Coronation Street actors Brooke Vincent and Catherine Tyldesley are shown in the Dispatches programme allegedly promoting bogus products. Photograph: Ian West/PA
Channel 4 is to defy legal threats by ITV and air an undercover sting allegedly showing Coronation Street actors promoting bogus products on Twitter in breach of marketing rules.
The one-hour Dispatches film, Celebs, Brands and Fake Fans, will go out on Channel 4 on Monday 5 August at 8pm.
Coronation Street actors including Brooke Vincent, who plays Sophie Webster, are said to have been covertly filmed receiving beauty products from a fictitious cosmetics firm set up by Dispatches. Some of the TV stars later tweeted about the products, which included bogus "mystique spray" and a bottle of toner that contained only water.
Earlier this month ITV threatened to sue Channel 4 over suggestions that the actors received free gifts or engaged in any "unlawful marketing promotion", claims the broadcaster has denied.
It is understood that Coronation Street actors feature heavily in the current version of the programme despite the legal threats, which were made after a number of "right to reply" letters were sent to individuals who appear in the film.
The current affairs documentary set up a fake cosmetics firm Puttana Aziendale ? which translates from Italian as "corporate whore" ? to sting the TV stars at an event called Celebrity Retreat in a Manchester hotel.
Coronation Street stars ? including Vincent and Catherine Tyldesley, who plays Eva Price ? were pictured in the Daily Mirror earlier this month posing with Puttana Aziendale shopping bags. The Advertising Standards Authority states that individuals endorsing products on Twitter should make it clear using symbols "#spons" or "#ad".
The show's official billing, published on Wednesday, said: "In this one-hour special Channel 4 Dispatches goes undercover to investigate what's real and what's fake in the brave new world of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
"Celebrities have considerable influence on social media. But are some less than transparent when tweeting brand names with their legions of fans?
"Dispatches exposes the new tricks used by marketeers to plug brands, from buying fake Facebook 'likes' and YouTube 'views' to influencing social media conversations."
The Dispatches film has been produced and directed by Chris Atkins, the film-maker behind the 2009 documentary Starsuckers that hoaxed several tabloid newspapers with fake celebrity stories. Atkins is working with independent producer Matchlight on the documentary.
ITV declined to comment.
??To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@guardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
? To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jul/25/coronation-street-twitter-sting-channel-4
derrick rose injury st louis news correspondents dinner i am legend san antonio spurs greta van susteren the five year engagement
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.