Discoblog, affiliated with Discovery magazine (no relation to the Discovery Channel), had a piece claiming that network television producers are now keenly aware that the advertising method popularly dubbed “product placement” no longer works to attract consumers. In fact, if you watch some of the more tongue-and-cheek animated films, or either comedy news show on Comedy Central, product placement has become sort of a joke.
What has replaced the ancient practice of product placement is what’s being called “behavior placement.” Behavior placement is seen as using media to “force” a specific kind of behavior upon viewers. The blog uses the example of “going green” as it has been used by NBC during this spring’s lineup of television programs. The wise advertisers who support the “going green” movement naturally gravitate toward this kind of programming, and what we consumers get in the end is a jumbled narrative of what it means to “go green” without any real context for understanding environmental care outside of comedy shows and soap commercials.
You can read more of the actual blog for a better explanation.
The one opinion I do have about this practice is that viewers never actually learn about what it means to be environmentally friendly through the television. We might learn that there is a new kind of clothing, hygiene product, or book on the market promoting environmentalism. If we pay close attention, we may even learn about some possible practices that can help us act more environmentally friendly. But, in the end what we’ve really done is associate an action with a television network.
Thus, NBC becomes the model with which we judge and associate environmental friendliness, and the fringe activist groups working to persuade the government about the need for increased environmental awareness are ignored and under-supported.
Take a look at this clip from a spring episode of The Office.
Billy W Collins 