Product placement in Las Vegas newscast
Michael Gay July 21st, 2008
In a move that will make capital-J journalists cringe, it appears product placement has made its way into a Las Vegas morning newscast. The Las Vegas Sun reports KVVU now has two iced coffee drinks from McDonald’s sitting on the desk during the 7AM newscast. The station ND says this show isn’t a hard news program. “I stress the fact that it is being done on a program that is a combination of news entertainment and lifestyle programming,” KVVU news director Adam P. Bradshaw says. No word on how much McDonald’s paid.
15 Comments Add your own
1. Dave | July 21st, 2008 at 9:14 am
Capital-J journalists should cringe that the 7am newscast is “news entertainment and lifestyle” programming…
2. tdc | July 21st, 2008 at 9:31 am
b&c’s m. malone reports they are actually props weighing about 7 pounds each.
that’s about what a quarter w/ cheese feels like it weighs in my tummy a 1/2 hour after eating one.
3. Rocker | July 21st, 2008 at 9:47 am
I’m not a Journalist. Not even a journalist…in fact, I’m one who’s usually pushing the newsies to be more accomodating to sales in reasonable ways. But even I think this goes over the line. I’ll leave the debate over journalistic values to others, but beyond that…it’s just plain tacky.
4. jayjay | July 21st, 2008 at 11:53 am
I don’t like it when Simon, Paula and Randy drink Cokes in their red Coca Cola glasses during American Idol either. But it’s not shocking to me that a station would “go there.” Easy money.
5. Steve | July 21st, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I’m real curious if the viewers know that the 7 a.m. hour is “news entertainment and lifestyle programming.”
6. Dave | July 21st, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Product placement would be cool if they did an entertainment / lifestyle show that was produced by the programming department (instead of news) and hosted by a non-news talent.
Of course, that would require local tv to think outside the “news box” and we all know that’s not possible.
7. Rob | July 21st, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Newspapers have advertising on A1, advertising is overpowering weather forecast graphics and segments of our newscasts are “brought to you by” Brand X.
Everywhere you turn on TV, the radio and the web there’s product placement and endorsement.
The encroachment of sales into the news decision-making process happened long before a McCoffee Cup appeared on a Las Vegas McNews desk.
8. discreet_chaos | July 21st, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Aren’t most morning shows (local & national) ” news entertainment and lifestyle programming”?
I’m sure there’s exceptions, but a lot of times there’s some features reporter doing a multi-segment remote from a “fun” location. A lot of times, the weatherperson pushes pet adoption, once a week, they sometimes wear funny hats, show weird video or photoshopped images, or they promote local events and/or “Talk Like a Pirate Day”.
All this with headlines, possibly an interview or two with somebody producing a local play, kids, musicians and folks promting an upcoming walk-a-thon.
It certainly sounds like ” news entertainment and lifestyle programming” to me…
9. John P. Wise | July 21st, 2008 at 4:42 pm
@discreet . . . and do those awful morning hits actually entertain you?
“Wow, that’s unusual, the young, blonde, morning bubbly is making pizza with the guys at the local pizza shop, and starting every sentence with, ‘Hey guys.’ How unique and exciting.”
10. Anonymous | July 21st, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Next thing you’ll tell me is Hoda and Kathie Lee are going to have a sitdown on Darfur bcause all fur is bad, girlfriend!
AHEM Something is broken in here, I haven’t pinpointed it…aha!
11. aidian | July 21st, 2008 at 11:49 pm
discreet: Murrow forgive me…but I think I’ve gotten used to news, entertainment and lifestyle programming on the morning shows. The greater sin is to have “news entertainment” as the format for your show — think “Good Day (wherever).”
Worse, the staff are making news department salaries. I’d be happy to do an entertainment program. But entertainment producers make about six times what I do.. minimum.
Dave: Pepper And Friends, KOMU Columbia Missouri. Hugely popular, totally unwatchable for me… something more stations should be doing. Oh, wait, there’s no need for that, we’ll just rely on our networks and syndicators…..
12. discreet_chaos | July 22nd, 2008 at 6:00 am
John P. Wise (and others): I generally only watch the first half hour of local morning news, if any at all. It seems that most often that segment is a little harder because they’re first covering the overnight stories and because the anchor(s) often haven’t woke up.
I don’t know when the last time was that I watched any of the network morning shows, though I do sometimes catch the super-early, 5-5:30 report. If something major happens on any of the “news entertainment and lifestyle” programs, the story usually migrates to a website, web forum or onto one of the newspaper sites and the video is almost always online.
(Though, if you’re looking for something from the “Today Show”, I suggest that you go directly to MSNBC’s site because their “in cooperation with iVillage” site is not only useless for news and pretty hideous to view, but it also apparently has no news. Basically, it’s the ultimate in the “entertainment and lifestyle” part of the format)
13. Anonymous | July 22nd, 2008 at 7:59 am
The Meredith Fox affiliate has a McDonald’s logo on the left side of the crawl in the morning. Is that any better?
14. Anonymous | July 22nd, 2008 at 7:59 am
That should be, the Meredith Fox affiliate in Portland, KPTV 12.
15. Anonymous | July 28th, 2008 at 2:36 am
I hopr the fake pickles were done well. Make or break for a prop along with getting the coloring used in the cheese right and all melty like.
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