NBC Wants You to Do Good. Why? A Look Inside 'Behavior Placement'

By Jason Newman Posted Apr 15th 2010 10:00AM

Think Dwight Schrute becoming a recycling-obsessed superhero on 'The Office' was the work of the show's clever writers? Think again. As an eye-opening Wall Street Journal article revealed last week, the plot line, and many others on your favorite NBC shows, was an advertising plant known as "behavior placement." As the article states: "The tactic ... 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."

The combination of NBC's ratings woes over the past decade, the steady rise of DVRs, Tivos and other commercial-bypassing machines and the general decline of the U.S. economy in recent years has led NBC to try new initiatives in an effort to lure advertisers. In today's age, buying ads may not be the sole route to get your product's message across.

"All the networks are doing things now that they never would have done 10 or 15 years ago when they were kings of the castle," says Brian Steinberg, Television Editor at Advertising Age. "They're allowing more intrusive placements and deeper connections with advertisers. We're at a point now where it's getting more egregious because the networks are economically flailing about for some new model."

With NBC already planning more green story lines and an upcoming week in June during which certain shows will emphasize healthy eating and exercise, the bigger question is not so much, "Is this good for advertisers?" but rather, "Will this actually do anything?"

"It's a totally lame approach in terms of a network or medium assuming that every viewer is a moron and that we're not going to get it," says Dr. Mary-Lou Galician, author of 'Handbook of Product Placement in the Mass Media' and head of Media Analysis & Criticism at Arizona State University. Galician points to a huge difference between a nerdy character like '30 Rock's' Liz Lemon or 'The Office's' Dwight Schrute recycling and the spike in library cards obtained after Henry Winkler's Fonz snagged one on 'Happy Days.'

"The placement has to be associated with a character or activity that is perceived by the viewer as positive," says Galician. "Fonzie was a hero to millions of young people. Liz Lemon is not somebody that we want to emulate. We laugh at her. The behaviors that these people do are hardly things that would incite viewers who don't already do those behaviors to do something. It's pandering and doesn't make much sense. It just rings so false."

NBC was unavailable for comment.

The idea of affecting behavioral change through television is older than you think. In 1989, a decade after the Fonz, Dr. Jay Winsten, Director of the Harvard Alcohol Project, met with writers and producers of such shows as 'L.A. Law,' 'Cheers' and 'The Cosby Show,' asking them to incorporate a new program in the United States: the designated driver. As legendary television writer/producer Norman Lear points out: "Over 160 prime time episodes include[d] subplots, scenes or dialogue telling viewers it's okay to party as long as someone stays sober for the drive home. One year later, a Gallup poll finds 67% of adults surveyed recognize the term 'designated driver.' In 1991, Winsten's new idea [became] a listing in Webster's College Dictionary."

More recently, groups like the Alliance for Family Entertainment, an organization of national advertisers that attempts to increase family-friendly programming, have been instrumental in initiating and promoting programs such as 'Gilmore Girls,' 'Everybody Hates Chris' and 'Friday Night Lights'.

Though most of us are loath to admit it, product placement can have very real and tangible effects on our buying decisions. Would "behavior placement" work in a similar way? Doubtful. As Galician points out, "It's incredibly easy to get people to throw a cigarette in their mouth, but it's incredibly hard to get it out of their mouth once they're addicted."

Translation: For most people, getting that cupcake at Magnolia Bakery because Carrie Bradshaw goes there won't be offset by a Liz Lemon treadmill workout. And while no one can fault NBC for promoting a healthier lifestyle -- few can argue that living healthier has negative consequences -- the focus remains, as always, squarely on the bottom line. That's why ads for Pepsi and Doritos, while contradictory and hypocritical in context to the messages promoted, won't be off the air anytime soon.

