• Republican-American, Monday, January 30, 2006 2:28 PM

John Greenwald, writing for the Republican-American of Waterbury, Connecticut, decries the rise of product placement as standard practice in mainstream media.  Actually, he seems more fascinated than angered. "Product placement has become so important there are companies that hook up advertisers and products," says Greenwald.  "One, Media Matchmaker, has a Web site where Madison Avenue and Hollywood execs fill out appropriate computer forms.  The computer merges and purges the data, listing product placement opportunities for both."  This should be offensive to audiences, in Greenwald's view, because it generally works to the detriment of the creative process.  Storyline, dialogue, and camera angles are all tailored to the needs of the advertiser. Sometimes this results in simply awful TV shows or films.  Greenwald especially goes after NBC, which "dominates the product placement business."  NBC, alas, has seen some hard times of late.  "Some wags suggest all these product placements instead of content is why NBC's ratings are so poor." 

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