Product Placements Acquire a Life of Their Own on Shows

Product placements woven into the plot of popular television shows are a growing concern for the Federal Communications Commission and consumer groups. Product placements are "a huge, out-of-control issue," said Robert Weissman, the managing director of Commercial Alert, a nonprofit group that aims to limit commercial marketing. He said that the involvement of advertisers in the shaping of scripts and plots represented "fundamental encroachments on the independence of the programming." Last month, the FCC opened an inquiry into whether there ought to be frank disclosure of such deals. Among the suggestions are that the networks be required to display on-screen crawls whenever a paid-for placement is seen on television. "We're not saying they can't do it — we're just saying they have to let the audience know what they're doing," said Jonathan S. Adelstein, an FCC commissioner. For now, it is not clear whether the FCC will take action; it is soliciting comments for the next few months, and may or may not issue a ruling after that. But in Hollywood and on Madison Avenue, the FCC's concerns appear archaic and intrusive. The type of pop-up warnings that the FCC is considering would "completely disrupt the entertainment experience," said Tom Meyer, the president of Davie Brown, a leading brand management agency in Los Angeles. "If their ultimate goal is, can they do something that kills integration, advertisers' ability to integrate into a show, that would do it," he said.
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