Reflection on Tivo-Technology and Culture-Brief Article

By John Buell

This article discusses Tivo and its affect on advertisements. It discusses the fact that because of Tivo, advertisement companies are putting their advertisements into the television shows and making their commercials shorter. They have been forced to do this because Tivo gives people the ability to skip through the commercials. This is why product placement has become so prominent in television today. This article discusses the fact that no technology, especially Tivo, will ever get us away from commercialism.
I have a Tivo in my house, and, to me, it was the greatest invention. If I was too busy to watch a television show I liked, or a skate competition, I could just record it, and watch it when I had a chance. This was great, because I could watch the show when I had time, and I could skip through the commercials and just enjoy the show. But, product placement has increased, even though I might not have noticed. Now, characters in the TV shows I watch are drinking Coca Cola, or wearing Nikes. I feel like this added product placement could be detrimental to the younger people watching TV, especially if the products advertised are sugary, fattening foods. If young kids see their favorite characters drinking Coke and eating McDonalds, they are much more likely to do so themselves. This article also mentions the fact that, for those who don’t have Tivo, they are getting fed double the amount of commercials. John Buell also points out that the product placement is extremely prominent in sports arenas. Many young children and adolescents watch sports and they are constantly bombarded with products. Tivo has aided to the fact that sports arenas have billboards all over the arena for things like Gatorade, Dunkin donuts, etc. Sports should be the place where kids can be safe from the fattening and fast food culture that everyone is exposed too, but it has come to be a place of increased product placement. I think this is really sad.
What is interesting to me is the fact that a lot of the product placement in TV shows goes unnoticed by me, and I think by most other people. That is what makes me nervous about the increase in product placement. People are being brainwashed into wanting the product that is being advertised. At least in regular commercials it is obvious what the advertisers are trying to sell to me. In product placement, it is not. I think that all of this could be harmful to the people watching TV. This adds to the fact that TV has become something that isn’t really good for people, especially young children. When young girls see Hannah Montana drinking a Coke, they are much more likely to want to drink coke, than they were before they saw the show. When they se her wearing a certain brand of clothing, they are much more likely to nag their parents until they get that brand. Therefore, Tivo has led to an increase in product placement, making it worse for TV viewers in general.