Thoughts on sponsors

[Luke kun]

The McDonalds thing was okay. The Spaghettios one has catchy music! And I've never saw the Lipton one before Clifford, but it reminds me of the Noodle Dance from PB&J Otter judging by "use your noodle". And Lipton recently did an advertisment earlier this year using the Muppets!

 

[Drtooth]

The Clifford one was for those horrible instant soup things Lipton put out. I swear this was back in the 90's or very early at the turn of that decade. They not so subtly disguised the commercial as a "game." It was something like "which one of these spoons is linger" or "which bowl was different." Something that involved flatware and utensils for eating that salty garbage (I kinda really hate those "soups" if you can't tell... instant ramen's much higher quality and tastes like something).

Anyway, I'm sure that no one's going to appreciate this effort, but I dug through ToughPig's Archive because my stellar memory of what I read 11 years ago compelled me to share this with those who haven't read it yet...

Quote from this 2003 article:

Hey, remember when Sesame Street was brought to you by letters and numbers? Well, you can kiss those days goodbye.

The new season of Sesame Street begins today, and here’s how it starts: “Sesame Street is brought to you by the following…” And then what we get is 45 seconds of straight-up commercials. “America Online is proud to support Sesame Street!” — which would be a nice thing to know, but then they go on — “No two kids are alike, but what they all share is endless curiosity. AOL helps kids find new things to be curious about, every day. America Online: Never stop learning.” Now that, my curious kids, is not a sponsorship announcement. That is an ad on public TV. It’s followed by another 15-second ad all about how Quaker Oatmeal helps kids learn, which is followed by another 15-second ad explaining how Spaghetti-Os help kids learn.

Which I guess is the Bush administration’s way of saying: With all these great corporations devoted to helping kids learn, why do we even need public broadcasting, anyway? Or public schools, for that matter! Let’s let Franco American do it!

That's better than I could sum it up. The fact they disguise these commercials as "helping kids learn" through the magic of "as much calcium as a glass of milk and a full serving of vegetables" was pretty disgusting and no one complained until, and I'm laboring the heck out of this, that one company dared to fund SS. Of course, it should be stated that the adult PBS line up actually has full broadcast commercials as sponsors at the beginning and end of their shows. I get that PBS has always had issues with the budget and the barely a hay penny per tax payer funding has always been a target. But airing commercials in front of non-commercial alternative programming really should have been looked into at some point, if even by a parental group.

 

[mr3urious]

Of course, it should be stated that the adult PBS line up actually has full broadcast commercials as sponsors at the beginning and end of their shows.

I remember a Subaru sponsor credit on Globe Trekker, one show I watched a lot of on Saturday afternoons a few years back. It looked almost no different from something on commercial TV.

Also, I saw some clips of Taste This TV, and Drtooth is right about it looking so cheap. The laundry list of funding credits themselves look like they were produced by some high schooler just learning how to use video editing software.

 

[Luke kun]

Oh, crap. Now I have a signature that changes sponsors every day! But lemme tell you, I think Lipton said sorry by making that Muppets commercial.

 

[Drtooth]

Also, I saw some clips of Taste This TV, and Drtooth is right about it looking so cheap. The laundry list of funding credits themselves look like they were produced by some high schooler just learning how to use video editing software.

Those sponsors must not give him that much money, I gather. They are pretty small companies to boot. It looks like a bad public access show, graphics and all. And the host has the personality of a stale Necco Wafer.

Not that they didn't have funding credits when I was younger, the longer funding announcements we had were for local support. Before the show's runtime.

 

[mr3urious]

Kellogg's, Chuck E Cheese's, and 7-Eleven are three other companies that have clean hands when it comes to their sponsorship of kids' shows. Neither of them really advertised their products or anything.

 

[mr3urious]

Those sponsors must not give him that much money, I gather. They are pretty small companies to boot. It looks like a bad public access show, graphics and all. And the host has the personality of a stale Necco Wafer.

Even more insane, their website shows even more sponsors! I mean, other cooking shows on PBS don't have this many sponsors yet look much better in the production department, such as America's Test Kitchen.

http://www.tastethistv.com/

 

[Drtooth]

Kellogg's, Chuck E Cheese's, and 7-Eleven are three other companies that have clean hands when it comes to their sponsorship of kids' shows. Neither of them really advertised their products or anything.

Chuck E's is the only thing I actually see adverts for before the shows. The mascot doesn't even really dance around much anymore. And I only applaud that because I HATE X-Treme sports Chuck E. (and his poor animation), and find the Bowling for Soup voiced Alvin and the Chipmunks clone an improvement... neither can hold a candle to sleezy 40's bowler hat wearin' Chuck E. (even though I didn't have one around until the 90's)

Even more insane, their website shows even more sponsors! I mean, other cooking shows on PBS don't have this many sponsors yet look much better in the production department, such as America's Test Kitchen.

WOW! They either give him little to no money or he's pocketing it somehow. ATK's sponsors, by the way, are exactly what I like to see (in terms of an adult focused program on PBS). A nice medium between kinda selling something and a nice short presence. Why can't we have something like that (minus the selling point) for kid's programs?

That said, PBS needs to bring back pledge drives for kid's programming

 

[Luke kun]

Kellogg's, Chuck E Cheese's, and 7-Eleven are three other companies that have clean hands when it comes to their sponsorship of kids' shows. Neither of them really advertised their products or anything.

7-11 sponsored something? And what sponsor tags do you LIKE?

 

[mr3urious]

7-11 sponsored something? And what sponsor tags do you LIKE?

I believe it was for Arthur.