So I get this e-mail from Madison + Vine today, M+V being AdAge’s attempt to serve the burgeoning field of advertainment and product placement. Two areas I’m not especially keen on, but I have to keep up with the times, even if I spend most of my time laughing at them.
Here are the gems I was made aware of this time. A product placement specialist, Amy Willstatter, was so diligent on behalf of her tequila client “she even got Neil Simon to OK a script change promoting the product” in the play “Sweet Charity”. Why do I not think this was a “charitable” donation on Mr. Simon’s part? And more importantly, why would a person of Mr. Simon’s stature and means change a script to tout a brand of cactus juice?
Beat me. Along with what value does Anheuser-Busch think it will get for being the only beer brands in the new FX show “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”, which is set in a bar? Seems like it will look pretty phony to any viewer who’s old enough to have been in a bar and that is Bud’s target, right? (Let’s not go there.)
And my last Madison + Vine-inspired query: Is there any brand out there stupid enough to drop $1 billion to acquire the naming rights to Wembley? I hope not, being one of the 2 million+ plus fans that go to Wrigley to see the Cubs without thinking of gum for even one second.
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