Tuesday, June 26, 2007

'Dirty Jobs' Plugs Ford














On tonight's episode of 'Dirty Jobs' on the Discovery Channel, Mike Rowe, the show's host, teams up with a Texas outdoor advertising company to install a billboard. He helps with everything from start to finish. Keeping the stereotype alive, the billboard is huge. At the end of the segment, he plays with the idea that only a big company could handle this advertising space. The camera pans out and the Ford oval from an F-150 is in view. Cut to Mike Rowe on the billboard in front of a brand new Ford F-150 advertisement. He looks up at the truck and says, "Now that's a tough truck."

Mike Rowe joined Ford in January as a personality in their TV, print and online advertising campaign for the F-150 truck. The show was sponsored by Ford, and this one entire segment was dedicated to constructing a billboard. (I don't recall of any other episode where Mike Rowe did only one job for the entire show.) I wouldn't be surprised if Ford purchased the billboard and concepted the idea for this episode. The show was entertaining, and the Ford plug wasn't until the end, although it was very obvious what they were doing.

Will audiences accept this form of advertising, or will they ignore it?

4 comments:

Sam Meers said...

Yeah, I think this kind of advertising will be accepted until it hits saturation. As long as companies and agencies continue to find innovative ways of engaging an audience, it will work. As soon as it becomes cliché, it's over.

Joel said...

Hi, Sam. Thank you for your comment.

I agree with you; it is an innovative way to slip in the product message. When I watched the show with my parents, everyone was already too engaged in the show to care about the Ford promotion. They even laughed at Mike because they're already familiar with the commercials he is in. Also, I searched and found no complaints about this segment. I can't wait to see more of this clever technique from other advertisers.

Anonymous said...

so, what youre saying is that you would like to see advertisers ruining quality tv shows with their label?



absolute madness.

Joel said...

Thank you for your comment, anonymous.

I believe it will be interesting to see more companies advertise their product within an entire segment of a show. I'm not saying I want to see a product slammed in my face for 20 minutes or 45 minutes, factoring in commercials. [Good] advertisers break through the clutter without having to disrupt anything.

Advertisers have been showing their goods and services for years on television shows, but this is the first time I've personally witnessed an entire segment dedicated to the birth of commercialism.

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