Germany

[DE] ZAK Issues First Decision on Virtual Product Placement

IRIS 2014-6:1/14

Peter Matzneller

Institute of European Media Law (EMR), Saarbrücken/Brussels

On 15 April 2014, the German media authorities’ Kommission für Zulassung und Aufsicht (Commission on Licensing and Supervision - ZAK) issued its first decision on the lawfulness of virtual product placement.

The investigation concerned the virtual placement of a poster advertising the film “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters” in the RTL2 programme “Berlin Tag & Nacht” in February 2013, coinciding with the cinema release of the film.

The ZAK concluded that the 15-second sequence did not breach the Land media authorities’ advertising regulations. The film poster had been embedded in the programme in such a way that it did not appear artificial and forced, but a natural part of the action. Other rules governing traditional product placement (such as labelling, protecting the independence of the broadcaster with regard to content and time of broadcast, no excessive prominence of the product) had also been respected.

Although the ZAK stressed that the decision concerned one particular case, it also pointed out that virtual product placement was not fundamentally prohibited as long as the provisions of the Rundfunkstaatsvertrag (Inter-State Broadcasting Agreement) governing real product placement were respected.