Broadcast media companies that accept money and intentionally make advertisements appear to be news or programming are deceiving their audience. It is unforgivable for a government to use embedded marketing to cheat people in pursuit of its own interests. However, if a private entity uses embedded marketing, it could be considered a civil contract between the media and the business concerned. Should the government just ignore this?
According to one view, such behavior may indeed be contentious, but the government should not intervene to regulate it.
In the US, where embedded marketing is not as serious as it is in Taiwan, but far more common than in Europe, music companies have long paid to have songs promoted on air, a practice known as or “pay to play.”
The UK was the first country to allow musicians play certain songs in theaters for payment and that practice later spread to the US, though the government tried to stop it as early as 1890. However, efforts to do so proved unsuccessful. Indeed, pay to play was taken to new heights in the 1950s when radio stations were no longer paid directly and the task was handed over to PR companies. In 1959, the US Congress launched an investigation, in the belief that the practice was immoral and tantamount to bribery. The following year, broadcasting laws were changed, making it illegal for disc jockeys to accept money to play songs.
However, this cat and mouse game has gone on regardless. In 2002, people involved in the US entertainment industry and other groups, including the Audio Publishers Association, sent a joint letter to the Federal Communications Commission in which they demanded a detailed investigation into pay to play arrangements.
From 2004 to 2006, former New York State attorney general Eliot Spitzer brought cases against four of the world’s largest music companies, including Sony, who eventually agreed to pay huge settlements and stop engaging in pay to play activities in exchange for not having charges brought against them.
Over the past decade, embedded marketing has become increasingly worse in Taiwan’s broadcast media. This is in some way linked to falling incomes for the broadcast companies because of a weaker advertising market.
If we had effective professional associations and labor unions, an agreement could be negotiated to bring an end to embedded marketing. The government and businesses would then have no choice but to face the issue honestly, and conduct advertising and marketing in an open and dignified manner. In this way, the advertising income of the broadcast media would not decrease. However, these associations and trade unions have not been of much help so far.
If the government refrained from using embedded marketing and introduced the necessary policy adjustments, companies would not have to deceive people and broadcast media would not be in the awkward situation they currently find themselves in. This would be a change for the better and government involvement could then be considered a positive thing.
Feng Chien-san is a professor in the Department of Journalism at National Chengchi University.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
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