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The Colbert Report/Hulu Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET
Product placement. Native advertising. Sponsorship.
It’s all the same thing. It’s shoving a product into the sort of limelight where it wouldn’t normally be terribly welcome.
How refreshing, then, that Stephen Colbert decided that, despite being paid by T-Mobile US, he would recommend that its phones be returned to the darkness.
Last week, in a segment on his show enjoying the T-Mobile sponsorship, Colbert decided to introduce the brand into a discussion about a new mechanical constipation remedy.
Before push even became shove, Colbert made a link between the fact that the Vibrant constipation remedy vibrates to mimic a certain natural, internal pushing and shoving — and T-Mobile’s phones.
Because Vibrant isn’t yet available, Colbert suggested: “I recommend you put your cell phone on vibrate and shove it where the sun don’t shine.”
“And while you’re at it,” he continued, “why not make it a top-0f-the-line smartphone from T-Mobile.”
One can imagine that executives less relaxed than T-Mobile US’s John Legere, might have tightly clenched several areas, if it was their brand being discussed. Oh, perhaps he wasn’t too comfortable either.
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Colbert, after all, went on to suggest that this scatological mobile solution was appropriate for the whole family.
Colbert claimed that T-Mobile had no idea what he was going to be saying about its phones. “All their marketing team asked is that I not position the brand in a negative light.”
He explained that he was suggesting the brand be placed in no light at all.
I wonder, though, what softer marketing brains would have thought of the tagline Colbert came up with to end his segment.
I’ll leave it for you to digest yourself.
Updated 6.55pm: In a tweet to CNET’s Roger Cheng, T-Mobile CEO John Legere saw the funny side: “@RogerWCheng @StephenAtHome He was dead on! While @Verizon continues to clog up the industry, @TMobile is here to help keep it moving!”
