It was not the best week for Chris Evans and his Top Gear team but there was one big winner from Matt LeBlanc’s spin around the Cenotaph – Monster energy drinks.
The distinctive Monster logo was plastered all over Ken Block’s Ford Mustang “Hoonicorn” racing car containing the former Friends star.
But the energy drinks brand cannot have imagined quite how much publicity the controversial trip around the streets of London would generate. All publicity is good publicity, right?
The BBC and brand sponsorship have been uneasy bedfellows in the past, and the prominence of the Monster logo had Monkey rifling through the corporation’s editorial guidelines on advertising and product prominence.
“We need to be able to reflect the real world and this will involve referring to commercial products, organisations and services in our output,” say the guidelines.
“However, we must avoid any undue prominence which gives the impression that we are promoting or endorsing products, organisations or services.”
The BBC said in a statement: “The Hoonicorn is a world renowned exhibition car, the like of which has featured many times on Top Gear over the years. Such cars, similar to Formula One and rally cars, always feature sponsor logos.
“The hiring and use of the car is in accordance with the BBC’s editorial guidelines and protocols around undue prominence.”
Indeed, there have been branded Formula One cars on Top Gear in the past.
But the BBC will be hoping the stunt – and subsequent handbrake turn – will not be a sign of things to come, otherwise the BBC2 show risks becoming a load of Red Bullocks.
