Advertisers Now Desperate for "Housewives"
by Charlie Amter
Aug 25, 2005, 4:55 PM PT
Madison Avenue is beginning to look a lot like Wisteria Lane.
With their show ranking at the top of the Nielsens and up for a whopping 15 Emmy
Awards, the stars of ABC's Desperate Housewives are shilling for everything from
soda pop to satellite radio.
Nicollette Sheridan and Marcia Cross are the latest cast members to snag a lucrative
ad deal. The duo has been tapped to hawk 7-Up Plus in a spot called "Shopping
Showdown." The commercial starts airing Monday nationwide. Sheridan also
endorses Di Modolo jewelry.
Meanwhile, Eva Longoria, who appeared with Diddy in the "Truck" Super
Bowl ad for Diet Pepsi, has new deals with L'Oréal and Sirius Satellite Radio.
"The fact she's in more than 20 million households each week is not a bad thing to
have," L'Oréal Paris' Carol Hamilton said of Longoria in the New York Times. The
show also ranks near the top of the ad-friendly 18-49 demo.
Teri Hatcher, a veteran of Radio Shack spots, has recently appeared in ads for Variety,
wearing nothing but a copy of the Hollywood trade paper.
The Desperate men are equally in demand. According to the Times, Ricardo Antonio Chavira
and James Denton have been cast in a print campaign for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer
Foundation sponsored by Lee Jeans.
Even marketing companies are riding the Desperate bandwagon.
Ambient Planet is again overseeing a marketing campaign this year for ABC. The company will
put the Desperate Housewives logo onto 1.75 million laundry bags at 700 dry cleaner locations
in select cities, per the Hollywood Reporter.
The newfound marketability comes after a rookie season that saw some advertisers distance
themselves from the oft-racy prime-time soap satire.
Cosmetics-peddling giant Mary Kay pulled out of a planned ad buy on Desperate Housewives
following criticism from a conservative Christian group in May.
Donald E. Wildmon, head of the American Family Association, openly questioned how Mary Kay,
whose company philosophy is "God first, family second and career third," could buy
into a show that he says promotes "infidelity, seduction and promiscuity."
Lowe's, Tyson Foods and Kellogg's pulled their ad dollars from Housewives after receiving emails,
letters and phone calls from angry AFA members voicing similar complaints.
But ABC is far from desperate for advertisers--Advertising Age reports the asking price for a
30-second spot on Desperate Housewives jumped from an initial $150,000 to $300,000 once
the show became a runaway hit.
The second season of Desperate Housewives premieres on Sept. 25.
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