For all the gritty realism of many UK television series, there is often a lack of authenticity where use of branded products is concerned. What corner of TV England is it where the pubs remain forever unconnected with a big brewery, the crisps come in plain green packets and the barman serves bottled beers by their generic rather than brand names? However, this simply reflects the current legal position that surreptitious advertising of such branded products, as ‘product placements’, is banned from UK television.
The restriction is two-fold – the 1998 Television Without Frontiers Directive currently bars branded products being placed in European Union (EU) television programmes in exchange for a fee or service. In line with this, the Office of Communication’s (OFCOM’s) current position is that products must not be promoted in television programmes and no undue prominence may be given in any programme to a product.
