Commercial influences on programme content: the German and UK approaches to transposing EU rules on product placement

Product placement has now been accepted as a permissible feature of contemporary television programming, as a result of changes introduced by the Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2007. But the process of reform and its implementation has manifested a high degree of uncertainty and concern regarding the advisability of such a transformation and its implications. This article discusses the solutions adopted in two countries, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is suggested that neither country has established a regime which enables viewers to have a clear understanding of the relationship between the producers or broadcasters and commercial funding. The replacement of the principle of separation with the principle of identification has exposed programmes to the vagaries of the marketplace even further without increasing transparency for the viewer. With the prospect of increased presence of product placement in the next few years, as production cycles come to reflect the new provisions, it is a matter of concern that better provision has not been made to protect editorial judgment

SoTech-Literatur - Bibliographie zu den Projekten und dem Programm 'Mensch und Technik' - Sozialvertraegliche Technikgestaltung' der Landesregierung Nordrhein-Westfalen

TIB Hannover: RO 8020(85) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

zur Erlangung des Doktor grades der Wirtschafts-und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Dortmund Lehrstuhl für Marketing

I wish to express my deep debt of gratitude to all those who contributed to the successful completion of this thesis. In the first place, I would like to thank my advisor Prof. Dr. Hartmut H. Holzmüller for supervising this work. Without his excellent and broad background in the product standardization in particular, and marketing in general, this work would not have been possible. His guidance and careful advice was the important foundation of my work. With his openminded and sound attitude, he created a research environment that can hardly be surpassed. I am particularly grateful to the Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft e.V., for all the support. I enjoyed from the Rector of Dortmund University Prof. Dr. Eberhard Becker, Prof. Dr. Jehle, Prof. Dr. Martin Welge, Student Secretariat, Academic Auslandsamt, Faculty of economic and social sciences, Department of Marketing of University Dortmund for the administrative support. This thesis would never have been completed without the help of various individuals and organizations who helped me to gather the information and data. The following deserve m