Q: What is product placement? What is product integration? What is branded entertainment?
A: Please see: What's an "embedded" ad?
Q: How does embedded advertising affect me and my family?
A: Embedded ads can slip under the radar because they appear to be part of the program. Children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to this covert form of marketing. Subtle messages promoting junk food, alcohol, gambling, drugs and even weapons have been woven into storylines without the audience's awareness that the material is advertising. Embedded ads for potentially harmful or addictive products bypass ad regulations and industry codes of conduct -- for example, pharmaceutical firms do not have to disclose drug side effects. Product placement has even penetrated newscasts, eroding ethical journalism.
Q: Is embedded advertising legal?
A: Yes, however under the Communications Act and FCC rules, broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, CW, NBC, and FOX) must DISCLOSE when they accept payment for product placement or product integration. Disclosure rules do NOT apply to most cable and satellite networks.
Q: Why is disclosure necessary?
A: A paid placement injects "promotional bias" into a program, eroding the integrity of the material. The product will likely be glamorized and negatives downplayed. The audience has a right to know that payment changed hands. Without the payment, the product might not have appeared at all. Promotional bias is expected and counter-argued in traditional TV commercials, but when it is woven into a program it can influence viewers without their awareness.
Q: What's wrong with existing FCC rules?
A: Under current rules, networks decide when, where and how to disclose paid placements. Disclosures are typically buried in the credits, too small, too fleeting and too confusing to be effective ("promotional consideration provided by"). There are NO disclosure rules for most cable and satellite programs and NO codified rules to protect children.
Q: What prompted the FCC inquiry and rulemaking proceeding?
A: In 2003, the watchdog group Commercial Alert petitioned the FCC for rule amendments. In 2007, the Writer's Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild took the matter to Congress, testifying that they are being forced to script advertising and make it look like program content. Facing mounting public complaints, in 2008 FCC Chairman Kevin Martin (R) initiated the Notice of Inquiry and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Matter of Sponsorship Identification and Embedded Advertising. Action is pending.
Q: What about movies, music, videogames, songs and novels?
A: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has jurisdiction over movies, videogames, songs and novels under its "Truth in Advertising" guidelines. The FTC has consistently rejected petitions for disclosure of embedded advertising in these genres (1992, 2005).
Q: What can I do to help?
1. File a comment at the FCC.
2. Teach kids to recognize the persuasive intent of embedded ads.
3. Raise awareness with family, friends, neighbors and school personnel.
4. Talk and blog about the harms inherent in stealth embedded advertising,
including the potential for propaganda, corrosion of media integrity
and erosion of public trust in media.
5. Tell your representatives in Congress to demand regulations ensuring
full and fair disclosure of embedded ads in all media platforms,
including TV, movies, music and music videos, videogames, novels
and comic books.
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