What is situ-commercial?

PR Watch http://www.prwatch.org pointed out that Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal reports on a new Advertising trend:
“The most obvious alternative to TV clutter, placing products
Within shows, is generating some backlash among viewers. Marketers
and media buyers see the ‘situ-mercial’ as a promising
alternative.” What is a situ-mercial? It’s a commercial designed to
look, sound and feel just like the show it’s interrupting. For
example, a car insurance commercial set in a jail cell is airing
during court shows and dramas. According to an executive at the
major marketing firm Ogilvy & Mather, situ-mercials are pushing
“the business… to a more journalistic model.”
Well is this just another addition to ad lands lexicon used to draw in sceptical brands, who have found money spent on huge campaigns has not been a great investment recently? Don’t mention Sky+. Yes now viewers can cut out the intrusive ad breaks. Thats buggered P&G.

PR needs to step up to the plate and attempt to be more authorative in the marketing mix and not let the guys in Madison Avenue and Soho make the running. Brands are beginning to show signs that their budgets are better spent elsewhere. But when they turn to PR megaliths for fresh ideas what do the find? A pile of disinspiration delivered by some listless lily-livered sycophants.
Much of what passes for PR these days is the processing and distribution of information. I passionately believe that – as PT Barnum taught us – this is not what PR is about. Let’s hear it for a creative response to help brands make an emotional connection with their audiences.