Good news: The FCC will be taking public comments regarding product placement rules on television.

While others throw in their two cents (Nanny state! Thought police! Does the FCC really think we’re stupid?!), we’ll concentrate on children’s television, program-length commericals, embedded advertising and the Children’s Television Act of 1990.

From the FCC:

We also invite comment on whether the Commission’s existing rules and policies governing commercials in children’s programming adequately vindicate the policy goals underlying the Children’s Television Act and Sections 317 and 507 with respect to embedded advertising in children’s programming. If commenters believe that these rules and policies do not do so, we invite comment on what additional steps the Commission should take to regulate embedded advertising in programming directed to children. For example, we note that embedded advertising in children’s programming would run afoul of our separation policy because there would be no bumper between programming content and advertising. Should that prohibition be made explicit in our rules?

Comments from Commissioner Michael Kopps:

. . . [I]t is my strong initial belief that embedded advertising in children’s programming is already prohibited because it would run afoul of our existing requirement that there be adequate separation between programming content and advertising. The Commission’s existing policies in this area—which also include a ban on host-selling and tie-ins on children’s programming—target those practices that unfairly take advantage of the inability of children to distinguish between programming and commercial content. I hope we can move quickly to clarify our rules in this area as necessary and to take any appropriate enforcement action.

Comments from Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein:

After more than three years since I originally called on the Commission to update our sponsorship identification rules and to clarify the application of these rules to children’s programming, I am pleased that we are finally seeking comment on what additional steps the Commission should take. Just this month, I have spoken twice about the urgency to move this item forward and explained the need for the Commission to protect our children from marketers’ efforts to prey upon their unsuspecting minds. Despite longstanding majority support, including Chairman Martin’s commendable leadership, the release of this Notice has suffered from almost unprecedented delays. The Notice takes an important step in addressing the concerns that parents, experts, and I have been voicing for years about the unhealthy messages American media are feeding our kids. Children under the age of eight simply do not recognize that ads are trying to persuade them and tend to accept them as true and unbiased. . . . Because children are ill-equipped to identify advertising, especially when it is embedded in a program with their favorite character, we need to review and update our sponsorship identification rules. Those of us who areconcerned about children need to show leadership, not footdragging, in addressing these practices.

All emphasis mine. We’ll let you know when public comments are being accepted. Should be soon.

Sick and tired of the product placements seeping into everything your child watches on television?

So is the Campaign for a Commerical-Free Childhood, who got together other concerned organizations — children’s media watchdogs, public health advocates, consumer groups, and child advocacy groups, including Parents for Ethical Marketing — and wrote to the FCC asking the commission to adopt a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding product placement and integrated marketing on television.

“The diversity and breadth of this coalition reflects the growing concern that marketers are hijacking television content and foisting branded propaganda on an unsuspecting public,” said [CCFC Director] Dr. [Susan] Linn.  “The rise of embedded advertising deprives parents of the ability to protect their children from unwanted marketing influences, threatens public health, and undermines democracy.” – Press release

Some facts from the letter:

– 69 percent of parents are concerned that their children were exposed to too many ads in TV programming;

– TV product placement revenue grew 33.7 percent to $2.9 billion and product placement occurrences rose 13 percent in 2007, with 25,950 placements in the top ten shows;

– Cable programming is even more saturated, with 163,737 occurrences in the top ten shows;

– On American Idol alone, there were 4,151 product placements in the first 38 episodes this year, and branded content jumped 19 percent to a total of 545 minutes, or 14 minutes per episode. 

By adopting the NPRM, parents, caregivers, and advocates will have the opportunity to let the FCC know what they think of integrated marketing; the FCC is required to take those comments into account when they consider new regulations.

Of course, some people think that, while it’s okay to look into the problem, nothing should really be done about it. They would like to see the FCC issue a Notice of Inquiry, which would only require an investigation. Nothing else. Let’s see, who would want to continue turning television shows into infomercials? I guess that would be the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA), the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA).

But not to worry. Remember, one of the FCC commissioners just stated publicly that the FCC should issue the NPRM.

And when the FCC adopts the NPRM and it becomes open for public comment, I’ll let you know.

See also: Timeline: FCC and Integrated Marketing

UPDATE: FCC Is Urged To Clamp Down On Product Placement at Marketing Daily

Photo courtesy AndrewEich

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, fresh from a terrific speech at the National Conference on Media Reform, criticized the FCC’s inaction to safeguard children and asked for industry cooperation when he addressed the Media Institute on June 11.

While many of the steps Adelstein proposed concerned television programming, the V-chip and other blocking technologies, and ratings, he also addressed advertising directed at children. Two of his proposals:

Launch Embedded Advertising in Children’s Programming Proceeding. The Commission should release a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on sponsorship identification and embedded advertising. Specifically, it needs to solicit public comment on whether our existing rules governing commercials in children’s programming adequately promote the policy goals underlying the Children’s Television Act and the sponsorship ID rules. This is especially important with respect to embedded advertising in children’s programming.

