THEIR sofa is home to every celebrity on the promotional circuit, but Ofcom has fined Channel 4 after finding Richard and Judy repeatedly guilty of plugging products on air.

A ubiquitous presence in Hollywood blockbusters, product placement in return for cash remains banned on televison in the European Union.

The couple accepted no money, but the regulator found that editorial control on the influential Richard & Judy show was practically handed over to the energy drinks company, Red Bull. Ofcom said that multiple references to the drink “gave the distinct impression that the programme had come under external commercial influence”.

Viewers complained about a videotape item in July last year that “seemed like an advertisement for Red Bull with celebrity endorsements” and “a sponsored advert for the coffee and Red Bull industry”.

Another was “left wondering whether the item had been produced by the makers of Red Bull”. The regulator ruled that the item breached the Ofcom Broadcasting Code by giving undue prominence to a commercial product.

The Ofcom investigation found that one advocate of the drink, Louise Reyner, of Loughborough University, had received a research grant of £52,962 from the manufacturer Red Bull GmbH in 2002. She told viewers, who were unaware of her personal interest: “An energy drink such as Red Bull is particularly good because it has always got 80mg of caffeine and we are recommending that people take about 160mg of caffeine, so that equates to two cans.”

The editorial integrity of programmes hosted by Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan has been questioned before. In 1994 Granada TV was fined £500,000 when This Morning, then presented by the couple, gave a plug to Safeway supermarkets and She magazine.

The Independent Television Commission, the precursor to Ofcom, said that the programme had repeatedly broken the rules and had received warnings about seven previous lapses, including plugs for Victor Kiam’s Lady Remington range of jewellery, Heinz and Calvin Klein products.

The couple were criticised by the regulator again in 2003 when their new Channel 4 programme plugged their joint autobiography. The book club that runs on their afternoon chat show can boost sales tenfold of titles that they choose.

Ofcom rarely uses its power to fine broadcasters but demanded a nominal £5,000 from Channel 4 yesterday over the Red Bull error, which it said was a serious breach of the code. It demonstrated “uncharacteristically poor judgment resulting in what appeared to be, at the very least, a loss of editorial control”.

Product placement, such as the can of Diet Coke that Simon Cowell is contracted to drink in American Idol, may yet become commonplace on British television. Ofcom is reviewing its rules and may allow product placement-for-cash, where the relationship is flagged up on screen.

The Channel 4 breach followed an apology by Richard Madeley over an item broadcast two months earlier on the dangers of excessive caffeine intake. The first item had been prompted by a coroner’s call for drink-drive limits on caffeine after the death in a car crash of a man who had drunk four cans of Red Bull.

Madeley’s apology was followed by the videotape item, which explored the benefits of caffeine, with particular emphasis on Red Bull. Coffee was disparaged with comments like “you can’t tell how much caffeine is in it” and “the instant stuff from the machine . . . is horrible”.

The contributors included the golfer Paul Casey, who is seen drinking Red Bull and saying: “Red Bull really assists in keeping sharp and alert.”

Channel 4 said that it was duty-bound to produce an item rectifying inaccuracies initially broadcast about Red Bull. It said that the subsequent Red Bull plug was a “considered and measured way to resolve the issues of accuracy and fairness”. It accepted, however, that the report gave the impression of external commercial influence and acknowledged that it had breached the broadcasting code.

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