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Viewers are livid and completely up in arms about the ''arrogant'', ''shameless'', ''sell out'', ''deplorable'' and ''simply unseemingly secret product placement/product endorsement'' of snail slime cream made by the hosts of a Glomail cream in tonight's episode of SABC3's sappy No Reservations lifestyle talk show.
Viewers reacted immediately and in utter disgust about the way in which No Reservations with Carol Bouwer, Basetsana Kumalo, Michelle Garforth-Venter and Katie Mohamed blatantly plugged a product only because it seems as if the seller of the product decided to buy advertising air-time during the slimey yakker as well. ''Let the ladies know that the agenda of the advertising division of SABC3 showed more than anything else on the show tonight,'' wrote an irate viewer immediately after tonight's snail slime episode.
What happened? The presenters spoke about a cream made from snail slime (from Glomail) and as one reader remarks, ''it was presented as something personal''. Directly after that TWO adverts ran in one ad break by Glomail advertising the exact product that No Reservations, produced by Carol Bouwer Productions, incorporated into the show. Another reader called it ''utterly distasteful, downright tacky and oblivious to the fact that we as viewers are not that stupid anymore.''
''I find this insulting to my intelligence,'' says a reader who called No Reservations a ''sell out'' that ''follows the trend . . . of ending up being a giant commercial. This was not co-incidental but well-planned. I'm all for good advertising but not the way this was done.''
ALSO READ: British broadcasters must now indicate product placement with a P on-screen icon.
