Ad body doubts TV product placement plan

Advertising trade body the ISBA has controversially added its voice to growing opposition to the government's proposal to permit product placement on TV.

In a submission to a Department for Culture, Media and Sport consultation on the issue, the ISBA accepted that the stance was "somewhat uncharacteristic" considering its usual position on promoting advertising freedoms.

However, the voice of British advertisers warned that the plan would cause a "double disadvantage of higher costs for advertisers and more complaints from the viewing public", reports The Guardian.

The organisation claimed that the existing system of TV prop sourcing, which involves companies making their products available to prop supply firms, has "evolved relatively inconspicuously over the years" and comes at a low cost for advertisers.

A system of paid product placement, though, could lead to much higher costs for advertisers as they are forced to pay for a service which was previously free.

In turn, expectations about what firms should expect from the placement would also likely increase, leading to a negative impact on programme maker's editorial integrity.

"We are very concerned that the combination of overly optimistic revenue expectations and formalisation of this [product placement] market might lead to attempts, particularly by broadcasters, to close off low-cost prop placement in order to drive advertisers into more expensive paid product placement in programmes under their control," said ISBA director of media and advertising Bob Wootton in the submission.

"Any such resultant increase in the cost to advertisers of paid product placement would result in an increase in their expectation as to the prominence of products thus placed, leading to an increased likelihood of viewer disenfranchisement and, in turn, complaint."

Yesterday, the British Medical Association also criticised the product placement proposal as "blurring the distinction between advertising and editorial".