Ads on The Ed Show

[TDale313]

Ok, these aren't new, but they always strike me as an odd choice (and more than a bit irritating). Had The Ed Show on MSNBC on, and during a recent commercial break, there was a Walmart commercial, followed shortly by a BP ad. Both basically image advertising, we don't suck, really- Give us another look type spots. I'm assuming most Ed watchers, most MSNBC watchers in general, would not be their target audience. Or maybe it's brilliant outreach... Those types of ads just always feel a bit jarring. Otoh, they not only got my attention but got me to mention it here, so shrug. Maybe they're more effective than I think.

[0rganism]

1. seems to me there's another reason advertisers buy such spots

Especially when they aren't selling a product directly, these "outreach" ads are more about attempts to influence content. Idea is, if 30% of Big Ed's funding comes from Wal-Mart and BP, he's going to think twice about doing any investigative stories targeting either one. At least that's how it looks to me.

[TDale313]

2. Yeah, that's probably part of it.

Btw, this is certainly not about Ed. I know these ads run on all the shows. It just happened to get my attention today.

[0rganism]

3. the fact that they're so pervasive is kind of disturbing

the degree of content control exercised by advertisers who aren't even trying to sell goods and services is a serious problem for whatever remains of our nominally free press. it's basically proxy ownership and editorial control.