Finalize Interactive Advertisement Targeting Children Proceeding. The Commission should quickly move on the 2004 Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on how to implement sensible restrictions on interactive ads targeting children. The Commission tentatively concluded that interactive ads targeting children should be banned. With the growing convergence of television and the Internet, we need to promulgate rules before interactive advertising becomes an established business model.

Emphasis mine. Adelstein also suggested that the FCC host a Summit on Protecting America’s Children to “encourage all stakeholders to bring their best ideas forward and develop best practices.”

In his speech, Adelstein acknowleged what Parents for Ethical Marketing and other organizations have been trying to get in front of the media-makers: that parents are tired of the fight.

In case you don’t know it already, many parents are feeling inundated by an array of media that are flooding their children’s minds with inappropriate material. Too many parents feel like they are losing control, and they’re frustrated by a seemingly relentless march of coarse material that is too violent, too sexual, too commercial or too unhealthy for their children. Messages or images their children are not ready to hear pop up in too many places for parents to easily control, from insensitively timed commercials during otherwise family-friendly programming to Internet ads and spam coming over the computer.

There is growing concern about unhealthful messages and images as well. . . . Many studies show the damaging effects of advertising on children’s food choices. Some of your companies have taken important steps, but there is far more to be done.

For parents, it’s like a game of whack-a-mole, with an increasing number of moles jumping up faster and faster. Too many parents suffer from a sense of exhaustion or futility. I suspect many of you share these concerns on a personal level, but many of you also work for powerful media companies that are helping this mole population to proliferate. . . .

I believe I speak for millions of parents when I say we’re overwhelmed, fed up and looking for help from the government and the industry alike.  

I would have been skeptical if I hadn’t heard Adelstein speak with such passion and conviction myself. We’ll be contacting his office to see how PEM members can participate in the rulemaking process.

Here’s to a little hopeful optimism!

Our TV Turnoff Week got off to a lousy start — on Monday, both girls were home from school sick.

Normally, television is a treat when you are so sick you can’t do anything but lay on the sofa. Combine that with my need to get some work done – and I allowed them to watch a couple hours of I Love Lucy.

But that was a minor setback and did not derail us from our mission for the rest of the week.

I was happy with the girls’ ability to find something to entertain themselves — I didn’t hear a lot of “I’m bored!” — but they also spent more time playing together. And playing together invariably ends with the younger in tears because her sister either a) hurt her or b) said something mean to her.

So, more fights and more tears.

I stuck to my commitment to stay away from the laptop in the afternoons after the girls got home from school. We made cookies one afternoon but otherwise didn’t spend the time completely engaged with each other. However, since my nose was not stuck in a screen, the perception that I was available was there, and that made for some peaceful afternoons.

Over the course of the week, we realized how easily we turn to the television or computer out of habit.

I don’t think the experience will move us to further limit our screen time since we already allow only an hour-and-a-half a day.

But maybe now we’ll pause and think, do I really want do this right now?

Procter & Gamble has set up a toll-free hotline for feedback on whether or not they should continue advertising on MTV and BET.

(800) 331-3774

The Enough is Enough Campaign has asked P&G to remove its commercials from some of the programming on MTV and BET:

Proctor & Gamble has a campaign called, “My Black Is Beautiful.” . . . the campaign is about affirming the inner and outer beauty of black women.  It seeks to affirm the young black girls who “are at risk of allowing the negative images of Black women in media and entertainment to define their standard of beauty,” and “to affect positive change in the way Black women are reflected in the popular culture.” 

. . . The problem is that Proctor & Gamble is one of the largest, if not the largest corporate sponsor of music video programs on Black Entertainment Television; video programs that sexually objectify women, portray black men as pimps and gangsters, and promote ideas that are antithetical to this “My Black Is Beautiful.”

Sound familiar? P&G, however, actually responds by asking us what we think. Let’s tell them.

(800) 331-3774

Please spread the word, especially to those who have kids who watch MTV and BET.

Enough is Enough and Parents Television Council also recently released The Rap on Rap: A Content Analysis of BET and MTV’s Daytime Music Video Programming (report pdf).

Read more:

Faith in Action
Black Women Vote
What About Our Daughters?

I’m in. I’m taking Mom Unplugged’s TV Turnoff Week Blog Challenge.

I met several media-free families at the CCFC Summit and felt a tad sheepish that I wasn’t one of them. By the end of the Summit I was convinced that no media is good media and charged back to Minnesota with my plan to toss the television out the window.

My husband informed me that that was not going to happen.

So TV Turnoff Week is a great compromise. My challenge will be to turn off the laptop when the girls get home from school and not turn it back on until after supper.

Just typing that now has caused me to hyperventilate.

Want to join in? Head over to Unplug Your Kids – a great blog, by the way — to meet other families who are doing the same. 

Additional resources:

Center for Screen-Time Awareness
Kill Your Television
Stone Soup to Support National TV Turnoff