Corrie on plugging
Ban on stars endorsing products axed
CORONATION Street bosses have relaxed their ban on stars sharing endorsements for goods and services on social media.
It comes amid fears of an exodus of actors angry they cannot sign lucrative deals in exchange for an online thumbs-up.
We revealed how Jack P Shepherd, who plays David Platt,was fined for promoting a hair transplant on Instagram.
A Corrie source said: “It had been a long-standing bone of contention.
“The cast have been told they can now plug stuff they’ve been gifted or got a discount on – but they need to run things past bosses first.
“The news has been a long time coming but has gone down well.”
Stars are still banned from endorsements which would compromise the show’s existing commercial tie-ups.
It is claimed the change is an attempt to stop stars leaving – Corrie has seen a number of a departures over the past year, including Kym Marsh and Lucy Fallon. Jack, 32 – whose salary is £250,000 a year
– released a video about his hair procedure at a Manchester clinic. Dad-of-three Jack had 3,000 separate implants into his scalp after suffering dramatic hair-loss.
A source at the time said: “Jack got a real dressing-down. He was told he was being fined. It was a couple of thousand.”
Last week he shared before-and-after snaps on Instagram.
Stars’ social media posts with apparent product placement were still online yesterday. Sources said an “informal” change had ended reprimands.
But Corrie said: “Rules surrounding gifting and endorsement remain the same.”