How Many Corporate Products Can One TV Commercial Hawk?

Sarah Jessica Parker, Microsoft Windows 7, Sex In The City 2 and Hewlett Packard are crowded together in a new computer TV ad. Wait a minute... I'm not entirely sure. Maybe it's an ad for Sex In The City 2? Or did I just watch an TV ad for Windows 7? Or is it an HP commercial for Hewlett Packard computers? Guess it's all of them neatly smacked up together in one. And it's not the only "crowded" TV ad these days. Toy Story 3 and the United States Postal Service have also teamed up to sell each other in a TV spot.

It's not a totally new phenomenon to see corporate team-ups hawking one another in marketing and advertising. Arizona Iced Tea brand uses Sue Bee Honey brand to sweeten up their green tea. The Sue Bee Honey logo is featured prominently on Arizona Iced Tea beverage bottle. Computers like HP or Dell models which come with the Windows operating system pre-installed should advertise this feature to customers. However, when that TV spot is also a big promo for a big summer movie like Sex In The City 2, and also a sort of feel good spot about actress Sarah Jessica Parker too - touting her vast creative and organizational skills honed by the goodness that is HP - it just feels overly crowded.

Perhaps big companies know advertising dollars just go so far, and that tired consumer eyeballs and strained ears can just take so many exhausting ads before tuning out. So instead of making more spots in volume, they now squeeze as many corporate goodies, plugged by as many well known celebrity shills as possible. Disney's Pixar's Toy Story franchise is one of the most beloved family entertainment creations around. When we see Woody or Buzz Lightyear, we get caught up in their loveable antics, and since they use the U.S. Postal Service, we might as well do the same. I guess Uncle Sam outbid Fed Ex and UPS outbid for Disney's digital toys.

It's not that I'm against these television advertising spots. Both are pretty creative, and much less annoying than most TV commercials. I'm just wondering how many more corporate services and products Madison Avenue advertising agencies will manage to cram into one enormous spot. Before long, perhaps TV spots won't be 30 or 60 seconds. Maybe, they'll just string them all together into one giant epic promo.