TVSquad

Yeah, I hate it too. The Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America staged a joint protest in Los Angeles yesterday over product placement. The two organizations have been united against the same cause since November. They picketed and chanted in front of a building in Beverly Hills where an advertising summit, sponsored by Ad Age, was taking place. SAG and WGA weren't allowed in the meeting, despite their requests to be allowed in. Both groups are pushing for regulations, or a "code of conduct" on product placement in television and movies. At the very least, they want more money for not only being storytellers but also advertising copywriters.

While Pepsi cans and Fed Ex trucks in the background are all strategically placed, the writers and actors have a problem when the powers-that-be require them to work products into a story or even write an entire story around a product.