Product Intergration

Commodification, in my opinion, is becoming much too powerful in media nowadays. When television first started, the main agenda of companies supporting production was to make a substantial sum of money--that is, once people started tuning in every day. Therefore, it goes without saying that television runs on advertising. Remember: shows are just the filler between commercials.

Once television abandoned the straight-forward product integration of the Kraft Television era, commercials were key to keeping companies interested in paying networks to run their programs. However, due to post-modern technologies, consumers are now allowed to skip any of the advertisements that they do no want to watch. So, of course, those who paid to be advertised needed to revert back to their old ways: product integration.

Some shows such as 30 Rock make their product integration obvious. In a very The Truman Show-like way, 30 Rock pokes fun on the products they advertise in their shows, but simultaneously please sponsors by advertising without "advertising". Product integration appears to be humorous in 30 Rock, but not all television shows, nor films, make obvious attempts to humor the consumer into buying a particular product.

Instead, we now witness the hundreds of disguised advertisements in our TV programs and movies. Take our music videos. While this may apply more to music than television, it is important that we see how ads are sneaking into all media. In 2005, McDonald's offered to pay many rappers to make references to its food. Just check it out.

Do you remember iRobot, the futuristic Will Smith flick? First off, I'm sorry. But take a look at the car he drives. This same image can be found on www.audi.com. It's not hard to spot the product integration here, but how many people really think about the car as an important feature to the film? I don't think many do, but for some of us, we now want to buy an Audi, especially in the future, although we don't know why.

The point behind my rant is that we need to be weary of product intergration. We need to keen our senses, so that we are no longer on the wrong end of the chicken-and-egg cycle. The question has always been, do we influence the products in media or do they influence us. In my strong opinion, product integration that has been blended smoothly into what we see and hear has the potential of influencing what we buy and want. The same concept has been around for ages, but I suggest that we are no longer being treated as human beings when these ads subconsciously influence us; instead, we are being leered upon by those who see us a meaty cash-cows.