Figmentations

So, with the wonders of digital technology, now product placement in TV shows can be done after the fact and doesn’t need to be pre-planned.

On a separate but related note, I wanted to mention that I’ve recently begun a Graphics Design and Animation program over at The Chubb Institute, in NJ. At this school, it has repeatedly been mentioned that the future of “digital” is a rapidly growing area which will continue to grow in ways we don’t even know yet. Finding this article on “digital product placement” in the daily GMA SmartBrief dated Feb 16, 2006, is further proof of that.

According to this article (as originally published in the Detroit Free Press), with digital logos, products, or brands being digitally added to a TV show after it is produced, advertisers like the fact that there is less threat of their products “being edited out of scenes”. But personally I agree with some that the lines are getting blurred with this type of ‘advertising as entertainment’ (as this is also referred to in this piece). And to additionally paraphrase, I’m glad to hear that there is a product placement watchdog group out there, namely Commercial Alert, which “has lobbied Congress for stronger oversight of product placements.” A direct quote from Commercial Alert (in this article) sums up the concern:

“But they pretend that these are just ordinary programming rather than paid ads. This is an affront to basic honesty.”