Bit or Plug?©, The official thread Options

[SonOfJoel_1]

On the show on 2/1/2007, Conan "played tennis" with Serena Williams on a Wii, and Conan made sure to get in the full name, "the Nintendo Wii." The segment was fun--but ever since Conan plugged and then dissed Chocolate Lucky Charms on the air, it seems like more and more product placements have snuck their way onto the show. (Like the Wii needs any more promotion.)

For those of you who don't know, this is a way for the advertising industry to put their products in before the commercial breaks, which people are ignoring more and more, whether by zipping through them by fast-forwarding their VHS copy, or more likely, skipping them by fast forwarding their Tivos. Lost eyeballs equals lost sales, and Thursday night in particular is a night that advertisers prize because people are about to start their shopping weekends and any last-minute plugs help drive sales.

So, because you all know I'm the resident media economist 'round these parts [snicker], I've decided to start keeping a log of all the product placements I notice here. Note that I'm not really using this thread as a discussion, but more as a record. I think it'll be an interesting way to see what products and what demographics are being sold and sold to respectively.

SOJ

[SonOfJoel_1]

2/2/07

IHOP, in desk bit, crushed by the Sears Tower, whose image is copyrighted

Nintendo Wii, in 1st guest 2nd slug. Conan and Serena Williams play tennis on the Wii.

[severina80]

Didn't you have other examples of this? Prep H Raymond and...?? There was something else that I cannot remember.

How about, "Hey Apple! Send me a Video iPod!"

Edit - I remember what it was now - The Applebee's Food Critic

[latenightgoddess]

SOJ - I don't get why a company/brand/product can't be mentioned on the show, either in passing or in a sketch, without you thinking it's a case of bit or plug. I think in sketches or just in joking, they use names of companies (Applebee's), products (Chocolate Lucky Charms), etc. that people are familiar with. I don't think it necessarily means they're plugging something every time they use names that people are familiar with.

But then I don't understand advertising anyway. I've never bought something because of an ad and I don't think I ever would. Maybe I've totally missed the point of ads my whole life, but I've never been interested or paid much attention to them.

[severina80]

But then I don't understand advertising anyway. I've never bought something because of an ad and I don't think I ever would. Maybe I've totally missed the point of ads my whole life, but I've never been interested or paid much attention to them.

You mean "A-hole Ronald" didn't make you want to run out and buy McDonalds? D.amn I want to see that sketch.

[SonOfJoel_1]

2/3/07

Charlize Theron brought up the subject of Guinness talking about her Irish boyfriend. But Conan ran with it, even saying "I'm just mentioning it so they'll send me free stuff." We may be seeing more of these plugs soon, considering that a $75K earring was lost by a guest on the show--shouldn't that be her fault?

SOJ

[severina80]

2/3/07

Charlize Theron brought up the subject of Guinness talking about her Irish boyfriend. But Conan ran with it, even saying "I'm just mentioning it so they'll send me free stuff." We may be seeing more of these plugs soon, considering that a $75K earring was lost by a guest on the show--shouldn't that be her fault?

SOJ

1) It is absolutely her fault and Late Night shouldn't be expected to pay for it. Who wears a $75,000 earring? Who wears a $75,000 earring when you know you are going to be jumping around a playing Wii tennis? If you wear them, take them off and hand them to a heavily armed man, knowing that you have a piece of jewlery that costs more than the average income of the audience that now hates you.

2) I think you may be taking this plug thing a bit far. How do you know that Charlize isn't the one plugging Guinness? She's a celebrity, too. She stands to get free stuff and $$ from plugs. What about that time Elza Dusku(sp?) was on the show? She admitted that she was plugging the SoniCare toothbrush because they gave her free stuff. (And her friend's clothing line, and that tazer thing...) Do I need to mention Jon Lovitz and his brush?
Plus, hasn't Conan mentioned that it's technically illegal for him to mention a product on the air and benefit from that mention?

For me, the only glaring plugs I've ever seen on Late Night have been the iPod bit they did after the show became available on iTunes, and the incessant plugging of King Kong.

[SonOfJoel_1]

2/4/07

I forgot to mention it, but Conan mentioned the Wii again on 2/3 while describing the lost earring situation, and again on 2/4 describing the resolution of the mystery. That's Wii X 3 for those playing along at home.

The onslaught of product placement shows no sign of stopping...

SOJ

[severina80]

The onslaught of product placement shows no sign of stopping...

