A Blog on Product Placement: The Death of TV?

Digital Journal — Product placement is nothing new, but now there’s a blog to let you know what TV show is hawking what brand. SeenOn, due to launch Nov. 15, connects TV viewers with products they saw on popular shows. As the site asks: “Ever wonder what type of jeans your favourite sitcom character was wearing in the last episode?” Frankly, no, but SeenOn has been created to serve the more shopping-minded consumers out there in couch potato land. The site has partnered with ABC Entertainment, NBC Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, CBS Paramount Television, E!, and Martha Stewart Omnimedia. Users can search for goodies by show, movie, actor or product type. SeenOn also directs visitors to websites where they can purchase those well-placed products. In the works are video segments the site calls Shopisodes. Call this another tweak to $1-billion product placement trend. But is SeenOn a positive add-on to the TV experience? I don’t like the sound of it. Not that I didn’t find this type of blog inevitable, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth: SeenOn could usher in an era where entertainment is simply an hour-long commercial for a Nissan (as seen in Heroes) or Agent Provocateur (as seen in Desperate Housewives). If TV becomes another trigger to get people to buy more crap, then the public shouldn’t just embrace it with open arms. Some progress should be stiff-armed, especially if it dilutes the overall enjoyment of a certain medium. Television is already booby-trapped with enough commercial tie-ins that a blog like SeenOn will only encourage advertisers to increase their product placement presence. And let’s be honest — some blogs tell us garbage we don’t want to know about. Like that Howie Mandel uses something called Headblade to keep his cueball looking sexy smooth. If SeenOn continues to reports that kind of inane non-news, will anyone care?