Washington Focus - proposed restrictions on product placement threaten free speech

Commercial Alert, a consumer group, has petitioned the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to require real-time disclosure of product placements in television programs.

Proposed Restrictions on Product Placement Threaten Free Speech

Douglas J. WoodReed Smith Hall Dickler

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have been asked to require real-time disclosure of product placements in television programs. The petitions by Commercial Alert, a group that lists Ralph Nader among its Board of Advisors, has asked the FTC and FCC to write new rules that require prominent pop-up messages identifying product placements as advertisements as they occur. The requests would radically alter the entertainment business, effectively ending product placement on television, and severely restricting First Amendment protected artistic expression.

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