Rule change allows TV product placement
Ministers are poised to allow brands to feature prominently in UK programmes as they already do in the US
Ministers are set to allow "product placement", where firms pay to have their brands prominently showcased in popular programmes, for the first time on British television.
The practice is already common in films and allowed in the US, with Coca-Cola logos prominent on the cups of the judges in the talent show American Idol: the hit show Sex and the City even turned its association with Absolut Vodka into part of the plot.
But until now, commercial deals have been limited in the UK to ad breaks and "sponsorship" deals for programmes' opening credits. Former culture secretary Andy Burnham insisted that product placement could confuse viewers by blurring the boundaries between advertising and editorial.
However, his successor, Ben Bradshaw, is expected to announce a U-turn this week, reflecting fears for the financial health of struggling independent broadcasters.
A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said it could be worth up to £100m a year and insisted UK programme-makers were at "a competitive disadvantage compared with the US and other rivals" because of the ban.
Peter Bazalgette, the creator of Big Brother, said in an article for today's Sunday Mirror that placement should be done "transparently, with credits that make it clear it has taken place", warning viewers would switch off if it was overdone.
He added: "It's rife in British television anyway. There's product placement in movies that go on television and in imported American TV shows and dramas.
"And what about those sports events where sponsors' logos are worn on shirts? Product placement won't dramatically change the way we watch TV."
Children's programmes are likely to be excluded and the shift would only apply to commercial broadcasters, not the BBC.
But it could see broadcasters paid to ensure that popular characters in soaps, for example, drive a certain make of car or even that TV chefs use certain brands of ingredients, in a new form of almost subliminal marketing.
Currently programmes can use specific products but are banned from taking payment from manufacturers for doing so.
Gaby Hinsliff
Sunday 13 September 2009 00.17 BST
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
Ministers are poised to allow brands to feature prominently in UK programmes as they already do in the US
Ministers are set to allow "product placement", where firms pay to have their brands prominently showcased in popular programmes, for the first time on British television.
The practice is already common in films and allowed in the US, with Coca-Cola logos prominent on the cups of the judges in the talent show American Idol: the hit show Sex and the City even turned its association with Absolut Vodka into part of the plot.
But until now, commercial deals have been limited in the UK to ad breaks and "sponsorship" deals for programmes' opening credits. Former culture secretary Andy Burnham insisted that product placement could confuse viewers by blurring the boundaries between advertising and editorial.
However, his successor, Ben Bradshaw, is expected to announce a U-turn this week, reflecting fears for the financial health of struggling independent broadcasters.
A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said it could be worth up to £100m a year and insisted UK programme-makers were at "a competitive disadvantage compared with the US and other rivals" because of the ban.
Peter Bazalgette, the creator of Big Brother, said in an article for today's Sunday Mirror that placement should be done "transparently, with credits that make it clear it has taken place", warning viewers would switch off if it was overdone.
He added: "It's rife in British television anyway. There's product placement in movies that go on television and in imported American TV shows and dramas.
"And what about those sports events where sponsors' logos are worn on shirts? Product placement won't dramatically change the way we watch TV."
Children's programmes are likely to be excluded and the shift would only apply to commercial broadcasters, not the BBC.
But it could see broadcasters paid to ensure that popular characters in soaps, for example, drive a certain make of car or even that TV chefs use certain brands of ingredients, in a new form of almost subliminal marketing.
Currently programmes can use specific products but are banned from taking payment from manufacturers for doing so.
Gaby Hinsliff
Sunday 13 September 2009 00.17 BST
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
after all thats what us Scots get for our license money 
