BBC IS PERCEIVED RECIPIENT OF COCA-COLA’S UK TOP 40 SPONSORSHIP – GOVERNMENT SHOULD ‘GET REAL’ AND ALLOW SPONSORSHIP OF BBC PROGRAMMES
The BBC denies that it profits from sponsorship funds paid to the makers of some of its programmes - but clearly it does benefit indirectly via enhanced audience figures: Coca-Cola's sponsorship of the UK Top 40 is a case in point. Gvernment should get real and allow the BBC itself to accept sponsorship.
UK (PRWEB) December 10, 2003
Sponsorship always carries an element of risk. Companies who use sponsorship to make an association with another organisation know that, as with any investment, the value of that investment can go down as well as up.
But in the sponsorship deal between Coca - Cola and the Official UK Charts Company, which produces the UK Top 40, itÂ’s not the sponsor who is suffering burnt fingers - itÂ’s the BBC. The corporation is facing a welter of media and political criticism for promoting, albeit indirectly, what some see as a junk drink at a time when the government is trying to convince everyone to protect children from the promotion of such products.
In one way, the BBC’s situation is a bit like that of a passive smoker – the non-sponsoring BBC is sitting on the sidelines, passively inhaling all the fumes being generated by Coke’s promotion of a product which is reputed to damage the teeth of the nation’s children.
The corporationÂ’s charter debars it from carrying advertising. But the reality is that the perceived recipient of the Coke sponsorship is the BBC, just as it is the perceived recipient of many other sponsorship deals, as in the case of its snooker coverage, for instance. Just as a passive smoker has the option of walking out of the smoke-filled room, so the BBC has the option of walking away from the Coca-Cola deal, by refusing to transmit the UK Top 40 in its current form.
If the government is powerless to intervene in a commercial deal, then perhaps it should instead address the question of the extent to which the BBC is gaining commercial benefit from the Coke deal. When questioned about how much revenue the corporation will earn as a result of the sponsorship, directly and indirectly, a BBC spokesman told us that “The BBC will not earn any money as part of the deal. The sponsorship is between Coke and The Official Charts Company who compile the chart and are not related to the BBC in anyway. Anybody who uses this chart will need to refer to it by its official new title (which includes the word Coke)”.
But given that the Coke deal will be funding one of the jewels in the BBC’s crown as far as its kids’ programming is concerned, this does seem to misrepresent the current situation. The BBC justifies its ever-rising licence fee (colour licence up to £121 from next April) in large part on the basis of audience figures, audiences which in this case are fuelled significantly by a sponsored feature, the UK Top 40.
The government may or may not have a point when it comes to the risks associated with junk food and worries about childrenÂ’s dental health. But if ministers themselves are toothless when it comes to intervening in commercial transactions, perhaps now is the time to re-assess the role of advertising, or more specifically sponsorship, on the BBC.
TV sponsorship is a fast-growing market. With its comparatively upmarket audience and attractive product range, the BBC would be a highly merchantable media alternative for sponsors looking for a direct route to broadcast sponsorship.
Not only would a relaxation of the rules have beneficial effects in terms of potentially lowering the cost of the licence fee, it would also put more power in the hands of the corporation itself when it comes to the actual funding mechanisms funding of some of its programmes. So the government should get real and allow sponsorship of BBC programmes.
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Further information/media enquiries: Richard Fox, uksponsorship. com Ltd. on 01354 740916 or email: rf@uksponsorship. com
Notes to editors
• uksponsorship. com Ltd. operates a website called The UK Sponsorship Database, which displays a selection of current UK sponsorship opportunities in all major sponsorship areas – the arts, media, sport, education and the ‘cause-related’ sector. The website was launched in May 2000 and now carries information from over a thousand sponsor-seeking organisations, including many household names.
• The URL of The UK Sponsorship Database is www. uksponsorship. com
