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Microsoft Pulls Out Of Family Guy Sponsorship... Gets Half The Benefit For None Of The Money?
from the did-they-just-pull-one-over-on-Seth-Macfarlane? dept
In the past couple weeks a few folks had sent in various versions of the plan by Microsoft to sponsor an entire episode of the show Family Guy that would involve somehow weaving Microsoft Windows 7 into the story. While some found the whole concept to be "the end of the world," that was pure nonsense. It was a perfect example of how advertising is content, and content is advertising. If the fear was that the episode would suck, well, then it wouldn't act as a very good commercial for Microsoft, then, would it? If the fear was that the episode would be good, then what was the problem?
Either way... it appears that the whole thing is now dead. Reports are coming out that Microsoft has bailed out on the project, claiming that "the content was not a fit with the Windows brand." My first reaction to this was that whoever approved the deal in the first place must not watch Family Guy very much, because the whole show is based on "not being a fit" with pretty much anything.
But the more I thought about it, the more I wonder if Microsoft just pulled a fast one on Fox and everyone else. It's now received a ton of attention for the whole project... and doesn't have to pay Fox any money. Perhaps Microsoft just out-Foxed Fox.
