IF they can bring back Steve McQueen and John Wayne to make new commercials, why not go back and put new products in old TV shows?

The idea of dropping product-placement ads into the middle old TV shows now in reruns – like “Friends” and “The Drew Carey Show” – is suddenly a hot topic, according to the trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable.

“For example, placing a box of Tide detergent on the counter of Café Perk on the set of ‘Friends’ might seem contrived,” the magazine reports, “but placing a container of Tropicana orange juice on the table in Rachel and Monica’s apartment while they’re having breakfast might seem perfectly natural.”

New technology exists that could make such virtual, add-on ads seem as if they were part of the original show.

Advertisers are seriously looking at all sorts of ways to work subtle – and not-so-subtle – product mentions into the middle of TV shows. It is one way for them to get a message to consumers who are quick to click to other channels during commercials or to zap through ads on programs they have taped for watching later.