Copywriter Paid to Make 'Un-biased' Cable Versus Satellite Decision

Diamond Morgan Northend Alber, a Palo Alto based ad agency for Comcast is using one of its copywriters to both write and appear in an upcoming Comcast ad campaign that will chronicle the copywriter's exploration of cable versus satellite. Jamie McGinly is the copywriter who currently has DirecTV satellite but will try Comcast and write about his experiences. Ultimately, the campaign will conclude with his final choice. Will McGinly be able to be impartial when his agency is being paid by Comcast for the campaign? That's what David Lazarus wonders.

We wonder too. If McGinley chooses satellite over cable, will the conclusion to the campaign even make it to media? Will McGinley keep his job? Will Comcast keep Diamond as their agency? If, in fact, McGinley does choose satellite over Comcast's cable, we'd love to see Comcast allow the campaign to conclude, eat some crow, and use that conclusion to spin a new campaign that would point by point address the differences and alter their service offering accordingly. If Comcast kills the campaign, it will come out anyway that they had something to hide. The only real way for Comcast to win here is to suck it up, cross their fingers, see it through to the end and react in an honest fashion.