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In February 2016, the Administrative Court of Hanover ruled that the product placement of a chocolate bar in an episode of the 2014 Jungle Camp was inadmissible (Az. 7 A 13293/15).
In the episode in question, the starving contestants receive a pack of “Pick Up” from the manufacturer Bahlsen as a reward. The candidates are then shown cheering and eating the bars with relish.
All of this is permitted under the Interstate Broadcasting Treaty as permissible product placement.
What crossed the line of what was permissible, however, was the subsequent “exaggerated verbal praise” of the product by the candidates from the interview booth, or off-camera. These sequences would have emphasized the product too much and would have had nothing to do with the actual storyline, which had already been completed. In this respect, the provision of Section 7 (7) sentence 2 number 3 of the Interstate Broadcasting Treaty was not complied with.
The responsible Lower Saxony State Media Authority had reprimanded the broadcast because of the short sequence. RTL then sued and has now lost.
More information on product placement and surreptitious advertising, especially on the Internet, will soon be available in our special article here on the blog.