Product placement

You know how James Bond stopped driving Aston Martins (notwithstanding Top Gear) for BMWs and always wears an Omega watch and the computer monitors on everyone’s desks are …

Well, Marty Schwimmer has a link on the US FCC’s request for comments on its proposed Sponsorship Identification Rules and Embedded Advertising.

According to one of the Commissioners:

The fundamental premise of our sponsorship identification rules is that the American public is entitled to know who is trying to persuade them. That premise applies to a wide range of conduct, from payola to political advertising to product placement. This rulemaking is intended to determine whether our sponsorship identification rules need updating in order to provide adequate notice of certain types of “embedded” advertising practices that have proliferated in recent years.

According to another:

“Reality TV” should mean informing viewers about who is secretly pitching to them in the TV shows they are watching. The true reality is that news and entertainment alike are practically being turned into undisclosed commercials. Many current practices fly in the face of viewers’ legal right to know who is pitching to them.

What would they think if they watched commercial TV downUnder?