Colbert Product Placement
The Colbert Report on Comedy Central is one of the few things I TIVO. And it is the practice of TIVO-ing and burning through the ads that has forced the television culture industry to plunge headlong into the strange world of product placement in order to get brands seen - that is, if the show isn't already a full-blown ad. Product placement is a tricky business. The conventional wisdom has always been that if the audience recognizes the product as "placed," it tends to be a real turnoff. Successful placement demands seamless integration, blending the brand naturally into the environment. The other tactic we might call the "Austin Powers" method whereby product placement is foregrounded with an ironic wink so the audience not only doesn't feel insulted, they feel like they're in on some kind of subversive joke with Mike Meyers. But the subversive joke is on the audience, of course.
This brings us to the fascinating case of the Colbert Report. The show's demographic is very likely well-educated and very "cynical" about advertising as they say on Madison Ave - leftists who jibe with Colbert's anti-authoritarian triple-decker ironic sense of humor. Also, it is very likely that Colbert viewers are very valuable, upscale demographic. And because of these circumstances, they probably have TIVO machines. The show has managed to catch the attention of the so-called "new democrats" who really are latte-drinking liberals (not working class labor union types). For advanced capital, this is rare prey indeed. And wiley.
I don't know if I should be stunned by this, but Colbert must contend with massive product placement. I would love to make a complete list. So far I have:
1. Kraft Cheese Crumbles. They're "crumbelievable." Colbert spent 20 minutes of a show with this as his "Word."
2. The iPod. Apple sponsored the "green screen challenge," which asked fans at home to participate and take Colbert's green screened image and make something interesting out of it. On two separate occasions, they featured the "submission," which took Colbert's image and turned it into an iPod sillouette with white earplugs.
3. Just the other night, Colbert made a "joke" about being fueled by Starbucks coffee. The joke was that he was trying to quit drinking coffee - but...he...just...couldn't...throw...away...the...
luscious....goodness...of...the...Starbucks...latte.
4. I swear I remember VW popping up somewhere.
5. Colbert seems to take a lot of sips of bottled water and Dr. Pepper when he's parched in the middle of sketches. There's always some brand to display under his desk.
6. The Motorola Razr phone - displayed proudly by Colbert's new "black friend" P.K. Winsome, the "Black Republican." It takes great pictures.
7. Colbert suggests renaming the Iraqi civil war something "everyone likes" like the "Cool Ranch Doritos War."
This really intrigues me. I often yell at the screen. I wonder if anyone else notices the exquisite tension between the ostensible ethos of the show and the way Colbert whores products left and right like Bob Barker.
This brings us to the fascinating case of the Colbert Report. The show's demographic is very likely well-educated and very "cynical" about advertising as they say on Madison Ave - leftists who jibe with Colbert's anti-authoritarian triple-decker ironic sense of humor. Also, it is very likely that Colbert viewers are very valuable, upscale demographic. And because of these circumstances, they probably have TIVO machines. The show has managed to catch the attention of the so-called "new democrats" who really are latte-drinking liberals (not working class labor union types). For advanced capital, this is rare prey indeed. And wiley.
I don't know if I should be stunned by this, but Colbert must contend with massive product placement. I would love to make a complete list. So far I have:
1. Kraft Cheese Crumbles. They're "crumbelievable." Colbert spent 20 minutes of a show with this as his "Word."
2. The iPod. Apple sponsored the "green screen challenge," which asked fans at home to participate and take Colbert's green screened image and make something interesting out of it. On two separate occasions, they featured the "submission," which took Colbert's image and turned it into an iPod sillouette with white earplugs.
3. Just the other night, Colbert made a "joke" about being fueled by Starbucks coffee. The joke was that he was trying to quit drinking coffee - but...he...just...couldn't...throw...away...the...
luscious....goodness...of...the...Starbucks...latte.
4. I swear I remember VW popping up somewhere.
5. Colbert seems to take a lot of sips of bottled water and Dr. Pepper when he's parched in the middle of sketches. There's always some brand to display under his desk.
6. The Motorola Razr phone - displayed proudly by Colbert's new "black friend" P.K. Winsome, the "Black Republican." It takes great pictures.
7. Colbert suggests renaming the Iraqi civil war something "everyone likes" like the "Cool Ranch Doritos War."
This really intrigues me. I often yell at the screen. I wonder if anyone else notices the exquisite tension between the ostensible ethos of the show and the way Colbert whores products left and right like Bob Barker.
posted by thebaffler at 5:55 PM
2 Comments:
Colbert is full of shit. All snark and no solutions. He just makes fun of stuff.
He's not there to provide progressive ideas. He's there to make us laugh about the things we "cant" change.
The advertising is spot on for the uninformed, young, consumer demographic.
You can't sell shit to people who can't be bought.
yea... it's getting REALLY old REALLY fast. It seems like ever since he came up with the idea to use product placement, his show has gone from actual funny bits to taking more and more time to whore himself out to advertisers.
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