What's the rule with bluring labels on TV?
 

Watching "Being Bobby Brown" and Bobby is wearing a Raiders jersey.. Shows the Reebok insigna, but the name on the back "Woodson" is blurred.... Is there any reason for this? How do shows decide what labels/brands are shown and which ones aren't?

I don't think there is an actual rule for this. I think most shows just do not wish to give free advertising to companies who do not pay for product placement fees. Especially if the companies' competitiors might be paying for advertising, etc.

They might approach all the companies who have visible logos to pay for product placement, and the ones who say no they blur them out.

that was my thought... very curious if it is true

They probably didn't want the player asking for some obscene amount of money for having his name on the show. I wouldn't want to listen to some whiny sports player who already makes 10 million a year if i did this.

The rule?

As far as media law is concerned, there isn't any rule saying you can't shoot a logo on a shirt. However, common sense says, if Nike is backing your show (buying advertisements), some doofus wearing a Reebok shirt is going to have a nice blur.

Its really annoying though and very distracting....I understand the reason for this, but I still say its dumb. Whereas I might not notice a box of Tide detergent in the background, when you blur it out, my eye is immediately drawn to the blurred orange box in the background and I recognize it as a box of Tide.

Bullseye. Most people can figure it out anyways, what's the difference?

You must watch a lot of reality T.V. as most scripted shows just go with the generic looking box of maybe a piece of tape over the T in "Tide". Same goes with soda cans and other such things.

Actually I watch absolutely no reality TV....I hate it. I think Im recalling something like that from one of those late night Undressed marathons MTV used to do (addicting as hell...about the only thing even remotely worth watching on MTV when I was in college). I actually heard once that MTV blurred out all logos because they didnt want it to influence children in any way...kinda funny considering some of the crap they have on.

Yeah,i can just imagine if they showed a Terrell Owens jersey.

Funny, considering the show involved, I sorta assumed they blurred out only products from the companies who payed money to not be associated with the star or the production.