MasterChef en Radiotelevisión Española: Revisión legal del patrocinio cultural en la Ley General de Comunicación Audiovisual 2022

Abstract

MasterChef is a television talent show that has been successfully implemented in more than 50 countries. In Spain, it is co-produced by the production company Shine Iberia (Banijai group) and RTVE, the country's public broadcaster. In 2023, it will be a decade since it began broadcasting on this public medium. Since then, its presence on the programming schedule has been widely consolidated thanks to the extraordinary audience success that has been maintained season after season. Currently, MasterChef is considered the flagship of RTVE's entertainment programs, with three different versions of the program: the original MasterChef, with anonymous contestants, MasterChef Junior and MasterChef Celebrity. Because it is broadcast on RTVE, MasterChef is subject to the Law on Financing of the Spanish Radio Television Corporation that came into force in 2010. Among the novelties incorporated by this law, the prohibition of advertising on the public medium stood out; therefore, the possibility of receiving financing through this means was annulled. However, the law left the door open to certain revenues from advertisers, allowing for sports and cultural sponsorship. One of the programs protected by the legal protection of cultural sponsorship is MasterChef, an entertainment space where advertising brands are frequently present. This research aims to analyze the presence of advertising brands in MasterChef and question whether the advertising formats that promote these brands remain within the limits of cultural sponsorship described in the Law on Financing of the Spanish Radio and Television Corporation. Methodologically, after a review of the scientific literature, the program's advertising content is analyzed to identify the presence of brands and formats of persuasive interest. A documentary study of contracts and judicial processes around the case is developed as a complement. The results demonstrate the existence of abundant and varied alternative advertising formats that are intertwined with the plot of the talent show, such as product placement, branded content or telepromotions, among others. The prominent presence of brands in a programme for which only cultural sponsorship is permitted has been the cause of several sanctions. The advertising interest of various brands and organisations is demonstrated by contracts signed with Shine Iberia in which the terms of the promotional action in the MasterChef programme are specified. The investigation concludes that the MasterChef España programme is an attractive promotional platform for brands and a solvent media format thanks to the capital inflow through such brands that pursue an advertising interest. This reality conflicts with the legislation that currently governs the financing of RTVE, as it exceeds the legal limits of cultural sponsorship.