Aug

4

NBC Apologizes for Olympic Ad Placement

Filed Under PC, Sports | 16 Comments

From the “imagine if Fox News did something like this” file, we have NBC’s coverage of Gabby Douglas winning the gold medal, which then led into this break:

I was watching, but I’m not hard-wired to be offended by anything and everything so I didn’t even really notice it at the time… until my Twitter feed started going bat-Pelosi crazy. Many did freak about it though, and NBC apologized for the placement.

Not to defend NBC, but having done my share of work in commercial television, the spots are purchased, trafficked and placed well before anybody knows what content will be where (with certain exceptions, i.e. sponsorships, etc). The production end doesn’t usually work in concert with the business end to make sure something like that can’t happen. For example, many years ago our local newscast did a story about somebody who lost fingers in a 4th of July fireworks accident the previous year. Immediately after the story we ran an ad for a fireworks store. Whoops. But there was really no way of knowing that story would be there. The only way to be sure would have been to eliminate from the rotation any ad with any kind of potential to offend in any situation — which would have left us with zero commercials to air and, worse yet, zero billing. (Update: It’s actually a promotion for one of NBC’s upcoming sitcoms and not technically an ad, but same difference as far as blind placement)

If NBC botched anything it was by apologizing. If I ran NBC, I’d have responded this way: “It’s been brought to our attention that some found the ad that ran after coverage of Gabby Douglas winning the gold medal to be offensive. We are indeed sorry, but only for those who think black people resemble monkeys. Our staff believes black people are the same as all other people — human beings — and monkeys are primates… different genus entirely you see. Racists may draw similarities between the two, but our staff, not being racist while having a firm grasp on biology, didn’t see anything wrong with the ad placement.”

The irony here is that this happened to NBC, which provides a home for Race Hustler Central, otherwise known as its MSNBC lineup, so a good deal of NBC’s apology was probably directed at people who get a paycheck from NBC.

If anything about that clip was worthy of offense, it was Costas’ patronizing comment before the commercial.

Comments

16 Responses to “NBC Apologizes for Olympic Ad Placement”

  1. Jimmy on August 4th, 2012 7:04 pm

    What is the point of the commercial? There are no monkeys competing in the Olympics!

  2. Doug on August 4th, 2012 7:14 pm

    I forgot to note that it's not really a commercial but rather a promo for one of their upcoming sitcoms.

  3. backwoodsconsr on August 4th, 2012 8:32 pm

    "… until my Twitter feed started going bat-Pelosi crazy."

    Very well put.

  4. SignPainterGuy on August 4th, 2012 8:41 pm

    I thought so too, as in; the Pelosi`s not finished until the paperwork`s done !

  5. SignPainterGuy on August 4th, 2012 8:53 pm

    Yeah, the thin-skinned, perpetually offended libs and racists (sorry for the redundancy) probably cringed at the promo placement and subject, but being a firm believer in creationism and not evolution, I sailed right on by, preferring to sit in awe at such a cute young lady displaying talent extraordinaire.

    Here`s a photo splash of her routine. Note the "Flying Squirrel" at 1:09; looks like pure joy to me !
    http://potluckbloggers.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/a…

  6. Jack on August 4th, 2012 10:25 pm

    By apoligizing NBC is saying Gabby resembles a monkey. Who would think that. Nobody except a racist progressive.

  7. backwoodsconsr on August 4th, 2012 11:25 pm

    Racist monkey commercial? I didn't know monkeys were racist.

  8. Doug on August 5th, 2012 12:08 am

    This is what I was trying to say but in far fewer words. Thanks!

  9. Matthew W on August 5th, 2012 12:35 pm

    THANK GOD that FOX didn't do that !!

  10. blogc2011 on December 3rd, 2012 3:27 pm

    Racists may draw similarities between the two, but our staff, not being racist while having a firm grasp on concord dentist biology, didn’t see anything wrong with the ad placement.

  11. blogc2011 on December 6th, 2012 6:29 am

    Our staff believes black people are the same as all other people — human beings — and monkeys are primates… different genus entirely you see. Racists may draw similarities between the two, but our staff, not being racist while having a firm grasp on biology, didn’t see anything wrong with the ad placement ????

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  15. luciferwilliams on April 7th, 2013 7:13 am

    Our staff believes black people are the same as all other people — human beings — and monkeys are primates… different genus entirely you see. alexis vaussenat

  16. smith73 on April 25th, 2013 3:29 pm

    I don't think NBC would that be proactive in humiliating a young female athlete like Gabby in national TV. I think, it is just an honest mistake…

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