SOJ -
While I appreciate your posts, have you not read what LNG and I have written? Do you have anything to say about the possibilities that we've brought up?

[SonOfJoel_1]

2/7/07

-During the monologue, Cannon joked about the astro-nut situation, and said that the male astronaut was heard to say "I was hoping to get some Tang."

-The Interrupter: one of his interruptions had to do with finding a companion on eHarmony.com. Hey, look! It's almost Valentine's Day, the worst, most awful commercialized holiday of all time in our culture, and on the Cannon show, they're advertising a romance website. But I'm sure it's a coincidence--they never do degrading on-air commercials on Cannon. [note sarcasm]

SOJ

[SonOfJoel_1]

2/8/07

-Cannon averred that both versions of the "Diaper Time" song were available on a CD at Starbucks.

-During the Cuba Gooding, Jr. interview, CG stated that he could "split the chair in half". Cannon then said that "We'd have to go to IKEA and get another one."

But those can't possibly be ads or plugs. No, not at all. [sarcastic, or serious?]

SOJ

[SonOfJoel_1]

2/9/07

-Discussing the Empire State Building, they briefly showed a news webpage with the Reuters logo.

-Dr. Phil was clearly drinking from a bottle of Wild Turkey during his Secrets segment.

-Ashley Tisdale interview: her stint as an actor in Sunny Delight commercials was discussed. The product was mentioned by name several times. But of course, it was just light banter--that couldn't possibly have been a plug, not at all. Especially when Cannon said "You've got me buying Sunny D." During some of this banter, Bob Costas, the first guest, joked that it was "my effort to reach out to people who don't know what Tang is."

But again, none of this is a plug. It's all in good fun, right? [Feeling the sarcasm yet?]

SOJ

[SonOfJoel_1]

2/10/07

-During the Joe's segment, several prominent brands of liquor and beer were clearly visible in the bar--and I'm not even watching in high def. That Wild Turkey bottle that Cannon was sipping out of, or the Bud Light sign. There was also an Amstel Light sign in the background, and a Jagermeister bottle visible (remember the visit to Cannon's old apartment in Chicago, and they just happened to pick up on the Jagermeister machine that the frat boy resident had in his kitchen?)

SOJ

[severina80]

I'm just going to take all of that as "I do not believe you have any valid points and I am, of course, correct." Either that or you have decided to utilize you "ignore user" function.

What I'm trying to say is that in normal everyday conversatons, people talk about things and refer to those things using product names. Comedians (Jim Gaffigan) talk about products by name and don't get paid for it. Why does every little mention of a product, a website, a brandname, et al, have to be a plug? Ok, I'll agree that some of them have been (iPod, total plug.) Why are all of them plugs? And if some of them are plugs, why are they all Late Night related? What about the guests? How do you know it's not X celebrity pitching product Y on the show by saying "I did a Sunny D commercial as a kid"? If Late Night does not profit from it, how is it Conan (or the show) responsible? Because let's be honest, you can say "don't mention products on the show" to a guest but they're going to do as they please. If Charlize Theron says "My boyfriend likes Guiness" what is Conan supposed to do, call cut? Ignore her? Yell at her? Come on.

Ps- what about when Jay went to Taco Bell with his bodyguards? Was that a bit or a plug?

[latenightgoddess]

What I'm trying to say is that in normal everyday conversatons, people talk about things and refer to those things using product names.

Exactly. It's like when you ask me what I ate for breakfast and I say "Cheerios". Why didn't I say "a toasted oat cereal"? Am I secretly trying to sell Cheerios to you? Probably not. I'm just trying to be more succinct and using a commonly known name that will help you understand me.

But maybe Costas WAS plugging tang.

[Everyday_Guy]

I've never bought something because of an ad and I don't think I ever would.

Oh, there is absolutely no doubt that you have been influenced by ads your whole life. You just don't realize it. The point of an ad isn't always to get you to "drop what you're doing and go out and buy the product". Marketing creates all kinds of things - even a simple plug will keep you recognized with the product name, and stores it in your brain for when you are in the market for that particular product. You remember about it, the name, you know it exists. That's what advertising does and how it influences your purchasing.

Did you buy that box of Cheerios by chance? Was it on the shelf and thought - hey, this looks good? Or did you already know about Cheerios from the multiple Cheerio ads you've seen on TV for years?

