• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 10, 2006

Products placed in TV shows are like mini-marketing and media lessons for the average consumer. Today, that's entertainment.

But it's hard to know where brand and commercial effectiveness end and where media 101 lessons and entertainment take off.

In "Desperate Housewives," ad executive Lynette Scavo pulls up in a Nissan Xterra and then tells 17-year-old Andrew Van De Camp her agency is working on the car's ad campaign, which is targeting his demographic--which may seem strange, since high-school kids don't regularly have $30,000 to buy a new SUV. And she even mentions that.

He would be doing her a favor, she says, by taking the car around for a spin. "Sweet ride," he says. Sure, what else would a 17-year-old boy say?

Andrew is a conniving young lad, looking to grab his trust fund a bit early by angling out of his mother's house through a legal emancipation. Lynette senses that Andrew isn't being all that honest as he plays for the Xterra--even as she tempts him to consult for a good focus group report.

Lessons here? Shiftless high school kids like Nissan Xterras. That's a nice brand association and a new psychographic discovery for Nissan--the slacker teenager.

More marketing lessons from "The Apprentice," where--what else--another marketing challenge set up to get young business hopefuls to create free commercials for the Norwegian Cruise Line, and its new 'Freestyle' campaign.

Pushing media and marketing-speak on viewers might seem cool--but how much actual brand association is going on here with these business efforts? A campaign around the theme "freestyle" seems more to suggest a MTV-like ship of young consumers straight from the Spring break beaches of Daytona. But the commercials are seemingly stuck in the Catskills and Atlantic City crowd.

On the WB's "Everwood," Hannah and Amy make us squirm a bit in our seats as Amy gushes on about Hannah's new Mercury Milan, which Hannah mentions by name. "I love the headlights," said Amy. "They are very stylish."

Organic? There's definitely some partially hydrogenated oils and red dye number two in this placement. If that isn't enough to make you scrape up on a curb, the perfect product shot at the end will convince you Milan should Rome off the set.

And speaking of squirming, here is more to twist by: Hummer, Hummer, Hummer. In NBC's "Deal or No Deal," host Howie Mandel says the car brand name about a zillion times. "Three quarters of a million dollars will buy you a lot of Hummers," says Mandel. Even one of the pretty girl game presenters says, as she crosses her fingers: "I hear humming."

I beg your pardon?

The contestant wants a Hummer, has dreamed about Hummers, and now looks to find the right price on a game show to get him a Hummer. It's a great name for a car, and who cares if virtually none of the brand's attributes were described.

Viewers get off on it.