I’ve noticed that a lot of news programs here will blot out names, logos or trademarks of shops or corporations. Do they get fined if they don’t?
They do a pretty half-assed job though. They’d cover up the Chinese part of Eslite Bookstore “誠品書店” yet leave the English part intact, or cover up the “intel” wording while leaving out the rest of the logo unmodified. Two seconds later on the very same segment they showed a close-up of the CPU they were showcasing and it was clear enough that the Intel lettering was in plain sight on the metal plate covering the CPU but they didn’t do a thing about it.
This seems the most likely explanation. I’ve noticed on shows like American Chopper and Overhaulin’ that logos on shop walls are blotted out prolly for this very reason.
There has been a lot of politicking going on recently after consumer groups got to complaining about the amount of padding and obvious product placement that goes on in news shows. I call them ‘newsy’ shows because they look like news programs to the casual observer but usually contain very little of substance, carrying twice as much coverage of celebrity gossip etc. than what you or I would recognize as ‘news’.
Anyway, it’s been decided by the NCC that newsy shows can carry advertising sections where products are pushed, but these segments must have a mark appear somewhere on screen to show they are adverts, not news stories. I think the fuzzing of trademarks in ‘news’ stories is to make the distinction even clearer and prevent the producers from doing obvious product placement via the back door.
Before:
‘Newsy’ story about a product from a company that just happens to have paid the producer under the table to promote it.
After:
News story cannot show the logo in clear detail. It’s likely anyone will recognize the outline or other attribute of the logo. The company may or may not have paid under the table for the coverage.
‘Newsy’ feature is paid for by the product vendor, and the fact that it’s an advertisement is displayed on-screen.
I would write more but there is a riveting two-hour news feature on right now about a Mrs. Lin in Tainan who apparently cooked some delicious fried rice today. There was also something about a third world war starting, but that was a two second item and it won’t rotate around for another three hours.
But don’t worry, it’s still okay to include a 10 minute segment on how exciting Niang Jia was tonight in the news digest that happens to be broadcast by the same company.
