Trend: UK Product Placement Rules Defined by OfCom

There has been growing enthusiasm for product placement in British television programming. The debate reached its finale yesterday with Ofcom releasing a set of rules that will define how and where products can be placed within television programmes and also what types of products will be allowed.

The move towards product placement is unsurprising, it has been a staple in US advertising for many years and with the advent of on-demand television and programme recording the reach of traditional advert breaks have been questioned. The result has been the pursuit of in-programme advertising.

The rules stipulate that a logo must be shown before the start and end of each programme featuring product placement advertising, including in between advert breaks, although this logo will only take a small proportion of the screen in the corner. Interestingly Ofcom has also stated that there must be editorial justification for including any products in a programme, an innocuous term that may be open to some interpretation.

Product placement adverts will naturally have to adhere to the existing UK advertising rules meaning that no cigarettes, alcohol, gambling or medicinal products will be shown, neither will any foods that have high percentage of fat, salt or sugar.

The type of programming will also determine whether it will be possible to place a product. For example, Ofcom have stated that children’s, religious, current affairs and consumer advice shows will not be able to show any products, and understandably no BBC television programmes will show products in accordance with its charter.

Whether the adverts will be as blatant as Wayne’s World’s five minutes of on stop product placement is unlikely, hopefully, if the rules are followed the product placements should not affect the quality or integrity of the programming, instead providing another revenue stream for independent television in the UK.