Desperate for Chrysler!

Here we are at another week, with another one of my favorite shows to report about. This week's pick "Desperate Housewives" on ABC. Now originally this show airs at 9pm on Sundays, but the roomies and I decided to wait until today to watch it, on DVR ofcourse. Why this time? Well first off, two of my roommates had a dance rehearsal, and with "Desperate" being one of our weekly rituals, I didn't dare tune in without them. Plus, I must admit we love having the luxury of skipping all of the commercials. We want the dirt on Wysteria Lane right away! Could be short attention spans- who knows?

So I must begin my report with that fact that I almost failed miserably in spotting any product placement in this week's episode. In the first, umm, 10 minutes? my roommate Sarah spotted a newspaper which we could just barely make out "The Wall..." on. We assumed it was a Wall Street Journal, but I'm assuming it was not strategically placed for marketing purposes. If it was I can bet WSJ may have a few complaints about that one. There were also certain products which appeared to be brand names but I couldn't be too sure. The lack of clarity, again, led me to believe these were not paid-for placements. For example, at one point Susan's now-fiance Ian held up what looked like a Swiss Army knife, but with no logo or name shown one cannot be too sure. In fact, if either of these were product placement they were way to subtle to even be worth the investment.

However, just as I was about to give up, I noticed Bree's son driving a silver car. Being the avid product placement spotter that I am, I rewinded the show to the beginning and after scanning through the entire episode once more I spotted the car at least 5 times. I could make out the Chrysler sign, but not being too car-saavy I had no idea what model it was. Turns out it was a Chrysler 300C. And after doing some google-searching I found that it has been the Van Dekamp family's primary car throughout all 3 seasons. For those familiar with the brand, the Chrysler 300C has gotten more than its fair share of prominent product placement throughout every episode, particularly this week's if you're alert enough to notice its presence in several of the scenes.


One last thing to notice is ABC's advertising of their Web site at the end of the show, in which you can watch full episodes for free. Curiously, I checked it out. The episode began by announcing that there were limited commercials in the online episode, which was sponsored by Sprint. Similar to DVR, you can fastforward and rewind through the show... except for at 3 mandatory commercial breaks (all Sprint) in which there is no way of getting around. Trust me- I tried. Even when you try and fastforward through the commercial, there is a timer, forcing you to at least see the brand for 30 seconds. Ofcourse this is not product placement, but it is another new media marketing tactic that I believe to be worth noting.