NBC ADMITS: Using "behavior placement" on popular T.V. shows to shape behavior and sell ads

theweek.com...

FROM SOUCE:
NBC's 'cynical' mind-control games
The network admits it uses "behavior placement" on popular shows to encourage healthy, eco-friendly habits — and sell ads.
posted on April 9, 2010, at 6:43 PM
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Tina Fey before NBC instituted "behavior placement." Photo: Creative Commons
Best Opinion: Movieline, Wall Street Journal, Mediaite

First there was product placement. Now there's "behavior placement," the planting of subtle messages in popular TV shows to encourage certain viewer behavior — such as healthy eating or eco-conscious habits — and thereby convince sponsors that their brands will be associated with "feel-good, socially aware" shows. NBC has owned up to the practice, reports The Wall Street Journal, as part of its Green Initiative: If "Tina Fey is tossing a plastic bottle into the recycling bin," the theory goes, audience members will be more apt to do the same. Innocuous or "Orwellian"?

This isn't just creepy, it's dumb: The pressure to be eco-conscious has reached a new high, says says Christopher Rosen in Movieline. NBC implies that people are too dumb to make healthy decisions on their own. How "patently stupid." Do viewers really need NBC "telling them how to run their life?"
"NBC thinks you're an idiot, part 56: 'Behavior placement'"

What's the big deal? Despite the hubbub, the principles NBC promotes are "fairly innocuous," says Amy Chozick


I guess it's ok for them to just admit this because they know there isn't anyone who can stop them? I do not have a t.v. and I cannot believe what goes on regarding what is shown on them. IMO, WORST INVENTION EVER!!!!

[edit on 13-4-2010 by devildogUSMC]

That is quite scary. When you think of how many people watch that station it is by far the most frightening scenario plausible. Right now, with their study groups at hand, they could incite complete violence and help lock us into martial law.

[edit on 13-4-2010 by ventian]

Every network does this. There is product placement in every single show on television.

Ever seen the show Heroes? Did you notice that every single car driven in that show by a main character is a Nissan, and is mentioned by model name?

Ever seen the movie "I Am Legend"? Did you notice that every car driven in that movie is a Ford?

Ever seen the Show "How I met your Mother"? Did you notice that an 'Iphone' appears in every episode?

Shows and movies are no more than long ads.

reply to post by devildogUSMC


Hi devildogUSMC,

Well, this comes as no surprise!
This type of thing has been going on since the 50's, when the susceptibility of the human brain to suggestion was studied.
Since then TV has been a fantastic media for the "brain-washers" as it is both visual and auditory, thereby achieving total results.
The big push for "Digital TV" is not for better picture quality, but for a better medium to transmit these suggestions over.
I have been recording and demodulating these signals lately and the messages range from advertising to downright scary!
You are probably better off not watching TV, but also watch Movies and Radio as well!

reply to post by devildogUSMC


It's well known marketing tool. So what? If you fall for it, you are a consumer with a consumer mindset and that's who they're trying to reach.

reply to post by ventian


Sorry, I hit reply on accident. This is some moe insanity, no? I just can't believe they would openly say that they do this. This should make people feel violated, IMO.

"NBC implies that people are too dumb to make healthy decisions on their own."

People who watch NBC and the other networks are too dumb to make decisions on their own. If they were intelligent, they wouldn't be watching their mindless trash shows in the first place.

reply to post by SphinxMontreal


Well......I could not have said that better myself. I don't blame people for watching T.V., I feel sorry for them. I try to tell people and they look at me thinking that I am weird and a little crazy because I don't know what goes on on t.v., when in fact I feel the same way about them because they do.

reply to post by captaintyinknots


Don't forget The Island. Holy crap, was the product placement ever blatant in that one!

Originally posted by InvisibleAlbatross
reply to post by captaintyinknots

 

Don't forget The Island. Holy crap, was the product placement ever blatant in that one!

Its in everything, everywhere. And it isnt just products. Diet ideas, lifestyle choices, pushing marriage, desensitizing...every time you turn on the boobtube, you are inundated with thought manipulation.

Let me see if I got this straight.

People that watch too much "30 Rock" might start to feel like recycling.

Why am I supposed to be scared again?

I was unaware NBC had any popular TV shows.

Seinfeld was on that network but that was years ago.

Guess I'm not watching enough TV.

Anyway, isnt that the basic concept of advertising? Get the moron mass to emulate the exalted celebrities? Not new.

There was a New York Times article on something like this a while back. Now they have writers going to advertisers before they even write the script. Basically, think of it this way: instead of writing the movie and shoving product placement in, you write around the product placement. You leave some blank holes in the script, then ask advertisers to fill them. Easy ones are cars the characters drive, places they eat, etc.

No surprise at all. Quite common, predictable, and effective.

It all started with "laugh tracks." As soon as they realized that they had to tell people when to laugh, the writing was on the wall. I don't like the term "sheeple," but it is very accurate in describing a group of people huddled around a TV laughing in unison, getting bored and going to the restroom in unison, falling aslpep, etc., etc.

