Playpen Magazine, click here to subcribe!

   While watching "Malcolm in the Middle" just the other day, I noticed they made use of an old tv fake product, "Oaties" cereal. Something about avoiding eye contact with Lois, Malcolm and Dewey kept dragging the box back and forth across the table to hide. If this makes no sense, there is a point. "Oaties" is a fake product used on tv shows that have enough respect for their art not to sell off product placement. Or simply on networks that don't indulge, but we know FBS does; peep the American Idol Honda Swiffer Sprint Nabisco Variety Hour. I know I've seen it on several shows, I suppose I am bored by what I choose to watch and/or I am obsessive enough to notice stupid details. "Playpen" magazine has been on so many shows, there should be a list somewhere. Whenever a nudie magazine appears on American television, it is "Playpen". If you don't know, the two top competing mags of this kind were once "Playboy" and "Penthouse". A cute play on the two titles, the same issue seems to have been passed from one production set to the next; it appears to be the same cover from one show to the next. Ann Marie appears as a centerfold in one episode of "That Girl", albeit the victim of 1960s photoshopping. Get to the point.

   My point is, what a fortune there is to be made out there by creating these fictional brands IRL, with free advertising embedded in years of reruns. That would be very cool. Maybe not. I really should run this idea by the honchos at General Mills, and Bob "the Gooch" Guccione, he isn't busy, is he?

*doot*doot*doot* Ok, it appears that there was or is a Playpen magazine or two IRL. Still, I saw it on a "That 70s Show" rerun recently, and I think you could get away with snagging the title, fair use for satire and all. --r-

*doot*doot*doot* Ahem, those geniuses of the cereal restaurant chain "The Cereal Bowl" have already copyrighted "Oaties™" for some such something they sell. This is still a billion dollar idea, just find another product.