Aviva's sponsorship of ITV's hit drama Downton Abbey attracted the ire of viewers and has now fallen foul of media regulator Ofcom's broadcasting code for straying too close to advertising.
Under the media regulator's rules programme sponsorship is treated separately to TV commercials and must not "contain advertising messages or calls to action".
The first Downton Abbey sponsorship bumpers for the insurance company, which run at the beginning and end of advertising breaks, developed a story of a character called Gary and his motorcycle accident, recovery, inability to return to work and decision to retrain for a new career.
One of the sponsorship credits showed Gary holding a document and exclaiming that it is his insurance policy and that he thinks it covers him if he trains for a new course.
Ofcom said the scene referred to a benefit of taking Aviva's income protection policy.
"Credits must not encourage the purchase or rental of the products or services of the sponsor or a third party," said Ofcom. "The focus of the credit must be the sponsorship arrangement itself."
Ofcom said the credit "amounted to an advertising message", which therefore broke broadcasting code rules on sponsorship credits.
Aviva amended subsequent sponsorship credits, one of which features a character called Jane, removing the phrase "It's my insurance policy".
However, Ofcom concluded that "it was still clear that the character was referring to an insurance policy that covered him even if he undertook a training course".
It ruled that the amended credits remained in breach of the broadcasting code.
Channel TV, which is responsible for compliance of the show on behalf of ITV, said Aviva's intention was to "create a strong thematic link to ITV Drama… with the Aviva mini-drama being played out in the sponsor credits".
