Cramming soap into ‘soaps’

Imagine turning on the news and seeing an advertisement for a new medical treatment masquerading as a newsflash. Or an episode of your favourite television series entirely devoted to wordplay around a well known make of biscuit?

It sounds far-fetched, but this kind of advertising is becoming increasingly commonplace in the US. European consumer groups worry that new EU broadcasting rules could see a similar situation develop over here.

As currently drafted, the new rules - known as the Television Without Frontiers directive (TWF), would make product placement fully legal in the EU, as is the case in the US.

But across the Atlantic, consumer and artists groups are beginning to protest against the power that large companies are wielding over the actual content of programmes in the name of advertising.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA), the trade union for US film and TV writers, has produced a short film of recent shows that demonstrate how common so-called product integration has become in US broadcasting.

In one episode of popular family comedy 7th Heaven which aired last month, the entire storyline was based on how the family eat their Oreos, a brand of chocolate biscuit. Another series, Desperate Housewives, had one scene devoted to test- driving a new sport utility vehicle (SUV).

And it's not all fiction. One news broadcast 'reported' on a new injection-free treatment for diabetes, but the report was actually an advertisement that was funded by the treatment's maker, a well- known pharmaceutical company.

"Product placement used to mean having merchandise simply visible during a show, but now we have 'product integration', where script writers have to effectively write advertising copy disguised as a storyline," said David Young from the WGA.

"It's extremely effective advertising for companies because it plays on the emotional connection that people have with the characters. But we feel that we have a responsibility to speak out against these powerful companies and say that this type of forced endorsement is not okay. It's artistically demeaning and it's dangerous for consumers."

Young attributes the rise in product integration - according to the WGA the number of cases increased by 30% in 2005 alone - to the popularity of reality shows. The latter very quickly became an advertiser's paradise, and lax legislation on product placement has been unable to prevent it.

And he warned that the US rules, laid down by the Federal Communications Commission, are "not that different" from the ones currently drafted in the TWF, sparking fears that Europe will inevitably follow the same path.

Under the directive, product placement would be allowed in any type of audiovisual broadcasting, be it terrestrial, digital or online. The provision is subject to certain conditions, such as a restriction on children's programmes or the obligation to warn audiences that product placement is used, and so-called surreptitious advertising would be prohibited.

But according to a spokesperson from European consumer association BEUC, these restrictions will not be enough to protect consumers.

"It is not clear enough what 'surreptitious' means, and whether it would preclude the kind of product integration [seen in the US]. There is no definition of children's programmes, and in any case, most children watch programmes outside those that we would normally consider to be a show for their age-group," the spokesperson said.

BEUC is lobbying for MEPs to include stricter limits on the TWF's product-placement rules during first reading, for which a public hearing will take place at the European Parliament on 1 June.

German Christian Democrat Ruth Hieronymi, in charge of drafting the Parliament's view, said that she supported tightening the rules and that most of her colleagues were also in favour.

"Personally I think [the current draft] is very dangerous for the future structure of advertising in television and eventually the printed press," said Hieronymi. "It is vital to guarantee transparency between editorial content and advertising," she added.

Hieronymi will submit her draft report for first reading to the lead culture committee on 12 July and the final plenary vote is expected in December.

A Commission spokesman said that while it was true that the TWF would put the EU on an equal legal footing with the US regarding product placement, the restrictions imposed by the proposal would ensure that the kind of advertising seen in the US "would constitute surreptitious advertising and as such be entirely illegal over here".

Article reports on concerns about the fact that the revision of the Television Without Frontiers Directive could fully legalise product placement, as currently the case in the United States.

European Commission: DG Information Society and Media: Audiovisual Policy: Regulatory Framework: The 'Television without Frontiers' Directive http://ec.europa.eu/comm/avpolicy/reg/tvwf/index_en.htm

---