News – FCC opens inquiry into stealthy advertising

The above link is to a short article on NAB365 about the FCC looking not into product placement in television shows but a practice known as “product integration.” What is product integration? From the NAB365 article:

For example, episodes of the family-oriented show “7th Heaven” included plot lines revolving around Oreo cookies. Other examples cited by critics of the practice include episodes of “The Office” in which characters work at a Staples office supply store; a “CSI” show in which characters promote features of a General Motors vehicle; and a “Smallville” episode in which the dialogue included the line “Acuvue to the rescue,” a reference to the contact lens maker.

Yet another way that advertisers are desperately trying to get eyeballs on their products as we skip more and more commercials with more and more DVRs as well as look for other entertainment like video games and the Internet. For me, something like the Staples integration into the Office seemed to make perfect sense and really didn’t bother me. But for something like the 7th Heaven example above (I didn’t see that show) that might be pushing it a little bit too far. It will probably be a tight walk to see just how much of this “product integration” the viewer will take before they (we) say enough and tune out.