Do Crosswords Have Product Placement?
March 26, 2021 1:23 PM Subscribe
I feel like lately there's been a lot of brand names showing up in crossword puzzle answers lately. Like today's Atlantic puzzle the clue for 14 across is "Snack sucked from a tube" and the answer is "Gogurt". Gogurt? In the Wednesday New Yorker, the clue for 47 across is "Seltzer brand with a bear named Orson as its mascot" - which seems suspiciously specific - and the answer is "Polar". Is this my imagination? Or is it a known thing that crossword makers and publishers get paid for including certain marketing words in their puzzles?
Today's New Yorker has "Mouthwash brand", 4 letters. (I guess it'd be worse if the clue was like "A new mouthwash experience that leaves your breath feeling tingly fresh and shiny all day!") I don't do the NYT puzzle much anymore, but I know I've seen them there as well, and it seems to me with increasing frequency, but maybe they're normal puzzle answers. Its not like I've been keeping track. But shouldn't it be disclosed if this is happening? I'm not exactly sure how it matters in the grand scheme of things, but I guess if it is happening it just makes me feel like a little more of a sucker than I did before.
Today's New Yorker has "Mouthwash brand", 4 letters. (I guess it'd be worse if the clue was like "A new mouthwash experience that leaves your breath feeling tingly fresh and shiny all day!") I don't do the NYT puzzle much anymore, but I know I've seen them there as well, and it seems to me with increasing frequency, but maybe they're normal puzzle answers. Its not like I've been keeping track. But shouldn't it be disclosed if this is happening? I'm not exactly sure how it matters in the grand scheme of things, but I guess if it is happening it just makes me feel like a little more of a sucker than I did before.
They're normal puzzle answers. You may be noticing it recently, but it's nothing new. Some people hate them, others don't mind them.
You also asked whether there's payola involved. I seriously doubt that puzzle people are an important enough market.
Also, the vast majority of puzzles are constructed by freelancers. Would the sponsor pay the freelancer, who can't be sure if the puzzle will ever be published? Or would the sponsor pay the editor (or the publication?), after a tipoff from the editor that a freelance puzzle has (unpredictably) come in with their name in it (and is the editor prepared to throw away a good puzzle if the sponsor doesn't pony up)? Or is the editor secretly commissioning (or constructing) puzzles to have sponsor names in them, and receiving kickbacks from the sponsor? OK, maybe it's possible but -- opinion -- it seems like an improbable, unworkable, penny-ante business model.
posted by JimN2TAW at 1:42 PM on March 26, 2021 [9 favorites]
You also asked whether there's payola involved. I seriously doubt that puzzle people are an important enough market.
Also, the vast majority of puzzles are constructed by freelancers. Would the sponsor pay the freelancer, who can't be sure if the puzzle will ever be published? Or would the sponsor pay the editor (or the publication?), after a tipoff from the editor that a freelance puzzle has (unpredictably) come in with their name in it (and is the editor prepared to throw away a good puzzle if the sponsor doesn't pony up)? Or is the editor secretly commissioning (or constructing) puzzles to have sponsor names in them, and receiving kickbacks from the sponsor? OK, maybe it's possible but -- opinion -- it seems like an improbable, unworkable, penny-ante business model.
posted by JimN2TAW at 1:42 PM on March 26, 2021 [9 favorites]
I have to think there’s some level of brand marketing going on in the crossword world. It seems like a natural fit, honestly. Kind of like how those “brands of the world” categories on Jeopardy seem a little too much like product placement to be comfortable.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:53 PM on March 26, 2021
posted by Thorzdad at 1:53 PM on March 26, 2021
My husband does A TON of NY Times crosswords -- I buy him those 100+ puzzle collection books frequently -- and flipping through one, I just saw "Soda Brand" (FANTA) in one random puzzle so I don't think this is anything new. You might want to browse through Rex Parker Does the NY Times Crossword Puzzle blog to eyeball some and look for trends -- his blog goes back to 2006.
posted by jabes at 2:01 PM on March 26, 2021
posted by jabes at 2:01 PM on March 26, 2021
Nair, Neet, and Serta (and yes, Oreo) come to mind as very repeat offenders. I always figured it's for the same reason certain words or names keep getting chosen - they have some distribution of letters that is useful to the constructors. I think constructors also often use crossword construction software, and I don't know how words make it into the databases but I'm imagining scenarios where a constructor is looking for a 6-letter word with a G in the middle and the software suggests Gogurt.
