History Main / SimilarToTheShow

** Sometimes they've been done live and performed on the show's stages: NBC's ''Film/{{Hairspray}}'' had live commercials with Corny Collins (already a television host in-universe) hawking Oreos not unlike a commercial segment from a show in the 1950's, and a milkman dancing backstage for Reddi-wip. Meanwhile, Fox's ''Film/AChristmasStory'' had a commercial featuring a live performance of a number from the upcoming musical film ''Film/TheGreatestShowman'', on-set. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul had penned the music for both.

** Sometimes they've been done live and performed on the show's stages: NBC's ''Film/{{Hairspray}}'' had live commercials with Corny Collins (already a television host in-universe) hawking Oreos and a milkman dancing backstage for Reddi-wip. Meanwhile, Fox's ''Film/AChristmasStory'' had a commercial featuring a live performance of a number from an upcoming musical ''film'', ''Film/TheGreatestShowman'', on-set.

Contrast SegregatedCommercial, rules prohibiting commercials aimed at kids from being ''directly'' related to the show they air on.

!!Examples:
* An orange juice ad featuring the skyline of New York aired in the United Kingdom during the transmission of ''Series/{{CSINY}}''.
* This is common on sporting events, especially golf, even for products not directly related to the sport in question. This often has a dual purpose of attention-grabbing and synergistic marketing.
* While ''Series/{{Angel}}'' was sponsored by Verizon, many episodes included bumpers that showed the "Can you hear me now?" guy testing his phone in various sets from the show.
* On FM radio, commercials often imitate a "Morning Zoo"-type group of [=DJs=] talking about the product being advertised.
* Transcripts of the 1930s radio show ''Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel'', which starred Groucho and Chico Marx, include flawless segues from comedy material into advertisements for the sponsor's products: "That really knocked me for a loop." "It could have knocked you for an Essoloop!" "No, Essolube is the famous ''hydrofined'' motor oil." "And don't forget Esso, which is more powerful than any gasoline!"
* Creator/HannaBarbera's 1966 ''Alice in Wonderland'' special included two Rexall commercials which featured characters from the show. Both of them can be viewed on [=YouTube=]: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTHpKrRqIBs #1]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARELnPeZ23s #2]]
* A Guinness commercial occasionally airs after ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'', busting a myth about Guinness.

* ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'' was preceded by a trailer for ''Film/WaynesWorld'' which was set in the Addams Family graveyard.

* An awful lot of "Don't talk in the theater" ads do this.
** Common in UK cinemas is the Orange mobile phone network skits where they will take an upcoming movie and then put in blatant product placement for Orange. Usually something along the lines of the two marketing guys explaining to the actors how the character is motivated by free talk time, how the latest handset will help the situation or the actors looking awkward as an Orange logo is placed haphazardly into a scene. The tag line is "Don't let a mobile ruin the movie. Switch it off". See here for an example: [[http://newsroom.orange.co.uk/2010/04/30/orange-launches-new-creative-direction-for-iconic-gold-spot-cinema-advertising-in-uk-first/]]

* Some radio show hosts have turned a smooth transition from their topic to endorsements into an artform. Radio/RushLimbaugh will be on a standard rant about why the poor economy is the democrats fault and that this is why you should invest in gold! Particularly amusing are the varied ways he transitions into selling Renai Tankless Hot Water Heaters: "Perhaps [Nancy] Pelosi's heart wouldn't be as cold as ice if she invested in a Renai Tankless Hot Water Heater, capable of keeping your water warm no matter how long you use the shower!"

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Animalympics}}'', where the pole vaulting sequence segues directly into a breakfast cereal commercial.

* Creator/HannaBarbera's 1966 ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'' special included two Rexall commercials which featured characters from the show. Both of them can be viewed on [=YouTube=]: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTHpKrRqIBs #1]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARELnPeZ23s #2]]

* While ABC Family was airing reruns of ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'', they often aired an ad for Progressive Insurance starring Ryan Stiles (a star of Whose Line), who has convinced himself that he is getting special treatment because he's a celebrity.

* Some radio show hosts have turned a smooth transition from their topic to endorsements into an artform. RushLimbaugh will be on a standard rant about why the poor economy is the democrats fault and that this is why you should invest in gold! Particularly amusing are the varied ways he transitions into selling Renai Tankless Hot Water Heaters: "Perhaps [Nancy] Pelosi's heart wouldn't be as cold as ice if she invested in a Renai Tankless Hot Water Heater, capable of keeping your water warm no matter how long you use the shower!"

