Thursday, May 17th, 2012
The New York Post reported Tuesday that Mark Burnett, producer of Donald Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice,” has filed a lawsuit in California state court against a Los Angeles-based product placement firm, Madison Road Entertainment. The suit alleges that the company told the makers of Crest toothpaste, Levi’s and Mars candy bars that their firm was associated with Burnett and could get their products onto “The Apprentice.” Burnett also charges that the firm added a $7 million fee for each product placement, even though Burnett charges that he had no prior relationship with Madison Road. According to the lawsuit reported by the Post, Madison Road would tell companies it was associated with Burnett so they would use Madison Road as a middle man for product placements on “The Apprentice.” The suit alleges that after signing up a client, the placement firm marked up the estimated $2 million-to-$3.5 million fee that Burnett charges for getting a product into Donald Trump’s boardroom by $7 million. Then, Madison Road kept the mark-up before turning over the fee to Burnett. The suit, filed in California state court, does not name companies whose products have appeared on “The Apprentice” but according to The New York Post, reports connect Madison Road to the placement of Crest, Levi’s and Mars on NBC’s hit reality TV show. Crest is manufactured by Procter & Gamble Co. (Research) Levi’s by Levi Strauss & Co. and Mars candy bars by Mars Inc. Jeff’s Note: We are talking about big brands here — if they had all just done a little research .. they could have easily found out Burnett’s fee for inclusion in each episode.