The TV is hypnotic, and with good reason. It uses motion, light, and sound to manipulate your senses and elicit a response. If a guy in a gray suit with a stop watch can hypnotize you, just imagine what billions of dollars, and decades of research, and digital light and sound can do?

Turn it off! Go outside and play! (hears my mother in my head saying)

reply to post by K J Gunderson

Let me see if I got this straight. People that watch too much "30 Rock" might start to feel like recycling. Why am I supposed to be scared again?

Because it's manipulation? Because if they can get away with these manipulations, they can get bolder and try to manipulate who they would elected into office, or the fact that excruciating taxes are a good thing- or having your child taken from you for some political camp, or that ratting out your neighbor for cash is a good thing.....

Scared yet? These people are nothing more than sheep herders, who are using 'gentle' tactics to get people to 'feel good about tv', and then, they say or do whatever the govt will tell them to do. And the sheeple will be herded more and more, while the people who haven't a tv will be more and more 'the enemy'. Scared yet?

reply to post by wylekat

It is a willing choice that people make to watch tv. If you subject yourself to these things willingly, do you have a right to complain?

reply to post by captaintyinknots


The ones who subject willingly dont give a flip- it's those of us who dont, and are seeing the effects that are raising the alert flags- Who wants to live in a society of mind controlled zombies who have no imagination, sense of humor, or much else- except blind obedience to some box that spits out their thoughts of the day- and mind control of the week?

My mother was one of these types. The WORLD revolved around the tv set, *Reality* revolved around the tv set. She was so mentally deficient, it was amazing I managed to get out of there without being killed by her. I was compared to tv characters, events that happened for real, compared to stuff on tv- and the woman didn't want to do anything but SHOP in the 3 same stores. She was so commercialized and consumer-ized, my childhood suffered for it!

So yeah- I am gonna complain- because I dont own a tv, and I see what the crap has done to people. And that was in the *80's*. Look around you, and see what conversations happen at work... 99% sports, tv, and not much else, except in passing....

I really find no harm in an individual using persuasion such as this to influence a point, or way of living. To me the problem lays at when mega corporations use their influences and positioning to manipulate whole sections of a population, for the purpose of promoting an idea or concept designed to create profits. This pursuit of profits in collusion with government regulation is where I say it is unethical if not illegal to manipulate a population for profit.

reply to post by wylekat


I have to agree with that post. My Dad used to work all day, and when he got home, my brother and I would be so happy to have him home, but he just wanted to relax in front of the TV, and he didn't want a bunch of noisy kids around. Then he would eat dinner in his chair, and eventually go to bed? The TV outranked his own kids. Now, don't get me wrong, he was a good father, and his behavior was very typical for that decade, but it is sad.

Luckily, having experienced that, I am more cognizant of it with my own kids.

The other point of "pop conversations" revolving around sports and TV and movies is exactly accurate as well. Sometimes I feel pressured to watch certain shows, or sporting events, or movies, because I will need that ice breaker or pop knowledge in a conversation at work. Without that knowledge, my career would suffer, because I wouldn't be as involved and friendly as I should be.

There is a lot of truth to what you say, even though I initially agreed with Captain. Some sort of pop culture contact is necessary, and once you take a little bite, it is easy to get sucked in, and once you are sucked in, those around you could suffer.

Originally posted by wylekat
reply to post by K J Gunderson

 

Let me see if I got this straight. People that watch too much "30 Rock" might start to feel like recycling. Why am I supposed to be scared again?

Because it's manipulation?

Let me try this again. Perhaps I did not say it correctly.

This causes people...

who watch too much "30 Rock"

to recycle.

Manipulate away. If you waste your life watching sitcoms and the outcome is not littering, I can live with that. You should be outside or reading or dealing with real live people anyway. Recycling hardly seems like a big price to pay for selling your soul to begin with.

Because if they can get away with these manipulations, they can get bolder and try to manipulate who they would elected into office, or the fact that excruciating taxes are a good thing- or having your child taken from you for some political camp, or that ratting out your neighbor for cash is a good thing.....

No. What they are doing is not some super secret subliminal level MK Ultra programming. If you watch the shows in question, this message is actually quite bold and obvious. They want you to be green conscious and they say it loudly. If they decided to follow your slippery slope and promote pedophilia or mass murder, it would be just as loud. This is not hypnosis.

Scared yet?

Of something that has not happened and if you understood the article would know cannot happen? No.

These people are nothing more than sheep herders, who are using 'gentle' tactics to get people to 'feel good about tv', and then, they say or do whatever the govt will tell them to do. And the sheeple will be herded more and more, while the people who haven't a tv will be more and more 'the enemy'. Scared yet?

Again, no. What NBC is doing is not nearly as nefarious as you seem to think it is but that is what should be expected in a place like this. Try watching examples of the shows in question and then come back and show me the secret manipulation that can be used for any means. Then you will have me scared.