Guilds Gird for a Fight on Product Placement

"This intrusive process is getting more and more out of hand," said the president of the Writers Guild of America West, referring to product placements, commercial messages written into movies and television shows. The Writers and Screen Actors Guilds "complain placement practices hurt their artistic integrity and that they aren't paid for helping to sell the products." The two groups "say they want to negotiate a code of conduct that includes disclosure at the beginning of each movie and TV program of the advertising that has been woven into the script. They also want the studios to put limits on the use of such advertising in children's programming." And if network and studio heads won't negotiate, the guilds say they will take the matter to the Federal Communications Commission. The Writers Guild estimates that product placements increased by 44 percent last year, representing more than $1 billion in revenue.