Product placement has been dealt a blow in Russia following a ruling by an Arbitration Court of Appeal.
Kommersant reports that the court upheld a previous ruling, by the Moscow Arbitration Court, in a case involving the film company Central Partnerships and company Sun Products over the display of a product in a TV series entitled Yermolovy.
The two parties entered into a contract back in 2007 under which the product would be shown in the series, and its non-appearance forced Sun Products to demand the return of a fee it had paid beforehand to Central Partnerships.
However, the courts have ruled that the agreement between the two parties was invalid as product placement is prohibited by law in Russia.
Product placement does nevertheless take place, with the value of what Kommersant describes as ‘special projects for TV’ in 2009 being over R9 billion (€21.3 million). This was around 8% of the total spend on conventional TV advertising.
