The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

BBC Five Apple

Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode cleared by BBC Trust over Apple gag in crunch meeting

Author

By John Glenday, Reporter

April 1, 2016 | 1 min read

Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo, presenters of the Radio 5 Live film review show, have escaped censure by the BBC Trust for repeatedly referring to Apple products as a ‘fruit-related device’ in a long-running gag.

The pair’s antics drew the attention of the broadcaster’s oversight body after a listener complained that the joke had never been funny and merely served to promote the tech giants gadgets and as such the recurring refrain ought now be ‘laid to rest’.

This complaint was then escalated to the BBC Trust’s editorial standards committee, which duly remarked: “Decisions as to whether the “joke” of referring to “fruit-related devices” was funny or not rested solely with the BBC Executive, whose editorial judgements were not subject to scrutiny by the Trust unless they involved a breach of the editorial guidelines.”

Under corporation guidelines BBC presenters are in fact given leeway to refer to commercial products, either directly or indirectly.

BBC Five Apple

More from BBC

View all

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +