Will Survive for Food

So General Motors has pulled its advertising from the new edition of "Survivor," but both the automaker and CBS insist the decision has nothing to do with its upcoming controversial installment segregating teams by race.

Of course GM wouldn't find the concept dubious. After all, they're the folks responsible for the Pontiac Aztek. But GM spent nearly $15 million on advertising in "Survivor" last season, a sizeable chunk of the show's income for CBS. Coca-Cola, Home Depot, UPS and Campbell Soup have also withdrawn ad support for the upcoming season, all insisting the new format has nothing to do with their decisions, as well. Lots of coincidences there, but no point in burning bridges: They might want to re-up in the show in the future, when all the bad blood generated on the show is the usual contestant grandstanding.

That story broke yesterday. Today, CBS says it has replaced GM, but, demure flowers that they are and therefore disinclined to hype, the network refused to name the new advertiser. A Confederate flag manufacturer, perhaps?

"Survivor" has lost considerable steam from its pop-culture-phenomenon days, but it's still one of the highest-rated shows in primetime. Of course, if its rate of viewer attrition proceeds apace, that won't remain true for long.

"Survivor" doesn't just have commercial breaks; it can be wall-to-wall commercials, as it employs copious product placement - the contestants win the advertisers' products after sundry competitions. One extremely, er, lucky contestant even won one of those Pontiac Azteks. (See? You could give them away.)

A GM spokeswoman explained, “We decided that the format of the show — people stranded on a desert island — didn’t enable us to achieve what we were trying to do. We like to integrate the product more into the storyline and become more of a character in the storyline.�

But given the new season's racial theme, that should've been workable: Think "Survivor: Driving Miss Daisy."