Last week I wrote a post about how advertisers had to overcome TiVo and short attention spans through creative means. Well for years, the main weapon advertisers have used in their war against digital recording devices was product placement.
Usually, this tactic is limited to a well-placed (and name brand) beverage for our favorite TV characters to drink, or a casual off-the-cuff reference to certain restaurant or fast-food chain.
However, last week I watching the show Modern Family and the product placement went from deceptively subtle to overwhelmingly obvious.
That's because last week's episode was entirely devoted to the iPad...as if we hadn't already heard enough about the iPad, right?
The plot of the episode was basically that Phil, one of the main characters, gets an iPad for his birthday. After blowing out the digital candles on his birthday cake app, he and his family continued to gush over how great the iPad is.
And seeing as how it was indeed a real iPad and not a mock-up or a fake, I doubt it was a coincidence or the producers simply looking to capitalize on a trending topic.
Now I understand it's timely, what with the recent iPad launch and all (not to mention the flurry of media coverage that followed), but I'm not sure how I feel about being whacked over the head with the product placement.