Nonprofit Cross-Marketing and 'The Bachelor'

Yes, I was watching "The Bachelor." I can lie and try to tell all of you that I was "doing research" or "my TV got stuck on that channel" or "I only watch it for the commercials" — but you all would probably see right through that, eh? No, I will simply embrace my inner reality TV love.

What does all this have to do with nonprofits, fundraising or marketing?

Last week on "The Bachelor," the show obviously wanted to do some cross-marketing for the upcoming new movie from Disney coming out in 2015, "Cinderella." Granted, ABC (the network that is responsible for "The Bachelor") and Disney are connected. But, I just think this was creepy, and it felt forced. Here was my perspective:

• It wasn't a commercial — it was "forced" into the script of the show.
• It lasted through several scenes (not a bad thing if it makes sense).
• The theme of that night's "date" on "The Bachelor" was "Cinderella-based" (again, not bad since the show is about romance and finding true love).
• Here's where it became forced: Cinderella in the movie wears a blue dress; the woman on the show going on the date was able to try on lots of stunning dresses, but guess what? She ended up in a pretty normal-looking blue dress.
• The "primp and polish" crew getting her ready for the date all of a sudden happen to have a tablet nearby and uncomfortably says something along the lines of, "Would you like to see clip from Disney's new movie?" OF COURSE THE ANSWER IS NO!!! She is drinking champagne and trying on jewelry. Poof: snap to a shot of them all crowded around the tablet looking interested while the entire screen for us as the TV viewers is now the equivalent of a preview of the movie.
• It didn't end there. On the date, we all know sometimes the couple has a solo dance in front of live music that appears to be played just for them. Well, for this date, there was a wonderful orchestra playing beautiful music and the couple was dancing on a small, raised platform — but what begins to be projected on a building-size screen is the dance scenes in the movie Cinderella

Don't get me wrong. I am all about cross-marketing. In fact, I harp on our industry for not doing more of it, but this just felt so forced to me. Watching it, I felt like saying, "Yep, they were told they had to act really interested in this movie," and "Yep, clearly ABC and Disney are connected." By the way, I looked on some of the social media sites afterward, and it appears I was not the only one who thought it didn't feel natural.