Studies show that we see 3,000 ads per day – and growing. Some companies are discovering how meaningful marketing can be a break from the pressure to interrupt, and I enjoy telling their stories here. But others are determined to find new ways to break into our brains with novel interruptions. McDonald’s has followed the latter path again, this time by paying for drink placement on the morning news of a Fox affiliate in Las Vegas (KVVU).

In analyzing this move, let’s first get the meaning question out of the way. I see no way in which McDonald’s sponsorship of the show can be considered a value-add to KVVU’s viewers. The same program appears, the same number of commercials are run, but one more unavoidable ad is layered on top of the news broadcast. You could even call it an unavoidable “pop up” ad. It’s just another (very clever) interruption.

Not only is this sponsorship lacking in meaning, but I think it crosses a line. Those of us who have spent any time in the news business (The Duke Chronicle for me) know that there is a fairly clear separation between “church and state.” Now, I admit that the local morning news – especially the Fox variant – is not exactly considered the temple of journalism. But it isn’t Coke on American Idol – it’s still the news. And it’s unfair for the news anchors, who are basically giving a personal endorsement to an iced tea in order to keep their jobs – thus further weakening their self-respect as journalists.

I find it interesting that the Meredith Corporation owns this and several other local networks that allow product placement on their news programs. Interestingly, Meredith has built a network of advertising agencies and does some in-house creative work for advertisers in its magazines. Perhaps that’s part of why the line is blurrier there.

The New York Times also reports that the cups of McDonald’s will be taken down in the event that the news team has to report something negative about the McDonald’s Corporation:

If there were a story going up, let’s say, God forbid, about a McDonald’s food illness outbreak or something negative about McDonald’s, I would expect that the station would absolutely give us the opportunity to pull our product off set,” said Brent Williams, account supervisor at Karsh/Hagan, the advertising agency that arranged the deal between McDonald’s and KVVU.”

I can see how cool business logic could allow for smart people to invest in product placement on a TV morning show. It makes a ton of sense to plant the seed of McDonald’s breakfast items just as people are hitting the road and consciously or unconsciously thinking about breakfast. Heck, it might even be a huge ROI for the company. But my gut is that today’s viewers will be just as likely to start a boycott against McDonald’s as they are to start a new iced coffee habit. Is it surprising that the FCC is beginning a move to regulate product placement run amok?

McDonald’s should have learned its lesson from the negative PR and late night television jokes about its advertising on report cards in Florida elementary schools. I think there are many other ways that McDonald’s can use its marketing to add value to consumers’ lives. This would include anything from a coupon newsletter to furthering its terrific Ronald McDonald House program. Such interruption tactics weaken the brand image in our minds and do nothing for long-term equity or loyalty.  Not to mention the fact that they don’t help the cause when cities such as L.A. want to ban your restaurant completely.

While McDonald’s might enjoy a tiny boost in its multibillion-dollar bottom line as a result of this program, I think it’s another way that our industry is killing itself and, frankly, weakening society. As Auburn marketing professor, Herbert Jack Rotfeld says, “In the end, they just make the audiences even more skeptical of everything.”

(thanks to Umair Haque for the find)