Plugola is the illicit business practice of
endorsing a product or service on radio or television for personal gain, without the consent of the network or stations. "Pluggers" have been known to accept bribes of money, alcohol, or free products and services. This contrasts greatly from
commercial sponsorship because the benefits of the endorsement go to the individual talent or programmers, while the stations and networks receive no revenue.
History
In the 1950s, concern over illicit business practices in television and radio including; plugola,
payola
Payola, in the music industry, is the illegal practice of paying a commercial radio station to play a song without the station disclosing the payment. Under US law, a radio station must disclose songs they were paid to play on the air as spons ...
, and rigged game shows led to congressional and U.S.
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) hearings. In 1959,
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
William Rogers reported to President
Dwight Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
that deceptive and
false advertising
False advertising is defined as the act of publishing, transmitting, or otherwise publicly circulating an advertisement containing a false claim, or statement, made intentionally (or recklessly) to promote the sale of property, goods, or servic ...
and programming was becoming a trend in the United States, and needed to stop. In that same year, FCC Chairman
John Doerfer presented his plan to expand public service programming on television networks. The plan called for some public service programming in prime time slots, which did not occur before this. The networks likely had the same agenda as Doerfer, to regain the respect of the viewers, and agreed to Doerfer's plan. By 1960, amendments were made to the
Communications Act of 1934
The Communications Act of 1934 is a United States federal law signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 19, 1934 and codified as Chapter 5 of Title 47 of the United States Code, et seq. The Act replaced the Federal Radio Commission with ...
to punish those who engaged in these illicit acts in the future.
See also
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Radio promotion
Radio promotion is the division of a record company which is charged with placing songs on the radio. They maintain relationships with program directors at radio stations and attempt to persuade them to play singles to promote the sale of record ...
*
Payola
Payola, in the music industry, is the illegal practice of paying a commercial radio station to play a song without the station disclosing the payment. Under US law, a radio station must disclose songs they were paid to play on the air as spons ...
References
{{Reflist
Broadcasting
Advertising