TV networks asked to include promos for ObamaCare in top-rated shows
posted at 1:07 pm on September 17, 2012 by Howard Portnoy
There are reality shows about being cast away on a desert island, swapping spouses, and running a restaurant. So why not a reality show about “the trials and tribulations of families living without medical coverage”?
It’s one of the possibilities being run up the proverbial flagpole in Hollywood by Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. The marketing powerhouse has signed a $900,000 contract with an ObamaCare exchange in preparation for California’s planned exercise of the law next year, writes Newsbusters’ Tim Graham.
Graham cites a New York Times article by Abby Goodnough that proudly announces in its headline “California Tries to Guide the Way on Health Law.” (Gosh, you gotta love those Golden State lawmakers, always on “the cutting edge,” so to speak, as they were with their passage of a ban on circumcisions, a statewide DREAM Act, and a law forcing schools to teach gay history.)
As home to the de facto headquarters of America’s television industry, California is a made-in-heaven venue for promoting the virtues of a law so pernicious in its overreach that 53% of likely U.S. voters still favor its repeal.
“Realizing that much of the battle will be in the public relations realm,” Goodnough writes, “the exchange has poured significant resources into a detailed marketing plan.” The ambitious plan seeks to “have prime-time television shows, like ‘Modern Family,’ ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and Univision telenovelas, weave the health care law into their plots.”
But that’s not all. The efforts to reach to the legions of the uninsured will be translated into “dozens of languages” and extended beyond the small screen. Expect the praises of the health care law to be sung on “coffee cup sleeves” and “at professional soccer matches to reach young Hispanic men.”
About that 900K being paid out to Ogilvy: In case you’re wondering where the cash was coming from, the answer out of your and other taxpayers’ pockets.
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Hmmm… I don’t recall the “Ogilvy” line on my Form 1040.
Marcola on September 17, 2012 at 6:14 PM
re: good ole’ circumcision, religious liberties notwithstanding, I’m pretty sure I saw an article recently that pointed out a high correlation between circumcision rates in Africa and a curtailing of the AIDSidemic, to the point where scientists were even floating around the notion of causal relationship.
Granted, it ain’t “settled law” so to speak, and it’s not like America is Mozambique, but still, I wonder what all them high-falootin’ doctors – who look down their noses at Midwestern hicks and tell them it’s an obsolete practice in Western countries with no discernible health benefits – have to say for themselves now.
The Schaef on September 17, 2012 at 8:52 PM