Sears-Sponsored Show to Feature Retailer’s Goods
Coming soon: a “reality” TV series starring Sears tools and appliances.
In a new partnership that underscores the widening reach of product placement, Sears, Roebuck & Co. has signed on as chief sponsor of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” a six-episode series that is in production and expected to air beginning in early 2004.
ABC and Sears said Wednesday that the programs would showcase Sears products such as Craftsman tools, Kenmore appliances and Lands’ End home furnishings while telling the stories of hard-luck families whose homes are selected for free home makeovers.
Sears commercials also will be aired as part of the package. A special hourlong premiere was scheduled for Wednesday night.
The New York Times, which first reported the partnership Wednesday, said Sears was thought to be paying more than $1 million for the deal. Both ABC and Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears declined to discuss the financial terms. But an ABC executive confirmed that it represented the television network’s biggest branded-entertainment deal yet.
Sears gets to promote its products in prime time to a bigger audience than the one that stays tuned in during commercials. “It’s a great opportunity for us to partner with a new show on prime-time network TV that portrays Sears as the ultimate home solution partner,” said company spokesman Ted McDougal.
The head of an advertising watchdog group said the new show extended a disturbing trend of more and more embedded ads on television.
“ ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ is not a regular program -- it’s an infomercial for Sears,” Gary Ruskin, director of Commercial Alert, said Wednesday from Portland, Ore. “It’s not just product placement, it’s product integration, plot placement, title placement, paid shills, virtual ads. Increasingly, television is turning into an infomercial medium.”
The consumer group, which was founded by Ralph Nader, filed complaints with the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission this fall, asking them to enact stricter rules concerning the use of such advertisements.
