Appearing in advert and programme

[stoogmeister]

Is it true that a celebrity appearing in a TV programme or film can't appear in the ad break for that programme / film?

[cully]

It can't be true because i've seen it happen. Can't recall the name of the actor, though.

[itvadmusic]

It is true becuase Channel 4 recently got fined for having the Big Brother eviction show and the L'oreal advert with Davina McCall. It also happened with someone else but I can't remember.

[wardy2006]

no this is not true for i havnt seen it and im a dear fan on big brother!

[mehlindi]

Yes, this is true. The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre deals with checking that all adverts due to be placed within television programmes don't contain celebrities closely associated with those programmes. The Advertising Standards Authority upheld complaints in 2005 about Davina McCall appearing in an advert during a Big Brother commercial break. Link here:
http://www.asa.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/C1EBEC27-6B 4A-49A0-AAA2-6D0CFDB9D1BF/0/Broadcastadvertisi ngadjudications3August2005.pdf

[Dr Doolittle]

There is no clear cut answer... Well no, actually there is. Although "mehlindi" is correct regarding the Big Brother issue and Davina MacColl specifically, there is no law laid down by either the Advertising Standards Authority or the Independent Television Commission which stipulates that "a celebrity" cannot appear in a commercial break during a programme being aired in which he or she appears. So the answer is 'no', it's not true.

However, in the Davina/Big Brother issue, the BACC felt that the ad's content (which allegedly shows Ms MacColl speaking to her own mother on the phone) COMBINED with the fact that Big Brother is considered a "reality TV" programme, and relies on income generated from phone voting, could confuse some viewers (obviously only the stupid ones!) that portraying Ms MacColl on the phone in the ad break of a show reliant on phone voting could be misleading. The additional gripe of the BACC was that Davina MacColl was the HOST of the reality show concerned.

Quick example: If David Beckham was a GUEST on Parkinson, they could still show Beckham in an ad for Adidas or Gillette during the commercial break. What they couldn't do is show an ad with Michael Parkinson in it, because he is the HOST of the show.

[allen63b]

I think it depends on when the actor made the advert!

If the advert was made with the intention of using it during a programme the actor was in then it could be against certain regulations, but if the ad was made years before the programme was broadcast I doubt there'd be a problem