Sellouts are sickening, but rich
Companies cross line when advertising moves to piercings, tattoos

By Jordan Blum

About a week and a half ago Pepsi commercials started popping up every 30 minutes previewing a commercial starring Britney Spears that would premiere during the Academy Awards. It’s sad enough that Pepsi feels the need to waste millions of dollars to simply hype a commercial with other commercials, but what really stood out to me was the physical product placement on the pop star.

Not only was the commercial exceedingly tacky, and the fact that what little respect I had for Spears was lost just for doing the commercial, she also sported a “fashionable” Pepsi belly ring throughout the two minute spot. It’s one thing to sell out to a corporation, but is it really necessary to put holes in your body to further promote your favorite soft drink, or at least the one that’s paying you the most?

This got me thinking about how much product placement has come to dominate popular culture, especially in terms of the entertainment industry.

Correy Jefferson/Skiff Staff

For instance, the movie “Cast Away” was basically just one big commercial for Federal Express. The public has become accustomed to seeing corporate placements throughout films, but the recent Tom Hanks flick couldn’t go more than two minutes without showing a FedEx package.

The saddest thing is that it wasn’t really even good publicity for the company. All it seemed to teach was that FedEx needed to invest in better planes and hire less anally retentive managers. The amount of money the shipping company paid for the publicity is probably enough to feed a small country.

For the most part, at least product placement in movies is done in a relatively subtle fashion. However, in the sports world, owners and city officials will basically sell themselves out to further line their pockets and give new meaning to the term “sellout.”

In order to seemingly outdo itself, FedEx Corp. virtually single-handedly brought (or bought) the Vancouver Grizzlies NBA franchise to Memphis, Tenn. Having gone miles past the boundaries of the oxymoron known as corporate ethics, FedEx promised more than $100 million to bring the team to the city known for barbecue and some dead rock star. Yes, that’s right, eight zeros.

Coincidentally, the team currently plans on renaming the team the Memphis Express. Forget about cultural identity, the people of Memphis will proudly support the team named after their favorite shipping company.

The runner-up to Memphis was Louisville, Ky. There, Tricon Global Restaurants Inc. (parent company of Kentucky Fried Chicken) would have bought the naming rights for a similar amount and disgustingly named the team the Kentucky Colonels. The arena would have even been named the KFC Bucket.

However, none of this takes product placement as far as a company did when it offered NBA star Rasheed Wallace to get a tattoo of its logo. Bob Costas jokingly questioned whether Wallace should be paid by the company based on what body part the tattoo would go on and how few times he gets ejected. In all seriousness though, as much as you may want to laugh about this, it’s pretty depressing once you think about it.

Sadly, Costas’ comments may not have been off target. Maybe all of the Memphis Express players could get bonuses for getting FedEx tattoos on their arms. Also, the players with the biggest arms and the most playing time would get more money to enhance maximum exposure.

If athletes are getting a slice of the corporate pie, why shouldn’t the average citizen? Maybe beer companies could sponsor college fraternities. The Coors Beer insignia would look nice directly above the obligatory Greek letters tattoo.

Also, since we’re on such a roll, why not expand corporate placement to the best-selling book of all time: the Bible. I’m sure Jesus wouldn’t mind multiplying McDonald’s Happy Meals and Coca-Cola instead of the played-out loaves and fishes. It makes for much more interesting reading. Right?

Jordan Blum is a sophomore broadcast journalism major from New Orleans.
He can be reached at (j.d.blum@student.tcu.edu).

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