Friday, February 10th, 2012
Critics of product placement assume that the British public is incapable of making informed choices, said John McVay, a chief executive at Pact.
The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport is currently running a consultation period to explore ways to integrate product placement on UK television.
However, the consultation period does not come without opposition. Institutions like the Church of England and the British Medical Association (BMA) have voiced concerns about the move.
The BMA went as far as to say that product placement can expose children to harmful marketing influences.
McVay, who leads the UK trade association for independent production firms, said that product placement critics assume that the producers only care about cash and that the British audiences are incapable of making informed choices about what they watch.
Some critics even fear how product placement will blur the lines between content and advertising. This is something McVay strongly rebuts.
?In fact Pact, along with broadcasters and many of the UK’s largest independent production companies, support product placement only if editorial independence is maintained and products are not given undue prominence,? explained McVay. ?Programme makers know more than anyone how important it is to retain control of their storyline; and with increasing competition for eyeballs, it is unlikely they will risk driving them away through crass product placements.?
Source: Digital Spy
