Church says ban on TV product placement should remain

The Church of England has urged the Government to uphold the ban on product placement in TV programmes.

The Church warned that placing branded goods on TV soaps, dramas and other programmes was not in the interests of the public and would blur the line between editorial content and commercial messages.

Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw has launched a consultation on product placement. He believes a partial lift on the ban may give a financial boost to commercial broadcasters that have lost advertising revenue in the recession.

Popular TV shows like Eastenders currently have to cover up logos and labels on products. The Government’s proposal would maintain the ban on product placement in children’s TV shows and BBC programmes.

In a submission to the consultation yesterday, 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.”

The Church questions “why it is thought any easier to gain a more accurate picture of the scale of opportunity now than it was less than a year ago”.

“Indeed, given the ongoing uncertainty about the future prospects for advertising revenues, it seems highly unlikely that any large potential-sponsor is currently in a position to make firm claims about the additional expenditure it would be likely to make under a different regulatory regime.

“We remain entirely unconvinced that the unquantifiable benefit to a small number of commercial broadcasters in any lifting of the ban on product placement outweighs the potential detrimental effect on public trust in the editorial integrity of television programming.”