[Media] Is it just me, or has product-placement mania gotten out of hand? This is the first time I remember a lost-and-found Boy Scout story being sponsored by CheetosTM brand cheese-flavored snacks. TV stations and newspapers have been reporting the brand name of the scout's junk food like it was a vital part of the story. ("Oh, who cares whether they found the kid alive or not—our readers want to know: Was he eating the crunchy or the puffy kind? Get the story!")Of course, the way multinational corporations are, I wouldn't put it past them to have orchestrated the whole thing. Some droid in a suit lurks in the bushes waiting for a lone scout to separate from the herd: "Psst! C'mere, kid. Wanna make a thousand bucks? All ya gotta do is get lost for a little while. Here, take this bag of Cheetos. There's another G in it for ya if you manage to get that bag on camera in time for the 6 o'clock news."
Will the Hostess division or M&M-Mars be the next to follow suit? My bet is on Hostess:
10-Year-Old Boy Plummets Down Mine Shaft
Timmy Johnson's Potentially Fatal Fall Broken by Delicious Twinkies
"Lucky Kid," Says Fire Chief; Rescue Teams Gather at Old Hendricks Farmhouse
(Brandon Burt)
