US-style film and TV 'product placement' could be on way to Europe

13 April 2012

Product placement, where advertisers pay to get their goods used by actors in films and TV shows, is on the way to British screens, after EU ministers gave it the go-ahead.

The practice, common in the US, is controversial here as it is viewed as advertising by "stealth" in some quarters. It could be in force as soon as the end of next year.

Critics fear the move will have a bad impact on the quality of British films and TV programmes, as programme-makers and film directors look to shoe-horn in advertisers' products.

Pressure group Mediawatch UK director John Beyer said: "People in this country expect the adverts to be contained within the breaks. Now if we are going to have product placement that will alter the character of programming.

"It will mean that not only are programmes informing and entertaining, but they are also a launch-pad for products and services for the advertisers by stealth."

He added: "It will affect quality, because if programmes are just vehicles for advertising, the quality of entertainment will be subject to the ability for them to get these advertising messages across."

EU ministers yesterday said the practice was essential to stop the European film industry falling behind competitors in the US.

The agreement, struck in Brussels, permits both product and 'prop' placement, where the goods are borrowed free of charge, provided advertising is not aimed at children and a warning is put at the start of a film or TV programme.

No product placement will be allowed for current affairs or news programming.

The BBC, which does not show adverts, was forced to introduce tough new measures on product placement after an undercover newspaper investigation last year.

Reporters posing as businessmen said they were offered product placement for an alcoholic drink by an independent TV producer in return for paying for the BBC show's travel and accommodation.

The article also mentioned other BBC programmes including Spooks produced by Kudos and Carnival Films' drama Hotel Babylon.

A BBC investigation cleared the producers of any wrongdoing, but found evidence that some programmes gave some products a prominence that was "not fully editorially justified."

Creative industries minister Shaun Woodward backed the EU move.

"Are we really suggesting that the UK would not be able to buy the eleventh series of Friends, if there is an eleventh series, because the café in the series was called Starbucks?" he said.

He added that while the practice would in principle be allowed in Britain, measures would be taken to prevent stop junk food manufacturers targeting children.

Germany was the only EU country to oppose the proposal, which is part of the EU directive on "television without frontiers."

EU information society commissioner Viviane Reding claimed that a ban on product placement would lead to film producers leaving Europe.

She said that the current rules were leading to "anarchy" because the practice is banned in some countries but not in others.

The directive, which still needs to be approved by the European parliament, is expected to become law next year.

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