Product Placement Ban "Lifted"

[Si Hunt]

Except for the good old BBC, of course.

Product placement is to be allowed on British TV shows, in a move expected to be announced next week.

Independent broadcasters will be allowed to take payments for displaying commercial products during shows.

The change is intended to bring in extra funds for commercial broadcasters. Experts believe it could raise up to £100m a year.

There are currently strict rules against product placement and this ban would remain in place on BBC shows.

Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw is expected to make announce a three-month consultation on the changes in a speech to the Royal Television Society next week.

So what will this mean? Proper Beers in the Rovers Return after 50 years of Newton and Riddley!

Is it a good thing?

Si.

[Alex]

I think so, especially as ITV and C4 has had to make a lot of cut backs this year. Plus US shows have had product placement in them for years, and it's something I never notice. And then there's the fact that I watch very little on ITV / C4 these days, so unless we get five minutes of Mark from Peep Show ranting about his love for Pepsi in the next series, I won't be complaining.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

I think the worst thing I've ever seen for product placement was I, Robot. Set in the future but the main character liked vintage 2003 product. Hence whole bits of dialog about his trainers, and CD player. Yuck.

It's just annoying, it's like in Back to the Future, where they have to keep the cans of Pepsi turned to camera.

Its just my fear how this is going to go ...

"Hey Ged, you know I feel like Chicken Tonight."

"Sounds great, it'll go well with this great Chardoney from Tescos which is currently £20 if you buy 6 bottles. Great value."

[Captain Tancredi]

So what will this mean? Proper Beers in the Rovers Return after 50 years of Newton and Riddley!

Back when you could go round Granada Studios, I'm fairly sure that they used to sell bottles of Newton and Ridley beer in the gift shop- basically Boddingtons or Thwaites with a new label stuck on, of course- and also on tap in the imitation Rovers Return which sold Betty's Hot Pot.

[Andrew Curnow]

To be honest, it's probably a good idea especially now times are hard - it's bound to increase the advertising revenues for ITV, etc, which in turn (hopefully!) should mean they don't continue ditching programmes simply because of expense (Primeval, Heartbeat, allegedly Taggart, already gone).

Maybe it's just me, though, but I don't really think adverts do much good do you? And product placement will probably be the same. I can genuinely say, I've never bought anything just because I'd seen an advert for it. But I guess there must be evidence to suggest it works, or why would they bother? Seems odd though. Ah well...

One of the most obvious bits of placement I've seen was the Dracula film a few years back (the one with an aged Christopher Plummer, and Gerard Butler as the vampire) which seemed to be largely set in and around Virgin Megastores!!

[Antony Cox]

I think the worst thing I've ever seen for product placement was I, Robot. Set in the future but the main character liked vintage 2003 product. Hence whole bits of dialog about his trainers, and CD player. Yuck.

Not to mention every car being an Audi!

[Si Hunt]

I can genuinely say, I've never bought anything just because I'd seen an advert for it.

I think a lot of advertising is subliminal. We're all way, way more likely to buy a brand if we feel we "know" it, and most of that comes from "seeing it on the TV". You know that feeling of shopping and seeing something you've never seen before, and it somehow feels "unsafe", like it might be poisoned or something. Yet something like "Fairy" or "Hovis" must be ok. Why? Well.... I guess because we've seen it on the Telly. Those are bad examples because both those are trusted brands anyway, but witness how a product like "Cillit Bang" comes from nowhere and suddenly becomes part of our lives, our lexicon and therefore aquires an aura of "trust" after nothing else but a heavy TV advertising campaign.

On top of this, I'm perfectly happy to admit that I've actively gone out and purchased loads of things because I've seen an advert and then gone "Oooh nice, we'll have to try that". TV has always alerted us to exciting new chocolate bars or flavours of Jaffa Cake.

