Not-So-Subtle Promotional Plugs

Blatant is more like it!

In my quest for quality programming, I've been giving a bunch of new shows a chance. One of these new shows is Suburgatory. It's about a teenage girl who moves with her single father from Manhattan to the suburbs (from the map in the season opener it looks like somewhere in Westchester). So far I've seen two episodes, both of which could double as promotional products because of their blatant plugs for certain items.

In the first episode, Tessa, the main character and narrator of the show, explains that everyone in the suburbs drinks sugar-free red bull. Having grown up in the suburbs, I beg to differ. There are clips shown of refrigerators stocked full of sugar-free red bull and students as well as parents drinking it with a straw. She even tries to make a point to her father about how much she hates the suburban lifestyle with red bull. She protests conforming to a suburban girl by refusing her dinner and instead drinking sugar-free red bull with a straw to point out the absurdity.

In the following episode, one of the neighborhood mothers is unsure of a phrase Tessa used, so she tells Tessa's father that she will "Yahoo! it." This was probably the funniest part of the whole episode. About 75% of all search is done using the Google search engine, so it's pretty fair to say that it is quite prevalent and popular to even use the term "Google" as a verb. People will more often use the phrase, "Google it" rather than "look it up." In this digital age, it doesn't surprise me, but that being said, "Yahoo! it" is certainly an ear sore. I wonder how much Yahoo! paid for that promotional plug...

As far as the show itself, the jury is still out. As someone who lives in a Long Island suburb, I take issue with the portrayal of suburbanites on this show. Perhaps it's the influence of The Jersey Shore and other abominations of television that has brought the writers to the conclusion that everyone in the suburbs is shallow, tan, fake and a gossip. I'm thinking I'll give Suburgatory a few more episodes until I give up on it completely. If they continue to substitute for promotional products, however, I may just have to become an avid viewer if for no other reason than to see what they will plug next!