How would more product placement in TAR affect you? Would you be less likely to watch if you knew there would be some "in-place" commercials in each episode?
What if the route was manipulated so they always had to use one airline or an allied group of airlines - e.g. Star Alliance (United, Air Canada, Lufthansa etc...), Oneworld, Skyteam? "Teams must travel 5000 miles by United Airlines to Endoftheworld..."
We already have the Travelocity connection and Mercedes product placement this season. I like how they fit the Travelocity Gnome into episodes - although I always groan when they describe the gnome enabled roadblock.
How about - "this episode is brought to you by the Australian Ministry of Tourism"? Or a clue that says - "drive your energy efficient Chevy Volt to the next pit stop"? "Use your Magellan GPS to navigate to the roadblock"?
Would you feel the show was cheapened? What if it was the option of no TAR or short TAR due to rising costs vs a more commercial TAR?