I do think it's odd that currently brands can sponsor soaps (that is, after all, why they are called soaps at all), so you can watch "Coronation Street - Sponsored by Harveys Furniture", yet no-one is allowed to mention having a nice new Harveys sofa in their lounge. Likewise you can watch a drama in which it's forbidden for anyone to be seen drinking a specific brand of Cola, and yet you could then have televised football up next, with all the players having the "Coke" logo splashed accross their shirts!

So it currently seems to exist on Telly anyway... er... as long as it's not between the title sequences of a non-sporting event.

Si.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Not to mention every car being an Audi!

That was kind of subtle compared to other sections of the film ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robo...duct_placement

[Pip Madeley]

SPRUNT!

[Alex]

And without product placement, there wouldn't have been this great scene from Return of the Killer Tomatoes - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Oqi4up4WPI (which is worth watching to see a young pre-fame George Clooney too)

[Captain Tancredi]

I do think it's odd that currently brands can sponsor soaps (that is, after all, why they are called soaps at all), so you can watch "Coronation Street - Sponsored by Harveys Furniture", yet no-one is allowed to mention having a nice new Harveys sofa in their lounge. Likewise you can watch a drama in which it's forbidden for anyone to be seen drinking a specific brand of Cola, and yet you could then have televised football up next, with all the players having the "Coke" logo splashed accross their shirts!

Furthermore, a lot of the tourism in this particular part of the kingdom is geared to coach trips of Emmerdale Country and Heartbeat Country- as far as I'm aware the tour operators aren't paying anything for using the association, but they're running a business based on the popularity of the series.

[Andrew Curnow]

You know that feeling of shopping and seeing something you've never seen before, and it somehow feels "unsafe", like it might be poisoned or something. Yet something like "Fairy" or "Hovis" must be ok

I don't think I do that, no. We do buy Fairy, but that's because we've done the rounds of various other 'home brands' and they're just nowhere near as good - albeit my rather simplistic basis of 'good' is how many bubbles you get. As for bread, we vary from week to week depending on what's left in the shop (I often get it on the way home from work) and of course price.

[SiHart]

This post is fuelled by Sainsburys Red Label Tea.

Si xx

[shada pavlova]

I like Jaffa Cakes.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

I'm against it really. As mentioned above I think it'll just be hooked into stories. And things will become a little predictable.

An example was Cold Feet. The last season was sponsored by the new Mini. I remember thinking when Rachel was off to work in her old SAAB how odd it was that she didn't have one of the new Minis. Next minute she was hit by a trick and killed.

And this is the thing. If someone walks into the Rovers Return and asks for a Guiness, no problem. But when they walk in and ask for "Newton and Ridley" it's probably because they're going to turn out to be an alcoholic, because the sponsors don't like the idea someone goes on the piss on their product.

If someone flies on British Airways it's going to be an uneventful flight. If someone flies on English Airways they're going to crash/be hijacked/wings drop off.

[Andrew Curnow]

Next minute she was hit by a trick and killed.

That Derren Brown again, eh...

[Alex]

I'm against it really. As mentioned above I think it'll just be hooked into stories. And things will become a little predictable.

An example was Cold Feet. The last season was sponsored by the new Mini. I remember thinking when Rachel was off to work in her old SAAB how odd it was that she didn't have one of the new Minis. Next minute she was hit by a trick and killed.

And this is the thing. If someone walks into the Rovers Return and asks for a Guiness, no problem. But when they walk in and ask for "Newton and Ridley" it's probably because they're going to turn out to be an alcoholic, because the sponsors don't like the idea someone goes on the piss on their product.

If someone flies on British Airways it's going to be an uneventful flight. If someone flies on English Airways they're going to crash/be hijacked/wings drop off.

That's a good point actually, though it's something I've never picked up on, but apparently in a lot of US dramas whoever is paying for product placement won't allow their product to be seen in a negative light whatsoever. I read elsewhere that Heroes has a lot of vehicles that are used as product placement, and in that situation you know the character's going to come to no harm whilst driving it.

[Paul Monk]

Last night we watched the episode of Arrested Development that mocks its Burger King product placement. Just thought I'd share that with you.