Product Placement on TV

For many years, British made television has been subject to laws preventing it from accepting funding for product placement on it’s productions. As things stand under current regulations if goods are used on a show then brand names are carefully concealed so as not to outwardly promote any particular product. This keeps viewers free from any suggestion of buying one particular brand over another.

The proposed change to the law would allow British television makers to accept product placement funds in certain cases. It is only acceptable for commercial channels; i.e. not the BBC, and cannot be used on children’s television. It is estimated that the changes to the law would introduce an extra £100m per year to the industry.

This extra income stream will provide a major boost to an industry that is struggling with advertising revenue slashed with the start of the recession. Product placement would enable shows to take find an additional means of funding their production costs and help keep the industry healthy during difficult economic times. Product placement is already permitted in many countries including America and most of Europe. The lifting of this law would remove a handicap and allow us to compete with our TV on a level footing with other countries.

The arguments against product placement centre around the encouragement this would give television companies to produce poor quality TV shows full of blatant product placement. This would detract from the show and reduce the standard of programming we are free to enjoy.

The arguments against product placement are sadly poorly reasoned. Lifting regulations against product placement would actually encourage TV producers to make high quality television. Companies will be more interested in advertising, both with product placement and more conventional advertising, for a high quality, well produced television show that will attract a lot of viewers. Viewing figures are what is key for raising funds by any advertisement so producing high quality programming to bring in a big audience is crucial.

A number of popular shows are produced by the commercial British television channels; Big Brother, The X-Factor and I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, for example, a huge amount of the television we watch is imported. American shows such Scrubs, 24 or Lost are big hits here and so product placement is on our screens already. Removing the restriction behind the product placement law then just allows British TV producers to play on a level playing field with the rest of the world.

Even if we believe television is better without corporate branding and product placement, removing the prohibition of product placement will allow a free decision to be made by the TV producers and viewing figures will show how the public react.

While it is hard to argue against revoking this law, it does leave the BBC at a competitive disadvantage for it’s television production. As we progress to a more digital age where freedom to watch, or more to the point, not to  watch, particular channels is easier to make, the TV License fee seems an archaic and outdated tax. At some stage in the future the BBC will need to find alternative means of raising funds when TV Licenses are no longer practical. Advertising and product placement seem the only sensible means of achieving this. With the BBC producing some of the best, and most exported, television on our screens including Doctor Who and Top Gear, penalizing them would seem to weaken the industry as a whole.

It is questionable whether product placement will really achieve what campaigners believe and bring extra revenue into the industry. It does give the television shows something else to sell, certainly, but it does not increase their advertisers marketing budgets. It is possible then, that allowing product placement into our television shows only serves to split the pot of money into more, smaller, parts.