The BBC’s Editorial Guidelines say “There must be no undue prominence of brands, products, organisations, services, or trademarks in content”.  To avoid this, content makers must ensure “That the way in which the reference is made is appropriate. Favourable descriptions must be editorially justified. Prices and availability should not normally be discussed outside consumer review content”. On this occasion, in response to an inquiry from a listener, Mr Blackburn said: “We’re coming back to the Bournemouth Pavilion in the New Year and we start our Sounds of the Sixties Theatre Show in March and a lot of the shows are nearly sold out already”.  In the ECU’s view these references were not editorially justified.  However, it could find no other example of such a breach on Mr Blackburn’s programme and understood the matter had been discussed with him – action it considered appropriate and sufficient to deal with the issue.

Resolved