Did This Commercial Step Over the Line?

[Commentary] The day when commercials are indistinguishable from the programs they support finally arrived on March 11. That's when an ad for Dr Pepper ran after NBC's insider-y sitcom "30 Rock," making use of recurring character Dr. Spaceman, played by comic Chris Parnell.

In the spot, which was paired with a more-traditional TV commercial for the soda, Mr. Parnell's fictional medical practitioner decried boredom and told viewers how drinking Dr Pepper could banish it. A few moments later, viewers saw the credits roll for "30 Rock." Ho-hum, you might say. And sure, we've seen this kind of stuff before. Yes, we're aware that NBC has run ads from American Express during "Heroes" that showed Beyoncé in cartoon format, and then told viewers to stick around for more of the program. Or ads from Honda during "Chuck" that used that show's characters to talk up the then-coming Winter Olympics. But these types of ads, typically at least, also promote the program from which the characters are borrowed. Astute viewers may also have noticed recent ads on ABC from Nestle's Stouffers in which the casts of "Ugly Betty" and "The Middle" were depicted eating the marketer's meals. But those were basically commercials that featured characters from ABC shows. Now we're seeing stuff like this Dr Pepper spot, which looks like it's part of "30 Rock," as if it's a skit featuring the Dr. Parnell character. It appropriated the show at hand much more directly than the Stouffers spots did but does not return the favor with any overt promotion of the program or NBC.