‘The X Factor’ USA season 3: Simon Cowell finds new sponsors in Honda, Procter and Gamble

Gone are the days of “The X Factor” having sponsorships with Pepsi and Chevrolet. Thanks to possibly lower-than-expected ratings or simply a desire to do other things, the two companies are not going to be a part of the product-placement-heavy Fox competition show later this season.

So who is signing up in their place? It is none other than car-maker Honda and Procter & Gamble, who according to Ad Week will launch their campaigns early on this season. So what sort of cups will the judges drink out of?! Probably just water, given that P&G’s brands are mostly related to beauty and home-care.

As for the reason for all the product placement on this show, the simplest answer is just that it helps to keep the show funded and on the air. This is not a ratings powerhouse for Fox; heck, the British version of the show draws around the same ratings despite airing to a much smaller overall audience. We don’t really think there is any question at all as to whether or not viewers actually like seeing this sort of thing. They really don’t. Unfortunately, it’s just a way to keep the show on the air when it would otherwise struggle to do so. All we really hope is that they manage to make the product placement seamless enough so that it does not come across as either overbearing or irritating at the end of the day like some other shows (we are looking at you “Bachelorette”).

The new season in America premieres on Wednesday, and we are of course going to have much more in the way of scoop before then. If you want to check out some more reasons to be excited about “The X Factor,” just be sure to visit the link here, and we will have more news all week.

Photo: Fox