Product Placement Finally Finds Its Way to Irish TV

Television viewers in Ireland could always find certain products placed in American TV shows and those made elsewhere. But it has long been against the rules to do that on a show produced in Ireland.

All that changed a few months ago. The Irish Times reports that September will mark the first month that product placement appears in a television show produced in Ireland.

The product? Coffee. Mugs of Kenco Coffee, an instant produced by Kraft Food, will somehow find their way into the hands of hosts and guests on TV3’s Morning Show and Midday

And why not? According to the Times, the program will make €250,000 ($360,163) for one year’s worth of coffee drinking.

Kraft is “always looking for innovative ways to fuel consumer excitement,” said Kraft’s head of marketing, Sandra Gahan, the Times reports.

One reason the rules changed to allow for product placement, the Times notes, is “the proliferation of digital video recorders that allow viewers to record programs and then fast-forward through the ads, a technological advance which had significantly threatened many broadcasters’ income from advertising revenue.”

Keep your eyes peeled, Ireland. More products are surely on their way.