This morning's big annual Indianapolis 500 edition; click on the image for a bigger view. My inner product-placement cynic noticed immediately that driver Scott Dixon's traditional bottle of victor's milk is perfectly positioned (inset, left) for maximum exposure to cameras. The bottle's side reads: "American Dairy Association of Indiana" and "Winners Drink Milk."
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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I assume Indy 500 officials instructed him to hold it that way. Or perhaps it's printed on more than one side of the bottle. (Come to think of it, when was the last time you saw milk in a bottle?)
ReplyDelete@10:44 a.m.: I considered the possibility that publicists printed the milk promotion lettering on all four sides. But then I ruled that out, after re-examining the photo in this post: http://tinyurl.com/4avptl
ReplyDeleteIt is auto racing, and it's pretty obvious that your inner cynic has never covered it. Auto racing drivers are some of the most sponsor aware group in sports. Sponsors foot the bills for the teams and any time drivers have an opportunity to get their product placement in, they will. Watch any post race interview with any of the big drivers in NASCAR or to a lesser extent Indy, they will have their proper hat on (before they get out of the car) and their sponsored drink in hand (making sure to drink from it a couple time) during the interview. None of this is by accident...just like adjacency ads in Gannett papers.
ReplyDelete@5:22 p.m.: This is why sports reporting too often veers toward being little more than an extension of the marketing department of these manipulative entertainment companies.
ReplyDelete