Government rules out product placement on UK television

Secretary of state for culture, media and sport Andy Burnham has ruled out product placement on UK television.

In a statement released today, Burnham said that there is a lack of evidence of economic benefits, coupled with “serious concerns about blurring the boundaries between advertising and editorial”.

The statement follows a three month government consultation on the issue.

Burnham said: “I am well aware that a number of commercial broadcasters are facing difficult economic times and I will continue to work with the industry to explore ways we can support them, but my preference is to consider all other avenues before allowing product placement.”

Product placement is currently banned on any UK made programmes. Under the EU Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive all member states must prohibit product placement but can decide to allow certain exemptions.

The government said that it will review its position in 2011/12, taking into account the conclusions reached by Ofcom on the quantity and distribution of television advertising, changes in viewing habits and any new evidence about the impact and potential benefits.

The government’s ruling will come as a blow to ITV, which last November was one of the signatories to a code of conduct on product placement put together by TV producers’ trade body Pact (see Broadcasters sign product placement code of conduct).

The AVMS directive also includes compulsory elements such as introducing a system for regulating video-on-demand services in the UK.

As a result, a co-regulatory body led and funded by the industry will take on responsibility for regulating programme content on VoD services.

Under the new rules, all UK providers of VoD services will need to notify the co-regulator that they are providing a service and Ofcom will be given ‘backstop’ powers to deal with serious or repeated breaches of standards.