As the government considers advertising rules in the digital age, Jon Card argues that allowing product placement might be the only way forward
It came as a surprise today to find that product placement is still banned in British-made TV programmes. The practice is part and parcel of US television and with so many of their programmes broadcast over here our screens are already full of it anyway. So if the government agrees to the demands of some broadcasters, will anybody really notice? I suspect not, at least not consciously.
Internet broadcasters get away with product placement already as they are generally overlooked by regulators. But if online TV programming is to really take off then wholly legitimate revenue streams such as this need to be permitted. There has to be some way of making money out of programmes and if it’s not ads then it has got to be subscription. But internet users don’t like paying for anything and illegal downloading is seen as the norm by many.
Paradoxically young people, who wear more ads on their clothing than any other group, simply cannot bear to watch adverts on TV. If you subject anyone under the age of 21 to more than five seconds of advertisements they’ll behave like a Gremlin in direct sunlight. Young people laugh at the old for sitting through the adverts. They want their TV on demand and don’t want to have to pay a penny for it. There appears to be little future in straight TV ads, alternatives are needed.
So rather than waffle on about the ‘integrity of British programming’ the government should bite the bullet and lift the ban for all programme makers. Internet TV is growing and entrepreneurs need ways to monetise these programmes. So turn on, tune in and prepare to have brands subconsciously beamed into your consciousness.
