THEY are not yet household names but already manufacturers are seeking their endorsement. Dave Myers and Si King, two bearded motorbike enthusiasts, are being hyped as successors to Jamie and Nigella as the BBC’s new celebrity chefs.

Their 12-part series, The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook, will be shown next year on BBC2 at a prime time for ABC1 viewers, making it a good platform for advertisers.

Of course, officially there is no such thing as advertising on the BBC. But this is not quite as straightforward as it seems.

Last week, while Myers and King were filming on location in Turkey, John Stroud, the managing director of the production company, was pondering an interesting offer.

Inside the Big Bear Films office — a rundown 1960s building in Hammersmith, west London — Stroud was sitting opposite two businessmen.

Their proposition was simple. They had a client in Mexico who was planning to launch a new beer called Reds in Britain and they wanted it to appear on the Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook.

In return, the businessmen would pick up the production company’s travel costs and hotel bills when the cast and crew filmed in Mexico this January. The proposal was a clear breach of BBC guidelines and possibly illegal under European law. Unlike film companies, British broadcasters are forbidden from taking payment for product placements.

But Stroud, an experienced director of BBC drama and comedies, indicated he was, in principle, willing to do a deal as long as no record of it was made on paper.

What he did not know was that Reds was a fictitious product. The two businessmen were undercover Sunday Times reporters investigating how “stealth” advertising through product placement is becoming widespread on the BBC. In the recorded conversation, Stroud agreed to place a bottle of beer in full view of the camera while Myers and King were cooking. “It’s a very distinctive label. So on a shot of the table you’re going to see it,” he said.

Reporter: “The question is, what can we do in return for you for this? Our company has links with travel agents and hotel chains.”

Stroud: “That might be very useful. If somebody wants to, you know, erm, help us find some accommodation in Mexico (laughs). And if, at the same time the boys like drinking Reds beer, I don’t see a problem with that.”

Stroud suggested the men might go even further in endorsing the beer, if they liked it.

Reporter: “If, for example, they were able to mention the beer in a positive light, that would be brilliant. I don’t know whether that’s a possibility?” Stroud: “Oh yeah. I mean, absolutely. They can — will — drink beer from time to time and they will probably say, as they usually, do: ‘This is good stuff’ . . . We’re not in the business of slagging off products.”

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