No brand Tshirt available at zazzle.com (see what I did there?)

I love this comment, which appeared in The Guardian on Monday and highlights the problems that broadcasters might face if The Department for Culture, Media and Sport goes ahead and relaxes the rules that ban advertising within the fabric of a programme.

The change in regulation would be a move designed to help UK broadcasters survive the slump in advertising revenue (although many would argue that the reverberations caused by media convergence  classify this as less of a ‘slump’ and more of a ‘shift’).

Rebecca Front’s quite hilarious, but there is a serious undertone. The British Medical Association and National Union of Teachers are concerned that unhealthy products could be marketed by stealth in popular shows. Personally (selfishly?), my own concerns are that the high quality of British broadcasting might be compromised if script writers constantly have to ram cans of pop and athletic footwear into productions.  How would the ladies of Cranford have coped?

You only have to refer to this list at BrandChannel to see that product placement is by no means a new phenomenon; we’re subjected to it all the time.  But as a big fan of the odd cosy period drama, I worry that a change in regulation could mean that we see a less diverse range of genres being made – and that would make me sad.