* While ABC Family was airing reruns of WhoseLineIsItAnyway, they often aired an ad for Progressive Insurance starring Ryan Stiles (a star of Whose Line), who has convinced himself that he is getting special treatment because he's a celebrity.

** Before ''WesternAnimation/WallE'', a Disney/Pixar release, is an original teaser for ''Film/ThePinkPanther 2'' (Sony/MGM) in which Steve Martin's Inspector Clouseau attempts to sneak into a showing of ''WALL•E''.

* Some of these types of ads ran during the final episode of ''{{Seinfeld}}''. Coca-Cola had one with lines of text that referred to "in-jokes" in the series (e.g., "...and start double dipping"). No punchline, no real connection to Coke, just a bunch of random references. Picture a person who randomly quotes cartoons and comedy skits with no context. This was the ad equivalent.

* An orange juice ad featuring the skyline of New York aired in the United Kingdom during the transmission of ''{{CSI NY}}''.

* Done in Italy for commercials around ''Series/{{House}}'' or ''Series/TheBoldAndTheBeautiful'', done never showing the actors' faces and dubbing their lines from the series' voice dubbers, so people would believe they're actually the characters from the series they're watching.

* British commercial TV is not officially allowed product placement. But it gets around this by a process where somehow the adverts reinforce the theme of the show and the two mutually feed off each other. For instance, ''CoronationStreet'' is a popular soap about community and close-knit neighbours. It isn't a complete random coincidence that means the advert breaks have a higher-than-normal proportion of building and property development adverts for s such as Barratt Homes. similarly, feelgood holiday comedy ''Benidorm'' is screening in a cold wet January; the advert breaks are chocca with tantalising sunny package holidays. Also, a rather old advert featuring Creator/JoanCollins came up three times in the commercial breaks during the show. While it had nothing to do with sunny holidays, Ms Collins is going to be joining the cast of the show quite soon... mutual reinfocement between adverts and programme!

* {{Advertising/GEICO}} runs ads during ''{{Series/Portlandia}}'' that mimic the show's style (down the same graphics font) and usually reference gags from the show.

* {{Advertising/GEICO}} runs ads during ''{{Series/Portlandia}}'' that mimics the show's style (down the same graphics font) and usually reference gags from the show.

Sometimes, an advertisement will look similar to the show that it's running with. This is designed to catch those who are fast-forwarding through the ad breaks.

* Those two examples were for films from the same studio. Before ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'', a Disney/Pixar release, is an original teaser for ''ThePinkPanther 2'' (Sony/MGM) in which Steve Martin's Inspector Clouseau attempts to sneak into a showing of ''WALL-E''.

This may be a throwback to the early days of television and radio, where the hosts of variety programs would hawk the sponsor's wares without even a break in the action. Not to be confused with SuspiciouslySimilarStories or BetterByADifferentName, tropes for when two ''works'' are similar.

This may be a throwback to the early days of television and radio, where the hosts of variety programs would hawk the sponsor's wares without even a break in the action.

* Done in Italy for commercials around ''Series/{{House}}'' or ''TheBoldAndTheBeautiful'', done never showing the actors' faces and dubbing their lines from the series' voice dubbers, so people would believe they're actually the characters from the series they're watching.

* British commercial TV is not officially allowed product placement. But it gets around this by a process where somehow the adverts reinforce the theme of the show and the two mutually feed off each other. For instance, ''CoronationStreet'' is a popular soap about community and close-knit neighbours. It isn't a complete random coincidence that means the advert breaks have a higher-than-normal proportion of building and property development adverts for s such as Barratt Homes. similarly, feelgood holiday comedy ''Benidorm'' is screening in a cold wet January; the advert breaks are chocca with tantalising sunny package holidays. Also, a rather old advert featuring JoanCollins came up three times in the commercial breaks during the show. While it had nothing to do with sunny holidays, Ms Collins is going to be joining the cast of the show quite soon... mutual reinfocement between adverts and programme!

* A Guinness commercial occasionally airs after ''{{Mythbusters}}'', busting a myth about Guinness.