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Wednesday, May 25 Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein gave a rousing speech about the "most pernicious symptoms" of "increasing commercialization of American media." In particular, he singled out product placement and corporate shills in "news" programming. "The use of covert commercial pitches is penetrating deeper and deeper into our media," Adelstein said.
Adelstein called for “clear and prominent” disclosure of covert commercial pitches on TV.
“People out there are frustrated by what they see as fake news and relentless marketing” on TV, he said. “Outside of newscasts, product placement is even more rampant….everything from Coke to soap is subliminally hawked in TV programs.”
In his speech, Adelstein endorsed Commercial Alert's call for disclosure of covert commercial sales pitches on TV. He said: "In fall 2003, a group called Commercial Alert asked us to take a number of different actions regarding product placement, and its filing, and the recent press reports I mentioned, clearly indicate that the time has come for us to step up our enforcement in this area."
“We are greatly encouraged by Commissioner Adelstein’s defense of viewers’ right to know by whom they are being persuaded,” said Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert.
On September 30, 2003, Commercial Alert filed a petitions with the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission to require prominent disclosure of embedded advertising on television, including product placement, product integration, plot placement, title placement, paid spokespersons and virtual advertising. Increasingly, TV programs with these embedded ads resemble infomercials.
“Embedded advertising is the new reality of television, and it is time for the Commission to address it. TV networks and stations regularly send programs into American living rooms that are packed with product placements and other veiled commercial pitches. But they pretend that these are just ordinary programming rather than paid ads. This is an affront to basic honesty,” wrote Commercial Alert in its petition to the FCC.
Unfortunately, on February 10, 2005, the FTC declined to take action to require disclosure of veiled commercial pitches on TV. The FTC argued that product placements are not deceptive because images, in and of themselves, do not make any claims, and there is no deception without a claim. The FTC’s response to Commercial Alert is posted at http://www.commercialalert.org/FTCletter2.10.05.pdf
The recent FTC decision on product placement is inconsistent with FTC rulings requiring newspapers and magazines to disclose that advertising which resembles news copy is, in fact, advertising. The FTC is holding newspapers and magazines to a higher standard than TV programs.
FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein’s speech is available at: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-258962A1.pdf
Commercial Alert’s petition to FCC to require disclosure of product placement on TV is available at http://www.commercialalert.org/fcc.pdf and additional information about product placement is available at:
http://www.commercialalert.org/index.php/category_id/1/subcategory_id/79/article_id/191
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