France Says ‘Non’ to Broadcast Mentions of Twitter, Facebook

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

F-word ban on French radio, TV

PARIS: How do you say Facebook and Twitter in French? You don’t – at least, not if you are on radio or television, where mention of them is banned unless they are specifically part of the story.

The internet sites have fallen foul of a 1992 decree that outlaws the promotion of private businesses on programs.

Journalists will no longer be able to end their reports by saying “Follow us on Twitter” or “Have a look at our Facebook page”, because the French government deems this as either blatant or subliminal promotion, and unfair to other similar networks. Instead, they should say, “Find us on social networks.”

Why this? Why now? On PRI’s The World, French journalist Anne-Elisabeth Moutet says the ban on “concealed advertising” comes partly because the French government broadcasting authority is a bunch of old-media fogies, partly because anti-American sentiment pervades French culture.

Whatever, it’s the damndest definition of stealth advertising you’ll ever encounter.

(First posted on Sneak ADtack)


1 Response to France Says ‘Non’ to Broadcast Mentions of Twitter, Facebook

  1. arafat kazi says:

    Death of my life and sacred bleu!!!! Whenever the French do something like this it reminds me that we don’t have a monopoly on freedom fries. They also don’t use the word “email” because they prefer e-(French word for letter no doubt ending in a vowelle.)

    In his history of the OED, The Meaning of Everything., Simon Winchester argues that the reason why the OED was completed as (relatively) fast as it was, and one of the main reasons for the dominance of English, is the receptivity of the English language. Words in popular use are added to the grand repository of language. This adds to the richness and it it keeps things evolving.

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