ABSTRACT
On 8 October 1994 at 7.25 p.m., the TV channel Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) showed the first part of the soap opera Wie Pech und Schwefel (‘Thick as thieves’) featuring the actors Rainer Hunold, Saskia Vester, Burkard Heyl and others. It was either a coincidence, or the manifestation of a deliberate business strategy based upon synergistic effects, that Rainer Hunold appeared in the first spot of the advertising within the programme, endorsing the success of a special meal for slimmers. One might ask why so many television presenters in so many talk shows distance themselves explicitly from such ‘plugging’ of products, only to publicise the latest book and its publisher, or any other product produced by the guests they have invited to their shows.
