JAY LENO IS A WHORE
09.29.09Anecdote time: when I first moved to New York, one of the crappy jobs I had was writing survey questions that measured TV viewers’ retention of product placement ads. Basically, every night I’d show up to the office — comprised of individual stations, each with a small TV set, TiVo, and desktop computer — get my show assignments for the night, and get to work watching shows and annotating on a spreadsheet all the product placements. And I had to catch it all: Was the product mentioned or shown? Was it in the background or used by a character? A primary character or secondary character? Was it used for its intended purpose? How long was it shown onscreen? THEN I had to write not one but two questions for every product that appeared or got mentioned. Stuff like “Supernatural” was usually pretty harmless, “Project Runway” was bad, “America’s Next Top Model” was horrific.
But the worst was getting late-night shows: they didn’t start until 11:35, and you knew that you’d be working for an hour or 90 minutes after they ended because there were always 12-15 product placements in Leno’s “Tonight Show” and Letterman’s “Late Night”: around 5-7 product mentions during the monologue, whichever movies the guests were plugging, plus a couple gags and random mentions that happened during the interviews.
All of this is a long way of saying that “The Jay Leno Show’s” rampant whoring is beyond egregious. The video above — which is all the product placements from a SINGLE SHOW last week — features 10 product mentions in the monologue and a grand total of 26 product placements throughout the show, including an insultingly ad-driven Wendy’s bit, a sponsored Bing.com segment that was used for MORE ad placements, and questions for LeBron James in which he gets asked to name specific companies. That’s about twice the product placement of the usual late-night talk show, and probably more when you take into account how much of Leno’s is deliberate versus incidental. In conclusion, Jay Leno is actually worse than you already thought he was.
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As if we needed another reason to despise Jay Leno after screwing over Conan and his staff (without so much as a mention from Jay). It physically pains me to watch this video, but thanks for taking time to compile this heapin helpin of corporate handjabbin. Hmm, I wonder what images would come up for “ultimate late night jagoff” in Bing. Take it away, Jay!
stretching the definition of product placement
Yes, silly me, using the definition provided by a corporation that STUDIES PRODUCT PLACEMENT.
You definitely missed the point, Mark. ALL late-night hosts use products in monologue jokes — NONE ask Wendy repeatedly about her square burgers.
I really hate to stick up for this guy as I find him unfunny and genuinely boring, but this is really stretching the definition of product placement. Mentioning actual brands in jokes is hardly what I would call a corporate shill. Why don’t we take issue with how his jokes aren’t funny instead of with the fact that he said “Walmart” and “Red Lobster.” What would you rather, he use fake products as he talks?
“The Jay Leno Show” brought to you by ‘The Good Wife’. Tuesdays at 10 on CBS! and NOW: Jaywalking!” wheeeeee
Increased product placement during shows was the inevitable result of Tivo. Most people record shows and fast forward through the ads, so since ad companies want people to see their ads, they’ve pushed networks to shorten commercial breaks and increase product placement in shows.
You think that’s bad. I heard about this show where they take it to the next level. Its entirely about the day to day of an Ad agency. You are constantly exposed to enjoying sequences of alcohol and tobacco. Two character name drop companies to demonstrate their account management prowess. A mysterious character owns a large Hotel chain. But don’t worry, it hardly gets any viewers.
Why are your hamburgers square? Ha ha, good one Jay.
You fucking twat.
Product: “I hope they serve beer in hell” poster in corner of my screen
Question: Does this mean that the people who wanted that ad here think that alot of d-bags read this blog? Because if that is true then I need to go and buy a shit ton of “Ice Blaze Axe body spray”
My comments are always brought to you by Royal Crown Cola.
JAY LENO IS A WHORE
“When you say ‘leave the money on the dresser’, did you mean next to the glass of delicious and smooth Wild Turkey brand liquor, or closer to the always reliable Smith and Wesson revolver?”
That’s a very well reasoned point. I wonder how much of this increased product placement has to do with the DVR culture and the fast forwarding through commercial breaks. I know I do it pretty consistently. I never really noticed the heft of product placements in nightly talk shows, perhaps because I don’t enjoy them because they are treading on material already squashed by decades of flat innovations.
Jay Leno = Super Devil