London
(ANI):
The
BBC
has
been
slammed
for
giving
too
much
publicity
to
the
Harry
Potter
films.
For
the
promotion
of
the
Half
Blood
Prince
film,
starring
Daniel
Radcliffe
as
the
boy
wizard,
Radio
1
broadcasted
a
special
Potter
Day
programme
last
year
to
coincide
with
the
release
of
the
flick.
DJs
tailored
show
to
the
JK
Rowling
film
and
33
trailers
were
also
played
during
the
Beeb's
12
hours
of
coverage.
What"s
more,
a
website
was
set
up
to
promote
the
day.
Internal
watchdog
of
the
BBC
Trust
ruled
it
had
given
"undue
prominence" to
the
brand.
The
BBC
Trust
said
that
the
day"s
programming
as
a
whole
breached
the
corporation"s
editorial
guidelines.
"The
verbal
references
to
the
brand
or
the
film
were
not
used
sparingly
nor
were
there
very
strong
journalistic
reasons
for
repeated
references,"
the
BBC
quoted
the
trust
as
saying
in
its
report.
"The
number
of
references
and
the
manner
in
which
the
trails
were
delivered
amounted
to
undue
prominence,"
the
trust
added.
But
it
rejected
RadioCentre's
assertions
that
the
coverage
amounted
to
an
endorsement
of
the
film
or
that
a
BBC
website
was
set
up
to
promote
the
day
gave
undue
prominence
to
it.
RadioCentre
chief
executive
Andrew
Harrison
said
the
BBC
had
been
"hijacked
for
the
promotion
of
an
already
successful
commercial
product".