"All I do is talk. I don't have anything to do with the ads. I wish I did, and if I did, I wouldn't let them advertise fast food while the show's going out. But they can't even manage that."
We got an unexpected insight into the ad process on "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" during the Q&A in Pasadena. A woman wanted Jamie to find a way to run an ad during the show saying what great things lunch ladies do.
Did she not watch the Huntington episodes? Jamie gave lots of free publicity to the idea of lunch ladies are great, but what they are forced to do isn't ideal.
The assumption is also that Jamie has no responsibility for in-show ads. Then again, Oliver is an executive producer with his name in the title. One of these days we will get a reality show where the star has some say in the ad standards. But not now.
And contrary to what Jamie said, the fast food companies have stayed away from advertising. The show has had blurred out McD's bags and Jamie talked about fast food in his adventures with Deno. Diet food has dominated, but fast food is invisible, at least during the breaks.
Otherwise, this was a weak week for ad during Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, almost as if someone whispered that this wasn't the best week to advertise.
The Innova pet food ad was back, and ran twice during the show. Boy, that food looks good even if I'm not in the demographic for the food.
ABC ran another promo for Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition. We could combine the concept of that reality show with Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. That birth would produce a similar show to Jillian Michaels yelling-fest (now that was a show that advertised fast food) from last summer, though a quieter show with fewer in-show ads for Subway would be an improvement.
Kim Cattrall was also back with another "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" commercial. We did rank it the worst of the best recently, but this ad's tag line struck an odd chord.
"fresh butter taste with 70% less saturated fat than butter"
And the label says "tastes as good as fresh butter according to 4 out of 5 butter users." The product has traditionally been marketed for its health, not its taste. Though I have used the product in the past, but not recently, I couldn't tell you anything about its taste.
However, if 80% of sampled butter users can't tell the difference, they either don't know what butter tastes like or they are eating crappy butter.
Unless the product's formula has changed dramatically, you don't go from no marketing on taste to super awesome can't tell the difference taste. People will eat the product to save fat and calories, but you have to be realistic.
Diet products come at a price. Different ingredients are used to make something "light" or "diet." Expecting that to be the same as the original is assuming your audience isn't very bright.
The in-house ads was free of the Green Giant this week. Bing appeared as always (yawn) and two new entries made the scene: The Fruit Guys and Better Homes and Gardens.
The Fruit Guys in-show ad would have been a bigger splash if their house wasn't full of fruit. Perhaps Jamie was surprised but the Fruit Guys shouldn't be.
Let's be honest: most of us didn't know that Better Homes and Gardens was anything more than a magazine. The folks helped plant a garden at West Adams High School in LA, with Jamie waving bye to them as he stood just off school property, as if he was saying goodbye to his oldest child on her first day of kindergarten.
While the Fruit Guys and Better Homes and Gardens weren't obnoxious in their in-show approaches, they do distract from the narrative.
You can imagine that without those words in the beginning that next week's episode (the final one) will have more obnoxious food ads, but still no fast food companies.
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