Product Placement Regulation

A report by the Milwaukee News (An ABC division), claimed that the government may step in to curb or regulate the use of product-placement advertising in broadcast and cable television programs.

For the past several years, product placement has been the advertisers new way of reaching their audience.

Advertisers pay show producers to knit products within the plot of a show/movie. Some are subtle, while others are down-right obvious (Writer nibbles on chocolate, which melts in his mouth, not in his hand)

Product placement is a great way to reach audiences who skip commercial breaks. As of late, the product placement trend has been catching on.

Here are a couple of significant numbers:

• According to Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, product placement occurrences have increased by 40% from last year.
• PQ Media a leading provider of media econometrics, asserts that product placement has grown from a $523 million business in 2002 to a whopping $3 billion in 2006.
• Iron Man the Marvel comic book adaptation that had a weekend gross of $149.8 million, had product placements from Apple, Audi,

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  University, Cadillac, Vanity Fair, MySpace, Maxim, LG, Forbes, Chevrolet, Burger King, etc.

Whats the future hold?

Product Placement is invading shows and movies, and some people are getting frisky about it.

Robert Weissman from Commercial Alert (CA) comments, Hidden ads are a form of deception. Commercial Alert has been proposing a crackdown on product placements for the past years. 

Federal watch dogs are now discussing the implementation of stricter rules about product placements.  But its not that simple.

These speculations have already aroused reactions from pro product placement groups, like the American Advertising Federation (AAF). A spokesperson claimed, Product placement is not deceptive and makes shows more lifeline. Not to mention, it also brings out issues on freedom of speech