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Expert Bastian Schweinsteiger, ARD presenter Jessy Wellmer during the European Championship match between Ukraine and England
Photo:
Lars Baron / AP
ARD is checking the appearance of its football expert Bastian Schweinsteiger during the broadcast of the European football championship on Saturday.
The public broadcaster confirmed this on Monday.
Schweinsteiger had posted a tweet at halftime in which he advertised a men's watch.
First the "Bild" reported.
There were two images in the post, one of which was a detail of the watch on his wrist. The manufacturer's Twitter account, for whom the former national team captain has been a brand ambassador since 2019, was also given. The watch could also be seen during the television broadcast. The tweet was no longer available on Monday afternoon.
"Like all our programs, the ARD broadcasts of EURO 2020 are subject to the ARD advertising guidelines, which exclude any form of surreptitious advertising and unspecified product placement," said an ARD announcement.
The fact that Schweinsteiger wore a watch during the Ukraine-England match "and published a post on social media at half-time without our knowledge as part of a paid advertising partnership will be checked and evaluated".
Tweet should be fine according to advertising guidelines
It is unclear to what extent the tweet violates the advertising guidelines of ARD. A document on the advertising guidelines on the broadcaster's website states: »Advertising is any statement (...) that is broadcast on the radio by (...) a natural person either for consideration or a similar consideration or as self-promotion ( ...). «Accordingly, the guideline only applies to content broadcast on the radio, this should not include Schweinsteiger's private Twitter account.
The broadcaster's advertising guidelines also state: »Surreptitious advertising is the mentioning or representation of goods, services, names, brands (...) in broadcasts if the organizer intentionally intends it for advertising purposes and if it is not indicated to the general public (...) ) can mislead. ”This point also only refers to broadcasts, so Schweinsteiger's tweet could only be problematic in connection with the presentation of the advertised watch during moderation.
The former national soccer player has been working for ARD since last year.
The contract is valid up to and including 2022. At the EM, Schweinsteiger appears in a duo with the presenter Jessy Wellmer.
hba / dpa
