Squarely in the WTF? category comes this bit: Woman’s Day magazine has hired the character Melanie Moretti, from the TV show Hot in Cleveland, played by Valerie Bertinelli, to author a column in the magazine.
Did you get that? The column is written by a fictional character. From television. And then printed in a magazine.
WORLDS COLLIDING!
The column, which looks like a blog to me, appears on the Woman’s Day website.
Photo credit: TV Land
The stunt (which, come ON! It totally is!) has been referred to as a “partnership” and a “crossover promotion,” as the column is the character’s actual job on the show, and is referred to during episodes.
Got that?
I personally think this practice of fictional characters writing columns, features or blogs is hokey as all get out. I don’t like it — at all.
Is it fiction?
Is it a column?
What the heck is it?
And who really writes it? Bertinelli? Her writers? I’m so confused.
What do you think?
it’s all of the above, and probably can be done somewhat effectively, but I agree, it is hokey. It’s kind of like product placement in reverse, and while Women’s Day is not known for being a “hard news” type of journalism, i think it does raise questions about what sort of agreement they have with the network and how it colors how we view the rest of the magazine. This one is pretty clear. But down the line, will we see more things like this that are harder to recognize?
it’s all of the above, and probably can be done somewhat effectively, but I agree, it is hokey. It’s kind of like product placement in reverse, and while Women’s Day is not known for being a “hard news” type of journalism, i think it does raise questions about what sort of agreement they have with the network and how it colors how we view the rest of the magazine. This one is pretty clear. But down the line, will we see more things like this that are harder to recognize?
I’m not sure it’s any different from Dear Abby, really, or the advice columns in any women’s magazine.
It’s advertising.
I love twitter feeds for fictional characters, though. The Betty Draper feed is hilarious. (I think those are fan-created and not an actual marketing tie-in.)
I’d imagine that a marketing person for the network writes the column.
@shfitch I think it’s ok when it’s fan generated like the Betty Draper feed (and you’re right; funny stuff), but in a print magazine some of the irony is lost, and the casual reader may not realize this is a character, not an actual columnist. Blurry lines, that’s all.
@Alice You have a point there. I guess I’m annoyed that this is also a TV character; Abby is not. Although, she could have been, and I wonder how I would have felt about that?