Fierce food writer and blogger Regina Schrambling kind of scares me (I hope I never get on her bad side, because I can tell she’d write something about me that would make me cry), but I was muttering many a “hell yeah” in response to her Los Angeles Times column Top Chef Boils Over. Among other things, Schrambling objects to the overweening product placement on the cooking competition:
In one recent episode, ‘Snacks on a Plane,’ the aspiring tops raced around making surprise breakfasts to be judged by robotic hostess Padma Lakshmi, followed by a surprise airline meal to be judged by flight attendants and the usual suspects, including Keyser Söze himself, Anthony Bourdain.
The camera dwelt lovingly on the blenders at breakfast, which turned up shortly in a commercial, and then viewers were treated to long shots of Continental planes in flight. Entertainment or infomercial? You decide. Just don’t think about the fact that Continental promoted the episode in advance in newspaper advertisements.
We’ve touched on this issue before here, and the rampant plugging has not gone unnoticed in the blogosphere. But what drives me absolutely crazy is this: Reality shows are dirt-cheap to produce. What are you paying for—room and board for noncelebrities? Use of a few kitchens? Padma’s shorts? Surely, the costs of making the show are paid for by the traditional ads that run during each episode. Do you have to shove even more advertising in our faces, as the contestants go into the Kenmore kitchen to pick up their Calphalon cookware to make a dish for T.G.I. Friday’s using Kraft mayonnaise? Do you have to jam the plugs down my throat like so much sriracha-laced ice cream?
And hey, if you’re going to do it, and you’re making all this money, why don’t you fatten up the prize money offered? A hundred grand is barely enough to buy pots, pans, and dishes for a restaurant, and certainly not enough to “kick-start” a culinary career.
Advertising Age and Adweek have already had articles stating that this is the ultimate fantasy that the broadcasters and advertisers are putting in place, all ads, all the time. Some examples are more subtle than others, but it will get more obnoxious over time. It is a revolting trend.
As Douglas Coupland once said (and I paraphrase poorly), “Why don’t we just get down to it and call 3 o’clock Pepsi already.”
I hate the plugging. It’s cheap and mindless. I’d rather see the contestants get more out of it.
What gets me is how out of place it is. A show that has highly skilled chefs competing to make cutting edge gourmet food has to integrate T.G.I. fridays, cold stone, and kingsford. it doesn’t make sense. is the winner supposed to prove he or she has the chops to start their own restaurant or their own Red Robin franchise?
It was noticeable but not over the top in the first season… the second I started to be annoyed… this season I fill absolutely harangued by ads/product placement! Do they actually think that ANYONE buys it that these chefs eat Bertolli frozen dinners… ever? Does Rocco? Really?
You realize what’s coming next, don’t you? Entire TV shows that are actually commercials:
FADE IN:
Suburban home kitchen. MOM is making cookies on the Corian counter in her Kenmore kitchen while wearing DKNY top and pants. BILLY, a little boy, wearing Kids Gap, runs in, crying.
“Mom, the kids at school are making fun of me!”
She hugs him.
“Oh, Billy, that’s awful! Here, have some delicious Nestle reduced-fat tollhouse cookies with 20% less sodium and eleven essential vitamins and minerals!”
He crams one into his mouth.
“Thanks, Mom! Can I go play Halo 16 on my new X-box Eliminator with Time-Space Phase Distortion Filter?”
“Sure, Billy, but don’t forget to take out the trash in our Glad MegaThrust-O-Flex monomolecular trashbags guaranteed not to rip, leak or tear!”
“Thanks, Mom!”
Billy runs out of the scene. Mom looks after him, wistfully.
“That new Bio-Tech 300 clone series is so lifelike!”
FADE OUT
END
This is what happens when we all start using TIVO and fast-forwarding through the real commercials. It’s annoying but it’s the future. Advertisers don’t want to pay for airtime most viewers just skip over. They want to make sure we notice their products and that means rampant product placement.
I think there just trying to make different types of Challanges. And you cant haul a complete kit. into a Plane. I dont think its a question of money. Its to threw Chefs a different Curves, think on your feet.