The practice has flourished partly because younger viewers (read: the most coveted demographic) have become savvier about when they're being marketed to simply through the need for advertisers to hammer their message across amid an increasing number of distractions and diversions. "It's gotten to the point now where people automatically assume that an advertiser shoved their product in there whenever they see something," says Steinberg, who points to the '30 Rock' episode in which Alec Baldwin and Salma Hayek reconcile over McDonald's Mcflurrys (for those keeping tabs at home -- writers chose the dessert with no involvement from McDonalds).

Steinberg and Galician both stress the need for the viewer to be more aware of what they're watching and what messages are being transmitted to them.

"This is an era in which consumers really need to say, 'Why are people saying or doing that?' 'Why is my content this way?' Is it because it was written this way or because there's a deeper relationship with an advertiser that is subtly shifting the creation of what I enjoy?," says Steinberg.

Galician goes further. "There will always be pushers of various things that are not in our best interests even though they may be entertaining at the moment. It's not the sender of the message. The onus is on us as consumers because the networks will give us what we want. Their devotion is not to us but their investors and sponsors. The programming is just the filler between the commercials."

ABC, CBS, and FOX have yet to adopt the "behavior placement" model. Yet.

Tags: 30 rock, nbc, the office

Comments

(231)

Saturday 17 April

By flpd180ret

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

The only decent channel to watch is FOX NEWS. The rest are so full of propaganda for OBAMA and his band of thugs, it is sickening...

By mgrtec1

I don't watch any of the shows mentioned!!

By PETE

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what is nbc never herd of them..

By Gammy

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

ctlr505, on what planet is your "Normal World?" Be blessed.

By doc

NBC actually means "nothing but crap"

By STY

IF YOU ARE SO EASLY SWAYED BY OTHER PEOPLE THAT THEY SCARE YOU;THEN YOU SHOULD NOT BE WATCHING THE T.V.AT ALL

By Dan Stuart

nbc as well as abc small letters to tell you of the buffoons that are on the show or write the scripts that are going nowhere
thats why the ratings are below the basement level and should stay there. the networks are so far removed from reality and cannot see past their noses should fall faster than they are.
blessed are those idiots for their blindsight to the reality of life here in the wonderful USA that they are trying to destroy.
KINGSIZE JERKS.

By William Keller

I guess I am one of the brain dead people trying to be fair and balanced, I have not watch anything but a sporting on NBC in years....

By Bill

I guess I am one of those brain dead folks trying to be fair and balanced, I have not watched anything on NBC but a sporting event in years... I don't think I am alone either...

Monday 19 April

By funkymama

Big Brother and Animal Farm were not just Orwell stories!!!!!

By Kmaestro

The only NBC show I watch is Chuck but I still don't want to eat at SubWay.

By Penelope

Actually, healthy product placement is nothing new. What about Popeye the Sailor man, Eats his spinach right out of the can? Way back in the thirties, I believe, with its muscle-building connotations?

By jrogan

Haven't watched NBC since the early 90's - the station sucks - I don't think trying to teach morals to your audiance is the answer to bad ratings - just get better shows!

By rosemary schroeder

We are a dumb society, getting dumber. Brainwashing technique since ever, is easy on American people because they don't learn about how advertisers EVERYTWHERE use emotions and ignorance to get you to buy their stuff. Damn, I get so disgusted with our dumb society.

By jedijoe007

I haven't watched NBC in over a decade (that's 10 years for the illiterate liberals out there).

By Karine

Viewers not gullible? I beg to differ.

By Hayley

Speak for yourself; I would love to be Liz Lemon.

By Joe

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Could be worse, Could be fox brainwashing people with right-wing hatred.

By Pattie

If they are so interested in saving the planet why don't they start making all these "GREEN" products affordable for the average person. I have looked at them in the store and, quite frankly I can not afford to buy any of it. They are way, way more interested in making a buck than they are saving the planet!!!!!

By Dave

We only watch the entertainment programing on NBC and not much of what they broadcast is entertaining. The negative subliminal messaging gets just as strong a reaction (if any) from the viewers (if any) as any "positive" action. Now if a main character was to Vote Republican during the program there may be a swell of sympathetic voting among the viewing public (again, if any).

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