A virtual advertisement for the movie "Zookeeper" was edited into a 2007 episode of "How I Met Your Mother" running in syndication in at least one market. (I hedge because I don't know who is responsible for such a thing. Would it be the syndicator? The station running it?) The ad appears as a magazine ad on the bookshelf behind Colbie Smulders. Now, virtual billboards have existed ever since television figured out how to put those magic markings on that appear to be part of the game field during sports broadcasts, so of course stage two would be to put sponsorship logos on the stadium where none (or different ones) appear.
And quite obviously, I was not paying attention because in this link from The Consumerist1 to this page on the San Mateo County Community College domain2, it's been done in fictional programs since the early '00s., though it doesn't seem to have been noticed and remarked widely. (As opposed to when "news" programming or live programming that isn't sports tried its hand in it.) That said, except for being so heavily noticed because of its incongruity, I'd have figured this would be the least effective way to advertise for Zookeeper in this manner? Changing a can of generic-brand beer to Pabst for Marshall to drink would make sense to me. Or if they changed the online maps from Bing to Google Maps in the episode "Subway Wars". Or if the ad for "Zookeeper" appeared up on a marquee or in a poster somewhat larger somewhere. But in a tiny looking magazine, barely visible unless zoomed in, unless you believe in subliminal advertising, or if you were hoping that somebody would freeze-frame this, ask "WTH?," compare it to his DVD set, and post the results online3, would anybody have even noticed this. Or will I be proven wrong when Zookeeper opens as number one movie in America this weekend? 1. http://consumerist.com/2011/07/dvd-cover-for-zookeeper-digitally-inserted-in to-how-i-met-your-mother-rerun.html 2. http://www.smccd.net/accounts/brownm/resources_med.html 3. http://www.flickr.com/photos/stjarna/sets/72157627126939188/with/5907267196/ -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
