I find this stuff fascinating. Regarding a deal MadTV cut with Toyota:
‘Showing the Yaris wasn’t sufficient, said the rep. The characters must praise the car’s features…The writers pitched a spoof of a commercial, with a young couple making out in the Yaris, panting about its fuel efficiency. No, said [the client]. Cut the parody bit. The skit should just feature the couple panting over the Yaris. They aired it.’
I can’t wrap my head around the fact that an ad rep believes the second idea is better for their brand than the first. That s/he bought a sketch on a sketch show and then told them to remove the parody. CH has always pushed transparency in our advertising, which is the model 30 Rock (praised in the article for their blatant treatment of product placement) also follows. Consumers aren’t dumb, and sometimes it seems like the people paid to understand this are the only ones who don’t.
