BBC land in hot water over U2 album launch

The BBC has landed in hot water following its tie-up with U2. The Beeb has admitted that it breached its own guidelines by giving ‘undue prominence for commercial products or organisations’.

The BBC received numerous complaints following coverage of last year’s album launch of U2’s ‘No Line On The Horizon’ which included a concert on the roof of Broadcasting House and the alteration of the BBC logo to ‘U2=BBC’. The launch, which happened last February led critics to complain that the BBC had given the band millions of pounds of free publicity across TV, Radio and online media.

The corporation’s editorial complaints unit upheld the complaints, stating that coverage of the launch breached BBC guidelines surrounding advertising and gave suggested an endorsement of the album by the BBC, and said a reference to the BBC being “part of launching this new album”, in an interview between Zane Lowe and U2’s Bono on BBC Radio 1, was inappropriate.

The complaint follows on from a similarly upheld complaint surrounding the corporation’s coverage of Coldplay’s ‘Viva la Vida’ tour.

(Image by Pop Martian)