The television industry is once again, treating you as nothing but a consumer cash-cow, an open wallet for them to reach into.
I was indulging in one of my guilty pleasures, watching My Name Is Earl. I can’t help it, it’s such a stupid comedy, yet the characters are so endearing and when you come down to brass tacks, it’s really about someone doing the right thing, even if how it gets done is pretty ridiculous at times.
But tonight’s episode crossed a line, selling out bigtime to advertising and product placement. In the show, Joy, Earls’ ditzy Ex, sees a commercial on TV with Jane Seymour pushing some diamond necklace. Later she has a dream about it and sees Jane in her medicine cabinet. Seymour tells her that she has to disprove the theory of evolution so that she can have her own diamond necklace.
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t about creationism to me. I think it’s hilarious that Joy sets out to disprove Darwin’s theory by putting a fish into an aquarium and putting food up on a rock. She says that if the fish grows legs and climbs up on the rock, then Darwin was right. The only problem is, she’s so stupid, she doesn’t know a pollywog from a fish and it does grow legs!
Okay, so that’s not so far out of a plot for this show. But then they cut to commercials and the same commercial with Jane Seymour for Kay Jewelers comes on. Oh, come on, how low can we sink into product placement hell. Bad enough we have to see people drinking Coke and using Sprint cell phones, or driving their Hybrid SUVs, now they’ve worked it into the plot!
Of course, this should be no surprise. This is the television industry’s way of saying “Go ahead, put our show on You Tube or Bittorrent, we’ll force you to watch the commercial anyway.” I wonder how much Kay Jewelers paid to get this ad, or if it’s just part of an experiment they were invited to be part of.
Anyway, I found it slightly offensive, in that condescending TV way that thinks we are placed on this planet to watch whatever crap they serve up.
And of course, at the end of the show, Joy received her necklace, reinforcing the Open Hearts theme… fast-forward through that with your Tivo!
Let’s not overlook the season premiere of Heroes, in which Matt Parkman was teleported to deep Africa and (conveniently) rescued by a native clairvoyant. When Parkman asks to borrow the African’s cell phone, he’s rebuffed; there’s no service, Parkman is told, they should’ve gone with Sprint.
Guess whose commercials littered the entire hour?
(Not to mention that a lot of the first season of Heroes was a not-so-subtle advertisement for the Nissan Versa, here rented by Hiro.)
I did realize the advertisement for the Jane Seymour necklace and I was rather offended that they’d stoop to that level. I mean for years, like you’ve said, we see product placement in shows. Doug Heffernan drinking a Miller High Life, Ray Barone eating a bowl of Fruity Pebbles etc etc. However they were never a plot focus of the show and to cross that line to me is unacceptable. I won’t go as far as to say I’ll never watch Earl again, as it is one of my favorite shows on TV, but if this does continue, I’m probably going to bow out. Like I said, its fine if they all drink Bud Light, drive Ford F-150s and wear John Deere hats. That is easily hick stuff, but to incorporate a Kay Jewelers necklace is rather out there.
I agree. This was way beyond the sort of random (nothing is random) product placement. It was an insult to our intelligence. (Okay, watching Earl isn’t the best way to show your IQ) What’s next? Does Crab-Man get a job as a car salesman and spend half the show telling us the virtues of a Ford Explorer?
There has always been a separation between the advertising and the entertainment. When you can’t tell the difference anymore, you might as well pop in a DVD or go to a movie. (They’re getting almost as bad., though.)
I felt sort of like I won a vacation and had to sit through the time-share sales pitch…
Joy, bless her heart, probably thinks that Kays is a really swanky place like Tiffanys, and thinks their jewelry is really classy. Personally I think the necklace looks like a rattlesnake.
It’s just a way to get past Tivo. They ARE hawking a new Ford in a lot of shows, the Ford Flex.
Geesh. Lighten up everybody. It was clearly a JOKE. Who the heck seriously wants a product endorsed by Joy of My Name is Earl? If anything, I’m surprised Seymour and Kay Jewelers went along with it. The Jane Seymour commercial is hilarious in and of itself (the necklace looks like a butt or sagging boobs)and about the only people buying up the necklace are hillbillies and hicks.