Advertising or entertainment?
I went to the AFL Grand Final on the weekend and I saw I type of advertising I'd never seen before.
A live performance by a childrens choir.
The Qantas Choir to be precise.
They were billed in the program as being a part of the pre-match entertainment.
But they weren't entertainment at all. They were an ad for Qantas.
They performed the song that features in Qantas advertising.
During their performance a huge Qantas jet flew low over the stadium.
It was quite beautiful to be honest. But it was anything but entertainment.
How are Qantas allowed to get away with this sort of stuff.
And why do the AFL allow it to happen.
I don't have a problem with the performance. I just want it clearly labelled as a sponsorship message. Not a performance by a childrens choir.
Labels: afl, product placement, qantas
posted by Stan Lee at 8:24 pm
4 Comments:
i'm glad you brought this up Stan. it was probably the most horrible thing i've seen in ages...
Definitely an ad, Stan. Perhaps lost in the Vegemite storm that followed, but tacky and unnecessary. Especially so given Farnham, Barnes and Seymour weren't even allowed onto the field, yet the kids got to run all over the place. The only advantage I can see for the AFL (apart from $$ - were they paid by Qantas?) is that clearing the airspace for a Qantas jet kept the Holden blimp away - another Grand Final embarrassment.
Definitely an ad. I think the official term is 'Branded Entertainment.' Doubtless Qantas paid for it or it was part of an overall sponsorship deal. In my mind not such a bad way for advertising to be done.I think everyone knew it was an ad, but because it was genuinely entertaining it was forgiven. And a forgiven brand is a befriended brand.
It was a shocker. Its almost ironic that a service which operates 10000ft in the air would stoop so low. At the end of the day people are gonna buy the cheapest seats on whatever plane is flying at the right time for them. The Qantas plane that flew over could've done a bloody loop de loop in the sky and it wouldn't make a difference to sales.
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