Last week AdAge called to interview me about a story that ran in the NYTimes about local television newscasts promoting products on-air. The example they used focused on anchors at KVVU, the Fox affiliate in Las Vegas, who had glasses of McDonald’s new iced coffee featured prominently on their desks during their morning show. According to the article, this is part of a broader promotion arranged by McDonald’s ad agency with a number of local stations.

As expected the article pointed out that there is a growing concern from consumer groups and journalists about this type of pay-for-play endorsement on television, especially during the news. And that skepticism may be justified given the church and state relationship that has traditionally existed between editorial and advertising divisions within all print and broadcast outlets.

Despite that concern, I think we are going to see a lot more of this kind of thing in the future -- simply for economic reasons. Traditional media are losing traditional advertising revenue and they are being forced to find new ways to monetize their content. Movies have done it for years and so have the sitcoms and reality programs. The apprentice basically sold every episode to a major corporation looking for visibility with their once large audience. Advertisers spent 2.9 billion in 2007 to place their products in TV shows and movies. Up 33.7% from 2006. This year that figure is projected to hit $3.6 billion. So why not the news?

The other factor driving this trend is advertising agencies. Because traditional advertising is not having the same impact it once did, clients are demanding new ways to get their messages out. In response, advertising agencies are looking at all kinds of opportunities to place products in editorial content, which has long been the purview of PR. For decades, PR people have worked with news programs to get them to sample and talk about their new products and interview the people who make and use them. This is nothing new. What is new is the idea that the news media are being paid to do it.

As long as media and ad agencies need revenue (which I think is forever), we are going to see all kinds of paid product placement on the air. As PR people, we will continue to publicize our client’s products in every creative way we can. It is up to the consumer to understand why Stephen Colbert eats Doritos all the time and why Simon Cowell drinks Coke.