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These days product placement has been a bit more acceptable - in Coronation Street, real supermarket carrier bags were incidentally seen until around 1989 when Bettabuy's (incidentally a cheeky tribute to its real life counterpart Morrisons when they launched their Value-esque brand) were first mentioned thanks to Curly Watts. Thirty years later things had gone full-circle with Weatherfield officially having its very own Coop store, and with the Precinct being mentioned in the series for donkey's years, the viewer will see for themselves very soon. Notice any similarity with Firman's Freezers and Iceland? And Freshco's sound like Tesco or even Presto. Supermarket Sweep in the Winton era had "Sweep" logos covering brand names; and Marmite was still "Yeast Extract" on screen. And then came Rylan's version in 2019 - sponsored by Tesco just time for their 100th anniversary celebrations.
Blue Peter never used Sellotape; it was always sticky-backed plastic, well into the Simon Groom and Mark Curry eras. No one did any Hoovering on the BBC for Hoover also made washing machines as well; having to pay a washing machine licence to fund the manufacturer of Persil has been compared with the good old TV Licence in the past. As they say in the classics such as the Radio Times, other brands were available. Back in the day, while Sellotape and Hoover were borderline; that is, generic brand names that come into use simply because hardly anyone even knows what the generic name for it is - Ena Sharples translating Guinness into "a milk stout", or even most regulars asking for "a pint" as if they were Dracula inside a blood bank. What on earth did they think we were going to do? - take lucrative revenue from the ad breaks? Viewers leaving their TV sets and immediately going straight out to purchase the relevant item or service incidentally referred to? It does draw more attention to the product when that is done which is what the TV company doesn't want to happen in the first place. One can say "Corn Flakes" but not "Rice Krispies"; "hamburger" but not "Big Mac"; "correction fluid" but not "Tippex" - perhaps copyright has something to do with this decision and it could be costly to do it the other way?
In addition to BBC programmes, those aimed at youngsters were the sharp focus of all this: Button Moon's spaceship may look like it says "Heinz" without actually doing so, but a lot of Thames programmes such as The Sooty Show and Mr Bean used to blank out the Heinz name, even though the "Baked Beans" lettering and style of tin just as much mentions Heinz in an abstract way. Fairy Liquid and a Walkers Crisps box with brown parcel tape also got the treatment courtesy of the ITV Schools programme Junior Maths - remember Fred Harris, aka the male Carol Vorderman? Ironically, Central schools' programme Stop, Look Listen from around 1985, seemed to be a ten minute advert for Tesco where a pre-Millionaire Chris Tarrant narrates to the five to seven age group what happens in a supermarket. Ditto for the late 1990s BBC "fly on the wall" series Superstore, but thankfully, no Tesco member of staff has become another Jane McDonald or Maureen Rees.
I think that they were worried that the regulators were worried that they would be biased towards a certain brand when several were available, or indeed the TV programmes doing the ad breaks' dirty work for them - even actors and presenters were not allowed to feature in ad breaks that they appeared in. Ironically, when Matthew Kelly took over from Bruce Forsyth on the gambling entertainment show You Bet! in 1991, in the LWT region at least, Forsyth appeared in the very first ad break of Kelly's first show - something that couldn't have been allowed in the previous series.
There was an article in one of the Sunday Times supplements back in the early 1990s that mentioned similar aspects of brand names incidentally gatecrashing TV programmes when they were not invited to the party. Rustie Lee was suspended from TV-am because she was paid to use certain brands. Indeed, mentions of certain brands are allowed as long as they are relevant to the nature of the programmes, but money cannot change hands - that was how it was back in 1992. It was known back then as CID or "Commercials in Disguise" - is it a TV programme or a TV commercial? Never mind (Ford) Sierra Oscar - the good old Boys in Blue on The Bill didn't drive (Fiat) Panda cars, but they drove Vauxhall Astras dressed as police cars because Thames Television did a deal with Vauxhall to provide cars for their cast. The R with a circle around it next to the logo could mean "rude" perhaps?
During an early 1980s break time on Grange Hill, Tucker and Co weren't bothered too much of whether chocolate was a Cadbury or Rowntree product, or perhaps they wanted a Dairy Milk instead of a Milky Way and so wanted to briefly skive to the newsagent across the road where Cadbury products were sold and were 5p cheaper as well. Slough-based Mars confectionary seem to have provided Grange Hill's Tuck Shop goodies such as Twix, Opal Fruits and of course Mars itself back in around 1981. That certainly helped the third year work, rest, and play, especially a non-uniformed Cathy Hargreaves perform in her band and to get over being caned. Pity that Roland Browning doesn't arrive until the next series. No wonder Gonch and Hollo decided to set up their own toast bar at break time five years later.
I am almost certain that Open All Hours and even Alf Roberts' Corner Shop in Coronation Street used to do that; taking away the realism of both the series. Watching 1970s episodes of the latter (and perhaps the former); Coop logos were sometime seen on the green shelves - ironic considering the Coop being allowed to be displayed many years later in Weatherfield. And these were the days when brand names got laughs from the audience, probably because it sounded daring to mention them - I mean, "Sainsbury's" does sound more funnier than just saying "supermarket", doesn't it? Comedians always used to use the standard of Allied Carpets as being closer to being a barber's shop rather than a place for underlay and rugs. The Gwen Taylor sitcom Barbara was like that, and it even got complaints to the Independent Television Commission as a result.
