AD BREAK: Sponsorship will eat itself at Five

If you watch CSI: New York tonight, you may get confused. At the beginning and end of each ad break, where the name of the show you're watching traditionally flashes up, something else is happening. A red smiley face flashes up, which then morphs into the Five logo. And in case you don't know what the smiley refers to, the screen then reads The Mentalist. So, apparently, not only are all of Five's crime dramas (the CSIs, Law & Orders etc) sponsored by Kia cars (very good stings, by the way - the right kind of kooky), they're apparently also sponsored by... one of Five's crime dramas. 

Now, I could snidely claim the channel is desperate to prop up a show that has lost viewers steadily since its strong debut - because Brits have better taste than Americans, where this drivel has been a big hit. However, this is just one example of crazy sponsorship and promo efforts at Five. If you watched the showing of The Da Vinci Code the other Sunday, you would have heard the odd statement, "The Da Vinci Code is sponsored by Angels & Demons" - the screening of one Dan Brown nonsense-fest being funded by its own sequel! They certainly can't be faulted on novelty.

One novelty that needs to be stamped on, however, is Wolf Blass wines' sponsorship of Cricket On Five. Now fair enough, they've come up with the idea of wine bottles as stumps, the ball knocking into them etc. But this is not an ident: these are the actual opening credits of the highlights package. Real England players are mixed in to the advertising images. Has the ECB been involved in this? Are the players aware? And earning from it? And, more's the point, is this legal? Isn't the promotional message supposed to be kept outside the programme itself - especially when it comes to sport and alcohol? Barking At The Television will be contacting Ofcom and the ASA to find out...