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UK Television Media Bans Product Placement

The British government has elected to ban product placement in their television media, cementing a decision to let the content of the program (or programme) serve as the “selling point”. The UK media minister writes that “product placement would undermine the [integrity] that British TV enjoys internationally” and that its use can “contaminate” programs. No one wants to feel like their shows are written by an ad agency. I’m sure there are mountains of evidence showing that product placement works, though I can’t imagine it having much effect (I’ll always remember an old episode of Alias where product placement was almost laughable–”There! He’s in the Ford F-150!”)…

Still, this is great news for anyone concerned that our media is becoming less and less trustworthy. While this won’t inject honesty into news, we can at least rest assured that programs are being made for our enjoyment, rather than to sell household items or cars. If we’re going to be lied to, it might as well be entertaining rather than transparent.

(Via Metafilter)