Product Placement

I think that the current type of marketing for television will not last for much longer.  The young generation has grown up with DVR's and has the ability to fast forward commercials.  I hardly ever watch any live television.  I will rarely see what movies are coming out and almost never watch a commercial.  I think that the rest of my generation is somewhat the same way and younger people watch even fewer commercials.  I think that DVR's will become a staple in most homes very soon.

Product placement seems to be more prevalent in both standard and reality T.V. shows.  MTV's new show "The Phone" seems to be a massive ad for some new AT&T cell phone.  They use it to take pictures, and are constantly talking on it.  And the narrator specifically says the name of the phone.  Also, on Survivor, the cast watches videos of their loved ones on a new T-Mobile phone.  On Prison Break, the cast somehow always gets a brand new car (from where, I don't know?).  They rip around corners in a Cadillac Escalade with the logos flashing etc...

I don't know how effective these ads are, but they definitely reach the people that watch the shows.