Interestingly, it’s now moving back because the consumer has found ways, through technology, of zapping our ads. There’s a great incentive to work products back into the text and the trick will be to do it without disrupting the narrative flow, to make it a good story and yet to work ads in. It’s happening. In sport - we know some sport is recorded and then played back and in the process the ad is lost - just look at what your screen looks like: you’ll have the Premier League or the PSL, with Kaiser Chiefs against Pirates - and then there’s a squeeze-back with an ad creeping in. That you can’t edit out. So I think the intrusion of commercial products into copy is almost inevitable now that the consumer can zap at will. The Personal Video Recorder (PVR) will increase this trend.
