Says Rob Master, Unilever director of North American media when recently describing the “...artful, organic, even authentic integration” of Dove in TNT’s Trust Me. (They ran a contest to be the creative director while Dove was featured in the show.)Adding,
“We are the good guys because without us you'd be watching Lonely Girl on your 40- inch plasma in your living room....”
Nice attitude; and thanks to Unilever, we get to watch Trust me on a 27” non-plasma. Without customers, you also wouldn’t be moving product either. As for knocking Lonely Girl, do you mean coming up with an alternative like the ‘real’ fake over the top performances in Trust Me? Hmmm. Seems like it actually Dovetails nicely with the contrived contriveness of LG. Let’s not get holier than thou. Face it, Unilever would have her in a shower using Dove if they thought it would drive traffic.
“The goal is to ‘drive people's beliefs and impressions about a brand to get them to buy more product,’ ... At the end of the day it doesn't mean anything unless we’re selling more shampoo.”
Which is it? Either impressions drive sales or they don’t. Moving product or product placement in shows that are about to be canceled. It’s either about self-indulgent hypocritical campaigns or real ones that make a difference. Not to mention impressions on people who never use your product. (Sorry, but no matter how cool Coke’s stuff is, I’m not switching from Pepsi.)
Of course sponsors help pay for a lot of the shows that run on TV and cable. However, when the quality of a show takes a backseat to product placement, the only “real” thing here is how messed-up that attitude is.
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