A Loyal Reader Asks:
“Does the client’s name need to be in the body of the commercial? (XYZ Company) wants us to run a commercial advertising that they have brought Hollywood agents to town and this is your chance to see if you ‘have it’.
“But they request we NOT put their name in the commercial. Does XYZ Company have to be named in the commercial if that is the name of the client paying for the advertisement? Is it required by the FCC that the advertiser be named in their commercial?”
Obvious Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, I’m not dispensing legal advice, consult your attorney, blah blah blah.
And The Answer Is…
Yes.
The identity of the advertiser must be made clear within the commercial.
If you say, “Sears proudly announcers their Winter White Sale,” it’s obvious the commercial is presented by Sears. So there’s no need to add a tag, “This commercial paid for by Sears, Inc.”
But if XYZ Company is the name of company buying the commercial, then that has to be made clear within the commercial.
And by the way….
The advertiser doesn’t want anyone to know they’re the people paying for the commercial? I smell trouble.
I’m sure, of course, that XYZ Company is a very reputable company with a sterling reputation.
I’m sure it’s nothing like the scurrilous, contemptible businesses described in this L.A. Times article.
I can imagine some other company, however, in some other market, running such a commercial…
…It turning out that the “become a star” ploy was bogus and maybe even resulting in lawsuits…
…And if the radio station were found to be complicit in illegally hiding from the consumer public the identity of the advertiser….
Well, that certainly would be a mess, wouldn’t it?
Another thing:
The Federal Communications Commission might decide to fine your radio station $4,000 for each time it ran that commercial. Just ask WLS/Chicago.
And finally:
If your station agrees to air this rip-off campaign and then gets stiffed when the “don’t let people know who we are!” advertiser goes bankrupt, this blog is not the place for your station’s owner or managers to come looking for sympathy.
Comments on this entry are closed.
Holy crap, that ran on our station – and I was feeling better about getting them to actually put “The Event” in as the sponsor in the copy. Thanks for the ammunition for the WLS payout, too. While it looks like it centered less on the name of the sponsor being mentioned, but that – even though “mentioned” by name – it sure didn’t seem like it was portrayed as a sponsor. $4,000 x 11 airings = $44,000. Wonder how much they got for the flight…
Hi Dan,
I’ve had a few discussions with GMs over the years about these commercials. The general consensus held is that the station cannot be held responsible for the content of commercial advertisers. But I agree with you that content does not include allowing a company to get away without giving out it’s name clearly. The WIN incident seems to be somewhat telling in that they did not identify advertisers. However, the confusion for me with WIN is that their programming is mostly done on non-commercial radio such as KPFK, or on podcast radio (which makes me wonder why a conservative blowtorch like WLS AM was running their programming, but that’s another issue). I don’t know how non-coms are supposed to identify possible advertising, is it the same way as the standard commercial stations are supposed to do it?