One of the most popular TV shows in Norway ‘Farmen‘ gave Tesla free promotion when the host Gaute Grøtta Grav and the participants arrived in five white Tesla Model S at the season premiere last month — according to various ad agency analysis, this could be a six-figure cost for Tesla if it was paid advertisement.

Farmen reality show has been successfully airing on TV2.no since 2001 where participants live on a farm without modern gadgets or help from the machines, they have to live there with the facilities that were available 100 years ago.

When the communications manager for Tesla Norway Sandvold Roland was asked, how much did Tesla pay for this promotion, he replied (Google translate):

We do not pay for advertising anywhere in the world, it is our global policy. What I can say is that the production company would use these cars because they thought it was relevant to the series. We just lent the cars without paying for it.

With some effort I was able to find the following video from the show’s Facebook page which shows some participants traveling in Teslas, glimpses of interior and exterior show up but they’re geniously edited to avoid the entire car views.