TV Show With Built-In Advertising Planned

Culture

from the makes-sense dept

To be honest, I’m really surprised that this idea hasn’t shown up much sooner. With all the fears about TiVo users skipping commercials, I was wondering why no one had put together a show like the ones from back in the 50s where the advertisers and sponsors were built directly into the show. It turns out that I wasn’t the only one who thought of it. Mike Davies, who created Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, is creating a new variety show without any commercials, but with lots of product placement. There will be sets that actively promote products, as well as skits about specific products. I do wonder, though, how well such a show will do. It seems that, these days, people are less thrilled about being openly advertised to. In a cynical culture, people might find such overt incorporation of sponsorship and ads to be overdone.