Having moved to Margate (yes, I am as deluded about the town's prospects as the couple on Hotel Rescue), I finally managed to get the TV working in time to catch two flawed but fascinating programmes that by coincidence neatly illustrated the pros and cons of product placement.
Thanks to Ben Bradshaw's decision to lift the ban, product placement is back. And if you're a Coke exec, you'd be thinking a good thing too, if you caught The World's Greatest Money Maker: Evan Davis Meets Warren Buffett (9pm, BBC2, 26 October).
I initially bought the portrayal of the "Sage of Omaha" as an affable old Luddite who eschews fancy offices, doesn't use a computer, yet has delivered 20% annual growth for Berkshire Hathaway by following a simple philosophy of investing in quality companies he likes. But it was only when a can of Coke popped up for the nth time the penny dropped. This wasn't so much a documentary as an ad for Buffett and Coke, one of his largest stock holdings.
Like the drink, the programme left a sickly aftertaste. As did C4's Did Heston change Little Chef? (9pm, 28 October). Six months on, Heston Blumenthal revisited the Popham diner to find out whether Little Chef boss Ian Pegler would roll out Heston's blue-sky blueprint or if it had indeed been just a publicity stunt.
The omens looked good. The car park was full, the punters happy and Pegler and Blumenthal seemed to have put their differences behind them. But closer scrutiny revealed Blumenthal's chips had been replaced by, shock horror, McCain Home Fries and his gravy by, travesty of travesties, Bisto the downside of product placement clearly being someone without a vested interest in the brand placing it (you could almost hear the groans of the McCain and Premier execs). Conveniently, his sauces were reinstated in time for Popham to win an entry in The Good Food Guide.
In a fairytale ending, two more diners opened and the newly PR-literate Pegler promised more adding he could be trusted because, as "a committed Christian", he was committed to better-quality chicken pie. Blumenthal (a committed cock) bought it. I didn't.
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Thanks to Ben Bradshaw's decision to lift the ban, product placement is back. And if you're a Coke exec, you'd be thinking a good thing too, if you caught The World's Greatest Money Maker: Evan Davis Meets Warren Buffett (9pm, BBC2, 26 October).
I initially bought the portrayal of the "Sage of Omaha" as an affable old Luddite who eschews fancy offices, doesn't use a computer, yet has delivered 20% annual growth for Berkshire Hathaway by following a simple philosophy of investing in quality companies he likes. But it was only when a can of Coke popped up for the nth time the penny dropped. This wasn't so much a documentary as an ad for Buffett and Coke, one of his largest stock holdings.
Like the drink, the programme left a sickly aftertaste. As did C4's Did Heston change Little Chef? (9pm, 28 October). Six months on, Heston Blumenthal revisited the Popham diner to find out whether Little Chef boss Ian Pegler would roll out Heston's blue-sky blueprint or if it had indeed been just a publicity stunt.
The omens looked good. The car park was full, the punters happy and Pegler and Blumenthal seemed to have put their differences behind them. But closer scrutiny revealed Blumenthal's chips had been replaced by, shock horror, McCain Home Fries and his gravy by, travesty of travesties, Bisto the downside of product placement clearly being someone without a vested interest in the brand placing it (you could almost hear the groans of the McCain and Premier execs). Conveniently, his sauces were reinstated in time for Popham to win an entry in The Good Food Guide.
In a fairytale ending, two more diners opened and the newly PR-literate Pegler promised more adding he could be trusted because, as "a committed Christian", he was committed to better-quality chicken pie. Blumenthal (a committed cock) bought it. I didn't.
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