Macy's Parade Sets Commercial Tone

NEW YORK (AP) â€” Millions of viewers love a parade. But not just any parade. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC. <br><br>Some 45 million people watched at least part of it last week. And why

Tuesday, November 28th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) â€” Millions of viewers love a parade. But not just any parade. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC.

Some 45 million people watched at least part of it last week. And why not? It's colorful. It's festive. It's a New York-scale spectacle with hinterland wholesomeness (thanks to all those marching bands).

Most important, it's the designated kickoff of the Yule-tide buying frenzy, a sort of shoppers-start-your-engines green light.

There are other parade-casts, of course, and lots more holiday programming. But the Macy's parade is TV's prime indicator that Christmas is nigh. ``The holiday season starts with Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade,'' the announcer declares before a commercial.

A literal parade of brands, plugs and come-ons (with the occasional pause for a high school band from somewhere like Elko, Nevada), this program, strictly speaking, boasts little entertainment value. Instead, it serves as the nation's shopping list.

And, aired live as an unfolding event, the cavalcade of salesmanship-in-motion is ``covered'' by two of TV's most admired journalists, Katie Couric and Matt Lauer, who, any ordinary weekday, would be anchoring NBC News' ``Today'' show.

With all that in mind, let's call Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade what it is: a three-hour, cast-of-thousands, boogaloo-down-Broadway infomercial masquerading as a holiday rite. Fa, la, la, la, la!

Now, this is worth pondering in light of a recent flap surrounding ABC's ``The View'' after word got out that the weekday talk show had signed Campbell's Soup for a special sponsorship.

As it turned out, the arrangement was inconsequential. But a nightmare scenario described by The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story, envisioned Campbell's Soup flooding the whole show. Program and product plugs would all be one simmering promotional bouillabaisse.

No wonder Barbara Walters, a co-host of the series as well as a co-producer, was astonished at the flare-up, whose flames were fanned by the idea that, by serving as a soup shill, she had sold out her credibility as an ABC News journalist.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Walters said she left any ``Mm! Mm! Good!'' pronouncements to her non-newsie sidekicks. Furthermore, she noted, such a sponsor arrangement isn't unusual in television. She pointed to ``Today,'' which airs its birthday tributes with a Smucker's Jelly tie-in.

No big deal?

Well what about the artful product placements on CBS' ``Survivor''? On that reality series, such sponsors as Target stores and Bud Light beer somehow turned up not just in commercials, but also on the island during the show.

Or what about that soon-to-be marketed Cher doll from Mattel that got a nice launch in a recent story line on the NBC sitcom ``Will & Grace''?

There's no end to examples. But for anyone who cares about the shameless infusion of selling and promotion into what is quaintly thought of as noncommercial fare, the Macy's broadcast remains state-of-the-art.

Look! There's the Ronald McDonald balloon!

Look! There's the cast from NBC's daytime drama ``Passions''!

Look! There's LFO â€” ``three hip-hop dudes,'' says Lauer, ``who drove those summer girls crazy with their hit `West Side Story''' â€” lip-syncing from their perch on the Folger's Coffee float. (Just before a break for a Folger's commercial.)

From the ``anchor booth,'' Matt and Katie (plus ``Today'' teammate Al Roker) are cheery pros voicing scripted commentary that is little more than advertising copy.

Look! There's a float carrying replicas of those darling Hess Oil toy trucks. ``Over the years, these toy trucks have become a holiday tradition and collectors' favorite,'' Lauer reports.

Look! There's a float that depicts Simple Simon meeting the Pie Man. It is sponsored by Reddi-wip, and, as Katie Couric explains, ``adorning the 8-foot pumpkin pie (is) a young singer whose dreams of fame were anything but pie-in-the-sky.''

There is no compelling evidence that viewers (other than grinch-like media critics) really mind when everything they see is for sale. And certainly not when it's the Macy's parade, the consumer's mission statement for the holidays.

Look! There's Santa Claus! Better hit the stores!

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