The Butt Ugly Weblog

Productplacementcasting

Tuhat sanaa reports that The Dawn and Drew Show has agreed to do product placement with Durex. No spots, but deep product placement.

Here's one reason why the new media will triumph over the old one: it has little integrity. Traditional media is bound by certain rules: some legislated, some self-imposed. But in the new media, there's always someone willing to skirt the bounds of good taste, morale, or legality to make a few bucks. People place far fewer restrictions on themselves than media corporations do - witness the FCC Decency Rules, for example. Advertisers will love it. A lot of people will probably suffer for it.

It places a heavy burden on the reader. And an even heavier one on the old media, who'll either have to play up their strengths or succumb to the flow. After all, a lot of the media (especially TV) is mostly about catering for advertisers, not viewers.

Ironically, this may mean good times for the really old, established media (such as YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation, or BBC) that have been rummaging through the times in a juggernaut-like fashion, protected by the TV license fees: they can embrace the benefits of the new media, without the commercial pressures; neither will they have to face the competition for advertising money, which is always affecting the advertising-run businesses. They have far more freedom than anyone else in the game. And when things are changing rapidly, freedom is good.