So from the 28th of February product placement will be allowed in British television as Ofcom are relaxing the rules about the form of embedded advertising where branded products are placed within the storyline of television shows or movies.
No harm done then, as according to Nielsen’s research into viewers attitudes about product placement in US programmes which have been screened in the UK, over a quarter of UK viewers who remembered the products featured said it improved their opinion of the brand. However programmes which contain product placement must display the new ‘p’ logo for three seconds at the start of their program and in any advertising breaks when any brands have been featured, and surprisingly this is what is drawing in lots of strong opinions.
Some critics have said 3 seconds is not long enough, how is the flicking viewer supposed to know that there is product placement in this program and that it should be mandatory for it to appear throughout.
Others have argued back that the point of product placement is that it is not intrusive or changes the body of the show, and by displaying the ‘P’ sign would act a s a warning rather than an informative and would be asking viewers to consciously spot the products.
My opinion on the matter is that I am all for product placement as long as it is done subtly, It wouldn’t bother me if Phillip and Holly started making Cappuccinos for their guests on their new Nescafe Dolce Gusto machine, or if Simon and Cheryl start drinking large diet cokes on the Xfactor, however what would bother me is an annoying logo bopping up onto my screen every time the product came into view.
Katy Perry recently has been having her 2 pennies worth publically on twitter over what can only be assumed as Britney Spears’ ‘hold it against me’ video cramming in as many product placement deals as one can fit into a 3 minute music video.
Take a look for yourself.
“’Do it with style and grace… Not so in [your] face like some. [You] have to get creative with it. Some artists don’t care [though, and you] can tell.”
And I totally agree with her, with style and grace product placement is set to become a massive form of advertising within the UK. Nescafe was brave to get the ball rolling because essentially it is the unknown, but at the end of their three month deal we will be able to analyse whether the recognition will have triggered an action, or will it have just plainly irritated viewers because of how blasé the placement was.
David Charlesworth head of sponsorship at Channel 4, reckons that it is a ‘reasonable aspiration’ for the UK product placement market to reach £100million a year. I’m guessing he has made this assumption based on the US and Australia’s figures where product placement has grown to account for 5% of TV advertising market. So we will just have to wait and see.
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