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What Your TV Is Telling You to Do

NBC Universal's Shows Are Sending Viewers Signals to Recycle, Exercise and Eat Right. Why?


In just one week on NBC, the detectives on "Law and Order" investigated a cash-for-clunkers scam, a nurse on "Mercy" organized a group bike ride, Al Gore made a guest appearance on "30 Rock," and "The Office" turned Dwight Schrute into a cape-wearing superhero obsessed with recycling.

Forget product placement, NBC Universal is trying "behavior placement" with some of its shows. Characters from programs such as "30 Rock" and "The Office" are acting out eco-friendly behaviors that advertisers hope will sway viewers. WSJ's Amy Chozick reports.

Coincidence? Hardly. NBC Universal planted these eco-friendly elements into scripted television shows to influence viewers and help sell ads.

The tactic—General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal calls it "behavior placement"—is designed to sway viewers to adopt actions they see modeled in their favorite shows. And it helps sell ads to marketers who want to associate their brands with a feel-good, socially aware show.


Unlike with product placement, which can seem jarring to savvy viewers, the goal is that viewers won't really notice that Tina Fey is tossing a plastic bottle into the recycle bin, or that a minor character on "Law and Order: SVU" has switched to energy-saving light bulbs. "People don't want to be hit over the head with it," says NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker. "Putting it in programing is what makes it resonate with viewers."

Full article w/ video at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304364904575166581279549318.html#articleTabs%3Darticle

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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

It's as old as radio--putting the sponsor's product into the show's plot.

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ORIGINAL: Sanity


The self-depreciating humor seemed like a stab at so-called "deniers" though, didn't it?

Or is that just me. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, to tell you the truth.

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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

Uh-huh. Like buying war bonds. Or waxing floors, doing laundry, smoking cigarettes.

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ORIGINAL: Sanity


Yes, I wrote that its a new twist on an old idea in my opening sentence.

Selling "green" now, instead of cigarettes.

Ever wonder how much of what we do is scripted by Hollywood?

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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

It's as old as radio--putting the sponsor's product into the show's plot.

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ORIGINAL: Sanity


Or voting for the "Green" candidate?

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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

Uh-huh. Like buying war bonds. Or waxing floors, doing laundry, smoking cigarettes.

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ORIGINAL: Sanity


I think theres a pretty big difference between tuning in to an opinion oriented talk show on a news channel, hearing political messages there, and getting subliminal political or behavioral messages from entertainment venues. My ex wife and my daughter saw "Avatar" last weekend for example, and reported that the makers were laying the politics on awfully thick. 

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ORIGINAL: LadyEllen

Behaviour placement Sanity?

Now how would you feel if I were to advance an argument that the blame for the level of violence in society may be laid at the feet of decades of violence on TV and in films and lately in computer games? That the reason people are so violent is the influence such media has on their behaviour? They see characters with guns shooting others and then aspire to and adopt that same behaviour?

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