What brand of laundry detergent do you use? A random one you chose at the store? How did you choose that one? Did you read the box and make a decision based on what you read, or did you choose a brand like Tide, because you "know"' it's good (based on all the ads you've seen)...?

When you need to blow your nose, do you use a tissue, or a "Kleenix"? Do you call all tissue paper "Kleenix"? Kleenix is merely the brand name of ONE tissue company, but because of advertising, the company has succeeded in reprogramming all of our minds that the actual item is a "Kleenix".

You see? Advertising will ALWAYS influence you, me, and everyone.

[Pernod]

When you need to blow your nose, do you use a tissue, or a "Kleenix"? Do you call all tissue paper "Kleenix"? Kleenix is merely the brand name of ONE tissue company, but because of advertising, the company has succeeded in reprogramming all of our minds that the actual item is a "Kleenix".

You see? Advertising will ALWAYS influence you, me, and everyone.

The reason many people call all facial tissues Kleenex is because Kleenex had the patent and it wasn't 'til the patent ran out that others could imitate Kleenex. Same for Jello. For many many years there was only one facial tissue and only one flavored gelatin dessert. However, I, myself, opt for Puffs -- it's a shorter name and takes less time to say, but I still say Jello. If it's good enough for Jack Benny, it's good enough for me.

Pernod

[latenightgoddess]

Everyday Guy - I say "tissue" and I learned about Cheerios/toasted oats cereal from my parents when they gave it to me as a toddler.

And I agree that advertising can influence / almost brainwash you, with the way the jingles, slogans, etc. can get ingrained in your head. What I meant before was I don't buy things based solely on an advertisement -- I don't like spending money so I don't "compulsively" buy anything. If I saw something new advertised that I was interested in and had a need for, I'd at least research it as best I could to find out if it was a good product before I bought it. But I rarely watch/pay attention to commercials so it's rare for me to find out about anything from TV ads. I'm an odd person.

I must admit I would be much more apt to buy a product I saw on Conan's show than in a TV commercial. And that's because a) there's a much better chance I'd see it in the first place, and b.) I value Conan's opinion & pay much more attention to him than to any commercial. He is, after all, how I found out about Chocolate Lucky Charms and their type 2 diabetes-inducing goodness. But again I wouldn't just buy something b/c it was on Conan; I'd have to have a need for it and determine that it was a good product first (thru talking to other people, consumer reports, epinions, amazon ratings, etc.)

On the other hand, I'm sure there are people who would buy a product simply because they saw it on Conan (without any further thought/research), which I think is SOJ's point with this thread.

[Everyday_Guy]

Good points, and I agree that most people don't just jump out of the chair and run to the store. That was my main point, an ad you see isn't going to do that. It does, however, find a place in your head for when it's time, then it comes out and has an influence on your purchasing decision. Ford? GM? Crest or Colgate? When making these decisions, you are subconsciously going through all the ads you've seen, and whatever advertisments made the best impression - wins.

So, the ad or multiple ads you saw either yesterday or years ago, worked. You say you don't pay attention to ads, but it's everywhere - plugs in Conan, bus-stop signs, even in public bathrooms now, you are exposed to ads a LOT more than you realize.

[severina80]

Did you buy that box of Cheerios by chance? Was it on the shelf and thought - hey, this looks good? Or did you already know about Cheerios from the multiple Cheerio ads you've seen on TV for years?

What brand of laundry detergent do you use? A random one you chose at the store? How did you choose that one? Did you read the box and make a decision based on what you read, or did you choose a brand like Tide, because you "know"' it's good (based on all the ads you've seen)...?

What if the answer to all of these questions is, "Because it was on sale" or "It's the cheapest one" or "I like the way it smells"? You can smack me with ads all day long but if I don't like the way it smells or tastes, I won't buy it.
And as for how I became familar with the few products I have brand loyalty for, they've been the ones I've found after trying everything else out there. Or the ones I found after my mother tried everything on the market.
And while I agree advertising does have an affect on everyone's life, I can't say I've ever dropped everything to go buy something that wasn't a CD or a DVD of some kind (except the aformentioned box of Chocolate Lucky Charms. They tasted horrible and I was glad I got them on sale.)
If I was affected by every product name Conan mentions on the show, I would never eat Special K. I love Special K but Conan mentioned how his tooth "exploded" when eating a bowl and he had to make an emergency trip to the dentist's office.

edit - I also say "tissue"