One of the biggest components in Nokia’s expensive campaign for its latest flagship handset broke UK media rules by mixing its sponsorships with TV content.
Back in October, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) sponsored “break flashes” across three Channel 5 channels, earning exposure for its Lumia handset over the channels’ idents between shows.
But Ofcom has ruled the deal broke rule 9.19 of the Broadcasting Code stipulating sponsorships must be made clear.
Channel 5 had protested that the spots were too short to include such disclosures, but Ofcom rejected the argument, saying: “If an item cannot be made compliant with the
rules, i.e. it is too brief for text or audio to convey the necessary sponsorship relationship, the item should not be used as a sponsorship vehicle.”
That will discourage Channel 5 and other broadcasters from using similar ad sells in future but Nokia will be unhurt since the campaign has now run its course.
Ofcom also found ITV2’s The Xtra Factor had breached the code for unduly promoting its presenter Olly Murs’ latest single and its judge Tulisa Contostavlos’ perfume brand.