Today the Wall Street Journal notices that ads are quietly slipping into, well, everything (perhaps that's a way for Peter Kann to quietly make up all the shareholder value the WSJ & Co. has lost under his watch).

Tuesday's Journal detailed how Child Magazine's James Oppenheim was paid to plug products as an expert on TV; ditto NBC "Today" show's tech editor Corey Greenberg. The recent deal struck between Sirius Satellite Radio and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia for a 24-hour channel for women - good for four years - exemplifies the melding of brand with programming (Omni, indeed). The WSJ also reports the incursion of commercials into both Sirius and XFM news and commentary programming (but not yet music programming).

Meanwhile, the NYT's ad maven Stuart Elliot reports on the escalating trend of product placement in theater, not only on stage but in some cases in the actual script:

In 1966, when the Neil Simon musical "Sweet Charity" opened on Broadway, a waiter in one scene asked a customer, "A double Scotch, again, sir?" In the revival, soon to open at the Al Hirschfeld Theater, the waiter asks, "Gran Centenario, the tequila?"

(Cringe. If Neil Simon could see it now. Oh, never mind, he signed off on it.)

All this against the backdrop of the Tribeca Film Festival, thriving under the stewardship of Robert De Niro who trusts American Express for all his in New York City plastic needs. Let Jeff Zucker have pop-ups on his blog, we're just glad we still have our integrity.

I'm going to go drink a diet coke now. That's Diet Coke, a delicious, nutritous taste sensation.

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