The Muppets aren’t winning any friends these days (sarcasm and exaggeration alert), what with being accused of communist leanings because they had an evil oil baron as a villain, a completely unique characteristic of communist, and only communist fiction, now group leader Kermit T. Frog is up on actually legitimate charges of illegal product placement in German television.
ZAK, the German commission in charge of regulating the airwaves, found that in an appearance on the Pro7 network while hosting Disney Day violated German law. Here’s where I wish I could say something to make this utterly ridiculous, just to match the Muppets general level of the surreal, like that Germany has a law against frogs on children’s television, or anyone who has ever associated with known Scandinavian-language-speaker-impersonator the Swedish Chef has been banned from German television, but the real problem is actually pretty mundane.
German law bans product placement unless the piece of television in which it appears is clearly marked as an ad. During the course of his hosting segments, Kermit happened to mention the theatrical release of the Muppets, but Pro7 failed to properly mark the segment. The network has admitted its mistake. You’d think Kermit would have been a bit more aware of the dangers, considering the time he spent as an ad-man.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the German media commission cannot directly fine broadcasters for violating advertising laws, so it’s not really clear whether there will be any legal consequences for the segment. I certainly hope not. We wouldn’t want Kermit’s fate to fall into the hands of any more German scientists.
(via The Hollywood Reporter.)
