Observations: Unpaid product placement: the elephant in the room in UK TV's new paid-for product placement market

Paid-for product placement was permitted for the first time on commercial TV in the UK by media regulator Ofcom in February 2011.

Observations: Unpaid product placement: the elephant in the room in UK TV’s new paid-for product placement market

Chris Hackley

Royal Holloway University of London

Rungpaka Amy Hackley née Tiwsakul

Queen Mary University of London

Introduction

On 28 February 2011 the UK media regulator Ofcom changed its rules to allow paid-for product placement on domestically produced commercial TV for the first time in UK broadcasting history. Now, a small but distinctive P logo appears very briefly in the corner of the TV screen alerting the viewer to the presence in the show of some paid-for placements. The new rules were expected...

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