BBC react as furious viewers demand AJ Odudu is investigated for 'rule break'

ok.co.uk:

The BBC has responded to claims that AJ Odudu broke advertising rules when she showed off her Google Pixel phone during an appearance on Michael McIntyre's Big Show.The Big Brother host, 35, was participating in the Send To All segment when she mentioned that her phone is a Google Pixel, adding that she found Apple iPhones to be too fragile.

She explained: "With iPhones every time I dropped them, the screen would smash. Five times in one week I dropped my phone and smashed it.

It was five consecutive days and I thought, 'I can’t have this.' " Demonstrating her phone's sturdiness, she then threw it from her theatre box to the stage where Michael caught it.

However, viewers were less than impressed, with many pointing out that AJ had previously appeared in a number of advertisements for Google Pixel, meaning her comments could have been in breach of the BBC's advertising rules.Taking to X, formerly Twitter, one viewer complained: "BBC needs to investigate the commercial conflict of interest when Google Pixel advertiser Odudu appears in a mobile phone feature on Michael McIntyre's Big Show." While another argued: "Slight advertising there for the Google Pixel," and a third added: "She's got a Google Pixel because she did the adverts and they gave it to her for nothing." Responding to the claims that AJ broke BBC rules, a spokesperson for the broadcaster, told the Daily Star: "Ahead of broadcast of the programme, it was confirmed to the BBC that AJ Odudu was no longer under contract to promote any smartphone related organisations." Michael McIntyre's Big Show made a return to TV this year after it was axed in 2019.