Released: June 29, 2008

Bring product placement into the open

Source: David Lazarus, Los Angeles Times (Free Registration)

I love TiVo. The ability to skip TV commercials is right up there with microwave popcorn as one of those life-altering advances that make the world a better place.

Not surprisingly, though, broadcasters and advertisers have responded to TiVo and other digital video recorders by boosting the number of paid product placements in shows - a practice known in industry circles as “embedding” ads.

With the line between entertainment and marketing growing increasingly blurry, the Federal Communications Commission last week proposed tighter regulation of product placement.

“We need to make sure we’re updating our rules for the way consumers are using technology and the way programmers are responding,” FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin told me.

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