MediaGuardian: Ofcom sees red over Richard and Judy plug
Ofcom's ruling (PDF)

Richard and Judy have been "at it again" - it seems - with a somewhat overzealous attempt to redress the balance after a previous report on the effects of drinking too much caffeine. It was back in 1994 that This Morning was awarded a record fine of £500,000 for product placement, so the two presenters are no stranger to the perils of mentioning commercial products on-air.

Note the derisory amount (£5000) that Channel 4 were fined by Ofcom, and although this particular incident might not have been as 'bad' (relatively speaking) as the 1994 This Morning incident, the fine imposed should have been much nearer £50,000. However the amount is likely to reflect the fact that television product placement rules may soon be relaxed by Ofcom.

Whilst I applaud the fact that this transgression was acted upon, it unfortunately shows yet again that Ofcom only seems to be interested in taking action when there are commercial or financial interests involved in the equation, as was also the case in the Auctionworld ruling. Also note that the Red Bull plugging incident only attracted four complaints from the public.

I'm willing to bet that Ofcom and the commercial broadcasters receive far more complaints about such issues as poor programme quality and intrusive presentational methods, but because these issues upset a percentage of viewers as opposed to the advertisers or broadcasters, the complaints are judged to be unimportant therefore can be safely ignored.