewer who decides that it doesn’t want to pay for product placements and the TV show has to remove any trace of the old product placements? Think of all the problems a show like\* WKRP\* has had with music rights in syndication, YouTube clips, DVD sales, etc. That’s chump change compared to the dollars involved in product placement. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582/33 "2013-12-08T22:55:38Z")
> [@bump](#): > > …and on shows like “Big Bang Theory”, they have cans that look like Diet Coke, but say something like “Diet Cola” in actuality, and don’t quite look right. Interestingly, _Big Bang Theory_ is so popular it doesn’t need product placement like other shows, and yet freely showcases real nerdy products (like video games, tabletop games, internet software like Skype, etc) without either a kickback or interference. It’s all just good publicity and adds to the authenticity. I wish they all could do that. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582/34 "2013-12-08T23:54:17Z")
The absolute worse at product placement was _The Biggest Loser_. It was one of the many reasons I stopped watching it. Here’s an idea - how about making commercials people want to see. Advertisers act like they’ve never heard of Super Bowl commercials the other 364 days. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582/35 "2013-12-08T23:55:01Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I always find it kind of odd when characters are drinking / eating products that are clearly not the standard ones. For example, on many shows, they drink “Heisler” beer or some other sort of prop brand beer (HIMYM and Burn Notice come to mind), and on shows like “Big Bang Theory”, they have cans that look like Diet Coke, but say something like “Diet Cola” in actuality, and don’t quite look right. LET’S, a fake brand of potato chips, shows up all over the freakin place. Most notably on Community where Leonard did a review of them on Youtube. I too find the cars with covered up/missing logos to be highly distracting. I suspect it’s because a rival brand has payed for placement and/or is buying ad time on the show. Can’t have a Chevy logo visible on a show when Ford is paying you buckets of cash. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582/36 "2013-12-09T00:12:55Z")
It will be like that one episode of American Dad. Steve: Why did we have to come to a Burger King to read the map? Stan: Because the economics of television have changed, Steve. Have it your way! The way it is on tv is people on tv don’t watch tv. But if everyone is skipping commercials maybe they’ll start. They’ll always have the tv on while they are doing things and it will be playing commercials. Just like when I’m typing right now it’s important to protect our friends from forest fires. [Smokeybear.com](http://Smokeybear.com) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582/37 "2013-12-09T00:17:59Z")
> [@bump](#): > > USA Network shows ride that fine line between plenty and too much- **White Collar** has Ford ads starring cast members, and usually has prominent Fords that the FBI characters drive. In the current season of White Collar, I think the promotional deal is with BMW. The FBI agent character was given a BMW as part of a promotion and so there have been loving shots of the car and the logo in it. Meanwhile I think Covert Affairs had a deal with Jaguar, so one character drove up in one and it got lots of attention from the camera. In Burn Notice, Michael’s voiceover narration used to mention how valuable it was to have a car with whatever feature they were promoting on the Hyundai they used. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-tv-commercials/675582.md?page=1)