Church "opposed" to product placement

The Church of England has announced that it opposes a proposal to allow product placement on television.

In September, the culture secretary Ben Bradshaw suggested relaxing the rules on product placement to help television channels struggling to deal with a drop in advertising revenue.

Under the proposal's guidelines, product placement would still be banned on children's television and BBC programmes.

However, the Church of England fears that the move could erode the public's trust in broadcasters, BBC News reports.

In a statement to the consultation, the Church said: "Retaining trust in broadcasters' integrity and editorial balance is key to maintaining strong relationships between audience and broadcaster, which in turn has both civic, societal and economic benefits.

"For this reason, the Church of England is opposed to changes to the current regulatory regime, even outside public service content and news and current affairs."

ITV's Michael Grade recently praised the review of product placement.