Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America West staged their first over product placement Wednesday after being denied a chance to attend an advertising summit about branded entertainment. About 200 actors and writers carried pickets and chanted in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel as agents, producers and brand directors spoke to advertisers at the day-long Madison+Vine conference sponsored by Advertising Age. Industry sources say that product integration has been around since the 1970s and that the networks and advertisers have a well-established system to govern the use of ads in scripted series since they must also balance the interests of producers and the public.

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