Friday, May 21, 2010

Logo Watch

Full disclosure:  WGN's parent company, and WNEP's parent company participate in some joint ventures.

The Chicago Tribune did a story yesterday on why WGN News reporters always wear L.L. Bean jackets.  The Tribune says WGN and L.L. Bean have a deal.  The reporters get jackets.  L.L. Bean gets a credit at the end of the broadcast.  Reporters have the option of not wearing the jackets or covering up the L.L. Bean logo.

WGN's news director says it's difficult to find any outerwear these days that doesn't have a logo on it, and he's correct.  One of my favorite rain coats has a Columbia logo on the right side.  I didn't get it for free from Columbia, but it was on sale at Boscov's a couple years ago.  It's a fine jacket.

I dislike being a human billboard.  I hate getting wet even more.

The WGN thing raises some interesting issues, like product placement and blatant commercialism.  However, everyone involved seems fairly up front about it.  No one is trying to hide it from the viewers, as some stations do.  We all know there are pay-to-play scams going on out there, and I sincerely hope someone gets wise to it.  There are certainly more troublesome things going on than a reporter wearing an L.L. Bean jacket.