British Advertisers Group Questions Product Placement Plans

LONDON: ISBA, the trade body that represents British advertisers, has questioned the government’s proposals to allow product placement in television programs.

In its submission to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s consultation on allowing product placement in British television programming, ISBA says that the move would result in higher costs for advertisers as well as an increase in complaints from viewers. The organization notes that the current system of "unpaid prop placement" has led producers to seek out branded products for use—"at low cost to advertisers and without a single viewer complaint being upheld over the last 25 years," ISBA says. Bob Wootton, the media and advertising director at ISBA, explains that if paid-for product placement is allowed, “Advertisers are concerned that the existing low-cost system of prop placement will be closed off and that broadcasters will drive them into more expensive paid-for product placement. Advertisers paying more to place their products might then naturally expect to see them placed more prominently and it is this increased visibility that may well increase complaints from viewers." 

This new position by the ISBA is a reversal on its previous stance; in a 2006 consultation by Ofcom, ISBA recommended that product placement be allowed in the U.K. The current consultation by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport closes at the end of this week.