by Kevin Sandler
about Kevin Sandler
Kevin Sandler is Associate Professor in the Film and Media Studies Program at Arizona State University, where he specializes in the contemporary U.S. media business, with a particular focus on censorship and animation. He is the author of The Naked Truth: Why Hollywood Doesn’t Make X-Rated Movies, the co-editor with Gaylyn Studlar of Titanic: Anatomy of a Blockbuster, and editor of Reading the Rabbit: Explorations in Warner Bros. Animation. His upcoming book is Scooby-Doo.
Modern Family
Abstract: Although television is overwhelmingly a commercial medium, audiences still expect boundaries between commercials and program content, particularly in narrative programming. Kevin Sandler examines an interesting case of product integration: the controversy that surrounded an episode of the hit sitcom Modern Family, the narrative of which conspicuously centered on Apple’s iPad just days before that device became available for purchase.