I can see the creator of the Gogurt puzzle being pleased with themselves for working in a relatively trendy answer that doesn't date back to the 1930s, and the clue writer for "Polar" trying for some variety in their cluing.
posted by trig at 2:12 PM on March 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
I can see the creator of the Gogurt puzzle being pleased with themselves for working in a relatively trendy answer that doesn't date back to the 1930s, and the clue writer for "Polar" trying for some variety in their cluing.
posted by trig at 2:12 PM on March 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
New Yorker always has ads for expensive brands. Was there an article in the issue about dentistry? If not it doesn’t seem like product placement to me.
posted by girlmightlive at 2:21 PM on March 26, 2021
posted by girlmightlive at 2:21 PM on March 26, 2021
This has been going on as long as I can remember, and I've been doing the Times puzzle for nearly 40 years. I can't imagine anyone would be making any money from it, not least because a lot of the brands are just not ones that need to market in that tiny a niche manner. Also, the clues are not always flattering.
posted by Miko at 2:58 PM on March 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Miko at 2:58 PM on March 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
I've read in more than one place that the New York Times puzzle says they don't get paid for brand names in the puzzle. Back when Eugene T. Maleska was the NYT puzzle editor he hated having brand names show up in the puzzle, so if OREO showed up it was inevitably clued as "Greek for mountain" or something like that. Opening the puzzle up to brand names has helped make it more accessible and less reliant on "crossword words" like ADIT ("mine entrance"). As someone who started doing the puzzle in the 80s I still find brand-name fill slightly shocking, in the same way that actual advertisements (instead of bland "brought to you by" announcements) on PBS shows are slightly shocking. But I don't think anyone's getting paid for it.
posted by Daily Alice at 2:59 PM on March 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Daily Alice at 2:59 PM on March 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
As someone who has done A LOT of marketing with media outlets including the New York Times, I can confidently state that we were never, ever offered a crossword slot for any publication. I am darn sure that, if it were an option, we would have been offered it. Crossword puzzles are very niche, and not a way to get yourself seen by the public in the way that, say, an advertorial would do. I really doubt this is product placement.
posted by rednikki at 3:02 PM on March 26, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by rednikki at 3:02 PM on March 26, 2021 [5 favorites]
OREO is in the pantheon with ETNA and OONA as a canonical example of junk fill, so much so that it was the punchline of a puzzle built entirely on junk fill in this year's MIT Mystery Hunt. The overall editing quality of a crossword series is more or less inversely proportional to the number of OREOs that appear per year.
One thing I will add to the above points is that the universe of crossword constructors and editors is very small and roughly centered on Rex Parker's blog, and I feel pretty confident that if product placement in "reputable" crosswords was a thing it would be called out in the crossword ecosystem within nanoseconds.
posted by range at 3:25 PM on March 26, 2021 [6 favorites]
One thing I will add to the above points is that the universe of crossword constructors and editors is very small and roughly centered on Rex Parker's blog, and I feel pretty confident that if product placement in "reputable" crosswords was a thing it would be called out in the crossword ecosystem within nanoseconds.
posted by range at 3:25 PM on March 26, 2021 [6 favorites]
I work for a company that makes crosswords for newspapers and I can confirm that there's no product placement involved.
posted by Chenko at 4:43 PM on March 26, 2021 [10 favorites]
posted by Chenko at 4:43 PM on March 26, 2021 [10 favorites]
I have never seen the film “Ulee’s Gold”, but I can tell you a lot about it purely because of the many different ways it’s been clued in NYT crosswords over the years. Something about that arrangement of vowels makes it absolutely irresistible to crossword setters, no marketing money needed from the studio.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:19 AM on March 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:19 AM on March 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
If anybody sneaks "history is a weapon" into a puzzle, I'll send them ten bucks. And I always wonder about this, not for Oreo, but the less obvious ones.
posted by history is a weapon at 7:19 PM on March 29, 2021
posted by history is a weapon at 7:19 PM on March 29, 2021
Response by poster: OK, if you all say so I'll believe it.
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 7:19 AM on March 31, 2021
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 7:19 AM on March 31, 2021
I know this question is now old but in yesterday's New York Time's Wordplay column, they addressed this directly:
"In this case, the reason is that Ms. Gray is giving a shout out to the Alberto VO5 hair care brand. (Note to corporations: This is a coincidence. The puzzle editors are not allowed to accept money for product placement no matter what they tell you.)"
I read that and remembered that this question was asked so adding a late contribution!
posted by carpyful at 9:59 PM on May 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
"In this case, the reason is that Ms. Gray is giving a shout out to the Alberto VO5 hair care brand. (Note to corporations: This is a coincidence. The puzzle editors are not allowed to accept money for product placement no matter what they tell you.)"
I read that and remembered that this question was asked so adding a late contribution!
posted by carpyful at 9:59 PM on May 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by amanda at 1:39 PM on March 26, 2021 [4 favorites]