Channel i rapped by Ofcom for product placement

Bangladeshi entertainment service, Channel i has been rapped by Ofcom for broadcasting a consumer advice programme in January 2014, which featured product placement.

A complainant alerted Ofcom to ‘Your Life in the UK’, a consumer advice programme during which a panel provided advice on the tests ��� such as ��Life in the UK�۪ ��� which applicants for UK citizenship are required to complete. On reviewing the material we noted that the programme was co – hosted by Habib Mirza of BSGS College and Shamsul Alam Liton of the London College of Media and Technology.

Section Nine of the Code states that any reference to a sponsor that appears in a sponsored programme (with the exception of the sponsorship credits themselves) as a result of a commercial arrangement with the broadcaster, the programme maker or a connected person will be treated as product placement.

Ofcom noted the Licensee�۪s assurance that it has put ���all necessary procedures�۝ in place to ensure similar issues do not recur. However because ‘Your Life in the UK’ was a consumer advice programme made under UK jurisdiction which included product placement, it breached Rule 9.12(b).