Brand names are not swear words, and even these days now, people say "I work for a well-known department store" rather than be embarrassed to work for Marks and Spencer; but of course, if you do think of brand name as a swear word, just think of French Connection United Kingdom from around 1999. The days of "covering up" seem to be over - at least I haven't seen it on new programme for a few years.
Or are they trying to make us use the proper, official name for the product rather than a made-up copyrighted nickname? You decide...
Blue Peter never used Sellotape; it was always sticky-backed plastic, well into the Simon Groom and Mark Curry eras. No one did any Hoovering on the BBC for Hoover also made washing machines as well; having to pay a washing machine licence to fund the manufacturer of Persil has been compared with the good old TV Licence in the past. As they say in the classics such as the Radio Times, other brands were available. Back in the day, while Sellotape and Hoover were borderline; that is, generic brand names that come into use simply because hardly anyone even knows what the generic name for it is - Ena Sharples translating Guinness into "a milk stout", or even most regulars asking for "a pint" as if they were Dracula inside a blood bank. What on earth did they think we were going to do? - take lucrative revenue from the ad breaks? Viewers leaving their TV sets and immediately going straight out to purchase the relevant item or service incidentally referred to? It does draw more attention to the product when that is done which is what the TV company doesn't want to happen in the first place. One can say "Corn Flakes" but not "Rice Krispies"; "hamburger" but not "Big Mac"; "correction fluid" but not "Tippex" - perhaps copyright has something to do with this decision and it could be costly to do it the other way?
In addition to BBC programmes, those aimed at youngsters were the sharp focus of all this: Button Moon's spaceship may look like it says "Heinz" without actually doing so, but a lot of Thames programmes such as The Sooty Show and Mr Bean used to blank out the Heinz name, even though the "Baked Beans" lettering and style of tin just as much mentions Heinz in an abstract way. Fairy Liquid and a Walkers Crisps box with brown parcel tape also got the treatment courtesy of the ITV Schools programme Junior Maths - remember Fred Harris, aka the male Carol Vorderman? Ironically, Central schools' programme Stop, Look Listen from around 1985, seemed to be a ten minute advert for Tesco where a pre-Millionaire Chris Tarrant narrates to the five to seven age group what happens in a supermarket. Ditto for the late 1990s BBC "fly on the wall" series Superstore, but thankfully, no Tesco member of staff has become another Jane McDonald or Maureen Rees.
I think that they were worried that the regulators were worried that they would be biased towards a certain brand when several were available, or indeed the TV programmes doing the ad breaks' dirty work for them - even actors and presenters were not allowed to feature in ad breaks that they appeared in. Ironically, when Matthew Kelly took over from Bruce Forsyth on the gambling entertainment show You Bet! in 1991, in the LWT region at least, Forsyth appeared in the very first ad break of Kelly's first show - something that couldn't have been allowed in the previous series.
There was an article in one of the Sunday Times supplements back in the early 1990s that mentioned similar aspects of brand names incidentally gatecrashing TV programmes when they were not invited to the party. Rustie Lee was suspended from TV-am because she was paid to use certain brands. Indeed, mentions of certain brands are allowed as long as they are relevant to the nature of the programmes, but money cannot change hands - that was how it was back in 1992. It was known back then as CID or "Commercials in Disguise" - is it a TV programme or a TV commercial? Never mind (Ford) Sierra Oscar - the good old Boys in Blue on The Bill didn't drive (Fiat) Panda cars, but they drove Vauxhall Astras dressed as police cars because Thames Television did a deal with Vauxhall to provide cars for their cast. The R with a circle around it next to the logo could mean "rude" perhaps?
During an early 1980s break time on Grange Hill, Tucker and Co weren't bothered too much of whether chocolate was a Cadbury or Rowntree product, or perhaps they wanted a Dairy Milk instead of a Milky Way and so wanted to briefly skive to the newsagent across the road where Cadbury products were sold and were 5p cheaper as well. Slough-based Mars confectionary seem to have provided Grange Hill's Tuck Shop goodies such as Twix, Opal Fruits and of course Mars itself back in around 1981. That certainly helped the third year work, rest, and play, especially a non-uniformed Cathy Hargreaves perform in her band and to get over being caned. Pity that Roland Browning doesn't arrive until the next series. No wonder Gonch and Hollo decided to set up their own toast bar at break time five years later.
I am almost certain that Open All Hours and even Alf Roberts' Corner Shop in Coronation Street used to do that; taking away the realism of both the series. Watching 1970s episodes of the latter (and perhaps the former); Coop logos were sometime seen on the green shelves - ironic considering the Coop being allowed to be displayed many years later in Weatherfield. And these were the days when brand names got laughs from the audience, probably because it sounded daring to mention them - I mean, "Sainsbury's" does sound more funnier than just saying "supermarket", doesn't it? Comedians always used to use the standard of Allied Carpets as being closer to being a barber's shop rather than a place for underlay and rugs. The Gwen Taylor sitcom Barbara was like that, and it even got complaints to the Independent Television Commission as a result.
Brand names are not swear words, and even these days now, people say "I work for a well-known department store" rather than be embarrassed to work for Marks and Spencer; but of course, if you do think of brand name as a swear word, just think of French Connection United Kingdom from around 1999. The days of "covering up" seem to be over - at least I haven't seen it on new programme for a few years.
Or are they trying to make us use the proper, official name for the product rather than a made-up copyrighted nickname? You decide...
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