Posted ByScott D. Vroegindewey on December 31, 2003 at 18:27:19:
In Reply to: Re: Jack's "Other" TV Closings posted bykurt on December 31, 2003 at 16:33:33:
You write:
: Filmed cut-in commercials (usually for cigarettes) with sitcom casts were done with the Hillbiliies, I Love Lucy, Dick Van Dyke, Andy Griffith, and even the Flintstones.
I remember watching Fred Flinstone settling himself down into an easy chair with a Winston Cigarette in his hand, or when the closing credits were seen, a (rock) billboard flashed Winston over the Bedrock skyline.
Now to my question about radio. That is, in movies and TV, they use "product placement" to make a scene more realistic (sometimes they go overboard, in my opinion) with various items. Did such a thing happen in radio broadcasts? I am familiar with The Sportmen singing about Luckie Strike Cigarettes, but there are other times when Jack Benny uses other product names during his sketches. Was this intended as a radio version of product placement, incoporating the product names into a program? At least he does it in such a way that it seems natural unlike other shows where it appears, frankly, insulting to my intelligence. But, of course, I am biased, and I buy anything Jack Benny pushes, except cigarettes. I have a kitchen full of Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Jell-O and Grape Nuts to prove it!