DATA HARD

Thursday, August 04, 2011

EXPOSE: IS SOUTH PARK SELLING OUT TO SPONSORS?

----The real questions is why the show- that constantly attacks others in this society for its greed,and/or stupidity ,being so quiet on this hidden revenue stream- they have invented for themselves.

If you've watched the show for the last few season,the show that dares to subvert and satirize America, has been chocked full secret ads, that rarely or barely have anything to do the the well-written plot, of the ground breaking series.

Recently episodes have featured: Kyle,Cartman and Butters, dinning in Denny's eatery- pushing the weird Bacon-opolis campaign. Cartman beams with pride to his Jewish nemesis,about the fact the store will grind up bacon, into a hot fudge sundae now. At the top of another show, Cartman satirizes the Real Housewives' table shaking incident,by spilling all his friends food and drinks. The Dr. Pepper Logo is visible, even with the purposely crappy animation. Finally, the infamous Tiger Woods/Sex rehab show, where Cartman (notice the trend) and Kenny play a funny, Mortal Combat/Grand Theft Auto style demo of Tiger and his wife's domestic disturbance reports. The problem is the kids, are at a Game Stop style store- with X Box 360 logo, so prominently displayed that only a far sighted person could have missed it.

Product placement is hardly new, and its much worse in the movies, where money has gotten so big- they are now secret sponsors who are basically funding the studio's projects now. On TV though, the commercials are -built into the show as breaks. Since the Dawn of VCR,DVD and DVR era, viewers can ignore or fast forward thorough most of the messages now. So, networks and shows have used this concept, as a last resort to keep sponsors happy and force the viewer to notice its advertisers wares.

Other established shows have experimented with this: The Closer, Burn Notice,Ally McBeal, Buffy, and others have tried this, to obvious and minimal degree. South Park is so far- the only show to succeed in weaving the sponsors (almost seamlessly) into plot without any viewers noticing or complaining.

Still, what is happening to all the money that is rolling in for the show? Is it going to the network? Did the long-time creators of the show: Trey Parker and Matt Stone, use the funds to bankroll their now hit and critically acclaimed Broadway show, The Book of Mormon? Why hasn't the extra money gone into better animation (like the famed Best Buy sponsored World of War craft Show?)

An attempt was made to get a comment, from the network's PR dept.There was no answer by the story's deadline.