Invading the content ...(Part 7)

Continued from part 6..>>>>>

Parade

Too many products finding a place in, is more dangerous than prominence to one or a few products, which appear in a programme. Parading of brands in a programme, is making brands appear one by one in a given programme- be it a game show or a teleserial. If this happens, it is due to the producer’s/ broadcaster’s/ advertiser’s insatiability to make quick money. The brands necessity to appear in a frame as the hero’s pen or the heroine’s fairness cream or the game show host’s cheque book should look natural and should go along with the script. However in some cases it is the brands ability to spare a big sum of money rather than its inevitability in the script decides on its presence in the silver screen. Here again, it is the type and nature of the programme, which decides on how soon the TG will enter the threshold intolerance point. Feelings like “it didn’t need to be there”, “ so many of them” etc among the TG will give them a feel that they are sold for a bargain.

In a game show like ‘Khul Ja Sim Sim’, parading was done without much of audience frustration and they stepping into intolerance, whereas in a teleserial like ‘Kyonki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ it may look anomalous that the heroine’s cosmetic brands and the hero’s apparel brands are paraded in an audacious display of deceit. A situation where such parading swallows the main story line is a ‘phagocytosis’, where the intolerance threshold point starts. Reality shows but, as i observe them is careful in this aspect. Not that they dont allow parading but are cautious to make sure that Passive learning happens without the intolerance creeping in...

Patter

Patter is defined as a beguiling attempt at persuasion, a long-winded or slick sales talk. It is tedious for the audience members when, for instance a heroine of a popular serial laments that her ‘particular’ brand of hair oil (the name is carefully repeated during her cry) is not to be seen and as a result, all her hair is going to fall in no time, it is an enticing way to bamboozle and sell.
If ads in normal commercial breaks do irritate people when facts are not presented straight and unambiguous, product placements then definitely make the TG intolerant if it engages in patter.
The logic applying here is simply that during an ad break, the TG is aware and even expects the presence of glossy and astute messages which may have to be taken with a pinch of salt but not during a television programme. In product placement however, the heavier the brands purse is, the more are chances that the script and dialogues get swayed like a coconut tree in blowing wind. Here then, it will look artificial and arousal levels will be zero and it will produce no recall as research with movies have established .Advertisers should get clue from research findings, which state that not all product placements are effective. When such sales talk happens in a programme, in which the TG is engrossed, it leads them to audience intolerance threshold.