The Showmercial

I dislike advertising. I admit we do need advertising. Many companies make wonderful products and they need to advertise their wares. The problem is that mainstream advertising treats us (the public) with such disregard and callousness that print ads and tv commercials are not only annoying, but ultimately insulting.

I recently viewed an H2 Hummer commercial in which the vehicle's highway mileage ("20 MPG Highway") was flashed on screen. At a time when gas prices are near record highs and many of us are going to great lengths to curb CO2 emissions, it's a little insulting to flash the H2's MPG. As if we're dumb enough to think 20 MPG Highway suddenly turns the H2 into a Prius.

I must admit I do enjoy a few commercials. For example, the GEICO Cavemen ads. What can I say, I find them funny. The self-referential nature of the ads, the quirky humor, and the lightweight satire (of tv pundits, for instance) all add up to a pretty entertaining 30 seconds. But what about 30 minutes? As you may have heard, ABC will be debuting a half-hour sitcom called "CAVEMEN" in the fall. The sitcom is completely based on the GEICO ads. I doubt this is going to work, but the notion of the sitcom stemming from the tv commercial doesn't bother me so much. At least in this instance. From what I've read, GEICO seems to have nothing to do with the sitcom. So it won't be one long commercial for GEICO. In any case, whether it succeeds as a sitcom will not depend on its provenance but will depend on the talent associated with the show. Because a sitcom isn't funny and smart due to a clever idea for a sitcom, it's funny and smart because of the people who create it. So, if the people behind "CAVEMEN" are talented enough, it'll be funny. ABC has posted a 30 second clip from one of the shows. It's really not that funny, for me at least. But I'll withhold judgement until I see a complete episode. There is a bit of irony about the clip though. In the clip, as in the GEICO ads, the discussion the Cavemen have lightly touches on race/ethnicity* relations. Now I understand it is very difficult to talk about race/ethnicity* relations in general, doubly hard on a broadcast network. But it is a bit ironic that a network sitcom is broaching the subject by not actually talking about it since "Caveman" isn't a real ethnicity.*

I remember thinking tv was in major trouble several years ago when Dick Wolf (creator-producer of the "Law&Order" franchises) went into a multi-million product placement contract with Coke. Product placement has steadily crept into much of television and I think it is especially dangerous and egregious because it insidiously blurs the line between the artistic and the commercial. Though it would seem even product placement has its limits, the sponsor/advertiser doesn't get to shape the story and characters. Well they do now. The USA network recently debuted a 6-hour miniseries called "The Starter Wife" starring Debra Messing. The miniseries is "presented by Ponds" which actually turns out to mean Ponds had a lot of say into how the story and character would progress and how best to place their product into the miniseries. The Slate piece is rather fascinating and a good read. I understand that there is some relief in knowing this type of undue corporate influence is only finding its way into a third-rate mini-series that Lifetime probably rejected. But the problem is that people are watching "The Starter Wife" and they have no idea that Ponds went to great lengths to shape the entertainment with its products. It's something they deserve to be told.

* I must note that I do not believe in "race" as a term with any scientific merit. There's only the human race and the overlapping ethnicities that inhabit humanity. The term "race", as we use it in mainstream language is a social construct that is overly simplistic (therefore its wide use) and ancient. For more info please check out this wiki entry on race as social construction, and this excellent book by Dr. Spencer Wells, The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey and it's wonderful companion PBS documentary.