Hollywood Writers and Actors Demand Product Placement Controls

Hollywood writers and actors are calling for rules to control product placement in television programs. They are also demanding a share of the profits from the $550m (£315m) industry.

"We know firsthand how the story gets short-changed every time a reality show gets taken over by an advertiser," said the Writers Guild of America. "We're the ones forced to put in long hours just to figure out how we're going to embed that can of soda into the storyline eight more times before the final episode."

Product placement - whereby items are woven into programmes to satisfy advertisers - has become rife on US television as revenue from traditional commercials has dropped. It is most common in reality shows such as The Contender, which recorded 7,500 instances last year. It can also be seen in fiction programmes. In an episode of Desperate Housewives broadcast this year, one of the lead characters finds work as a model, buys a Buick LaCrosse and wastes no time showing it off to her friends at the mall. Two Buick commercials ran during the same episode.

"Major advertisers like Home Depot, Pepsi and Procter & Gamble are out of control," said the WGA. "They'll stop at nothing to insert their brand names into every TV plotline. These diabolical advertising fiends are turning our favourite TV shows into cheesy infomercials."

The WGA wants a statement at the beginning of each programme identifying any product placement so viewers are not "subject to hidden or stealth advertising".

"Just as there is an established right to truth in advertising, there should be a similar right to truth in programming where advertising is concerned," said Alan Rosenberg, president of the Screen Actors Guild, which supports the protest.

The European Union recently proposed rules to control product placement. Earlier this year it was alleged that businesses had paid up to £40,000 to get their products placed by independent production companies into BBC programmes. A BBC inquiry cleared the companies.