Consumer Culture and TV Programming

Product placement is now an integral part of what is considered the highest-quality fiction programming on television. Throughout the history of television, until now, direct product placement within fiction has not been a significant marketing strategy. This broadcasting/marketing configuration marks a another definitive step in the history of the commercialization of television. This book is an exploration of the interconnections between media economics and communication discourse. The recessionary, highly competitive economic environment of the 1980s, which affected networks, independent broadcasting, and the media industry in general, has been widely noted in the business pages of the national press. But the dramatic effects on programming wrought by the financial strategies of this period are yet to be understood. Marketing factors account for the heightened emphasis on programming environment during the 1980s. But what are the full implications of the practice of audience marketing and the creation of appropriate programming environments?

<P>Robin Andersen is associate professor of communication at Fordham University.</P>