Traditionally, the UK has resisted product placement in TV programming. By allowing shameless plugging during broadcasting, the quality & integrity of programming would be brought down to a horrendous low. Then in comes the government, with pushes to repeal placement guidelines and allow advertising within programming.
Now, the government’s new plans to allow product placement are being cut back again. Ben Bradshaw, the culture secretary, was proposing a free market on advertising (minus tobacco ads…), but following concerns from Andy Burnham & Hillary Benn, constrains are being put on ads to help fight the ‘obesity crisis’. The concept of parents actually learning to look after their children properly & not allowing them to balloon into wobbling beasts hasn’t been looked at though…
So, coming back to impartiality….who will check why the particular products are being placed? Does this open up a whole new area of potential corruption? Who is to stop a producer with shares in one company pushing for the placement of that product? How is this regulated, and how does it keep programming balanced where there is so much commercial interest and potential profit?
On the Fence 
I think this is a good point. How can programming be impartial when it’s promoting one brand over another? Consider this though if you will…If the independent sector is NOT allowed to use product placement to make up some of the income it’s lost from advertising – then in future there won’t be so many news outlets. That’ll result in less breadth of coverage, a narrower range of views and arguably, a greater chance that impartiality will suffer. It’s like finding an answer to the meaning of life really I can’t find an answer – but I’m happy to go on living.