AdWeek: Industry Fires Back, Defends Placements

Many large advertising trade organizations, represented by the Freedom to Advertise Coalition (FAC), put their dog down into the fight at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over whether or not product placements should be explicitly disclosed within the content of TV shows and other media. Commercial Alert has urged the FTC to treat product placements as it has treated search engine paid listings, making companies treat the advertising as separate from content.

The FAC's letter to the FTC said it worried that the proposed regulation would "pose a threat to artistic freedom." Artists everywhere will breathe sighs of relief knowing that the vast FAC bureaucracy in charge of ensuring artistic freedom across the world is on the case.