Product Placement Disclosure Dispute Heads Toward Deadline at FCC

Friday was the deadline for comments in a federal Communications Commission proceeding on television sponsorship. An advertising group, TV networks and TV news directors are urging the Federal Communications Commission not to increase TV sponsorship and placement disclosures. Consumer groups, meanwhile, want the agency to make the disclosures more prominent. Consumer groups, among them Commercial Alert, have complained about increasing product placement as advertisers try to find new ways to advertise in order to offset the impact of commercial-skipping technology in digital video recorders. The groups have said the increased placement demands higher disclosure standards. They also have complained disclosure of placement can now come long after a product is seen. Some of the groups have urged the FCC to require disclosure at the moment a product is seen on screen. The consumer groups have found some support for tougher standards from FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein.