BIG BROTHER - BRITAIN LIKELY TO ALLOW PRODUCT PLACEMENTS

BRITAIN LIKELY TO ALLOW PRODUCT PLACEMENTS

The British government is expected to lift the ban on product placements this week, reports published in London Sunday newspapers said, presumably leaking comments from a speech that Culture Minister Ben Bradshaw is expected to deliver to a convention of the Royal Television Society on Wednesday. Removing the ban is expected to apply only to commercial broadcasters and not to the BBC. It would also remain in place for children's shows. Peter Bazalgette, the former head of British reality-show producer Endemol, whose programs include such international hits as Big Brother, Deal or No Deal, Extreme Makeover Home Edition , and Wipeout , wrote in the London Sunday Mirror that the move was "hugely overdue." He warned, however, that if product-placement is "overdone or tasteless, viewers will switch off." He noted that such ads already appear on British TV via U.S. movies. "And what about those sports events where sponsors' logos are worn on shirts?"

14/09/2009