Whaite.
The series hit screens in August – and by now it had become a staple of
British TV.
But while the ratings were better than ever, and fans of the show delighted by
its return, the series began to hit headlines outside of the TV review pages.
Unsurprisingly for such a successful programme, it had suddenly become
newsworthy. The coverage wasn’t always positive, however, and the third series
soon found itself in hot water.
It was noticed that Smeg fridges featured heavily in the show. Each
workstation in the competition kitchen has a fridge emblazoned with a
prominent Smeg logo on the front. Often there would be close-up shots of the
fridges as contestants gathered ingredients and prepared to pull together their
recipes. To the casual eye, this might not have seemed anything out of the
ordinary. However, one viewer complained. Andrew Smith, of Manchester,
wrote to the Radio Times to voice his concerns, saying: ‘The Smeg logo was so
visible that I counted it 37 times before giving up.’ He also complained that
Smeg’s website seemed to indicate a collaboration with The Great British Bake
Off as it openly stated that it had ‘once again teamed up with the show to supply
six iconic fridge-freezers’.
This might not have seemed anything out of the ordinary, except that it meant
the BBC’s own guidelines were in jeopardy of being breached: product
placement in any shape or form is strictly forbidden by the Corporation. BBC
rules say producers must not feature products for cash or services, and any
brands shown must be editorially justified and given limited exposure. The
accusation that they were, therefore, prioritising a brand of fridge-freezer and
giving it ample coverage in one of their flagship shows was particularly
damaging. The BBC was forced to admit that it had breached its own editorial
standards in so doing. They admitted to the fact that a loan agreement between
Love Productions and the fridge-freezer company ‘did not meet editorial
guidelines’.
It transpired that the Italian firm behind Smeg fridge-freezers had loaned the
£1,000 appliances at no charge for this latest series after being approached by
staff from the production company. They had also supplied them for the two
previous series. The result was that the comments on the Smeg website were
requested to be removed by the BBC and a spokesperson for the Corporation
issued a statement, saying: ‘It is inevitable that some equipment will be seen in
shot but producers are always looking to minimise product prominence. The
independent production company had a loan agreement that did not meet
