“The First Show Conceived as a Fashion Marketing Vehicle”

I haven't seen the TV show. I haven't read the books. But I did read this New York Times article about how the Gossip Girl series was designed to sell clothing, and is doing its job:

Although the series has had only middling success in the ratings, in stylistic terms it “may well be the biggest influence in the youth culture market,” said Stephanie Meyerson, a trend spotter for Stylesight, a trend forecasting company. . . .

Thanks to the point-and-click shopping on its Web site and the fees it charges some brands to be featured in the series, “Gossip Girl” has been able to profit from its power to generate trends. It is not the first show to collect revenues from product tie-ins, but it probably is the first to have been conceived, in part, as a fashion marketing vehicle.

So the show was, "in part," a long commercial from the start. Why does this form of entertainment make me think of M. T. Anderson's Feed?