Winfrey also began to turn parts of her episodes into de facto infomercials. For example, on one episode, Winfrey abruptly gave her audience 276 brand-new Pontiac G6s, worth $28,000 each. When asked about it in a rare moment of press access, she said, "It was not a stunt, and I resent the word stunt." Just as astonished as the audience were the pundits of advertising and marketing. Thirty-second spots on the show retailed for about $70,000, yet Oprah had spent about half an entire show on Pontiac, including a taped visit to their factory.

Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, loc. 801