To Our Readers

BY JOHN FLANAGAN

Sunday, September 9, 2001

And now a few words
from the sponsors of
this column...? Uh, uh

I was listening to my Sony radio and enjoying a Diet Coke, when I heard an interview with British author Fay Weldon. Her new novel, "The Bulgari Connection," published by HarperCollins and certain to be available soon at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Kahala Mall, has attracted harsh criticism.

Weldon says she received an undisclosed amount, perhaps already deposited in a Citibank UK savings account, in return for giving the Bulgari jewelry company a "prominent place" in her novel (you can order it from Amazon.com, although it won't ship until November).

This merger of book publishing and shameless commerce is breaking new ground in product-placement marketing, already commonplace in Paramount Pictures, NBA basketball and even local sports television, where Kraft Cheese billboards are the backstops for KFVE-TV ("K5 The Home Team") broadcasts of UH Rainbow ® Baseball, for example.

According to The New York Times (where advertisers can "Expect Results") Weldon's deal "is considered to be a first for the book industry, traditionally one of the few corners of the media free of sponsors' pitches and plugs."

The Times article pointed out that the London Weldon describes differs from the actual London in one telling respect: The only jewelry store in town happens to be Bulgari's.

Really? Well, now that Weldon has opened the Andersen door to product placement in books, I figure why stop there?

At the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, where "Anything Is Possible" because "We Make Waves," we could make some serious bucks -- maybe enough to pay off our Equity FirstLine home equity loan from First Hawaiian, the bank with the "Power of Yes."

If nothing else, we could run up some HawaiianMiles on a trip to Las Vegas, "The Most Livable Big City in America."

So, why not start marketing product placements in the newspaper -- maybe even in this column?

Well, there is the matter of integrity, which Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines as "firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values: incorruptibility."

We're not about to be corrupted, Fay Weldon. No amount of Prestone Antifreeze can melt our resolve. We'll stick to our principles like Fixodent sticks to your dentures.

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John Flanagan is editor and publisher of the Star-Bulletin.
To reach him call 529-4748, fax to 529-4750, send
e-mail to publisher@starbulletin.com or write to
500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813.