BBC chart shows to drop Coca-Cola plug

The BBC is to drop mention of Coca-Cola from its weekly pop chart shows.

Coca-Cola has signed a multimillion-pound two-year deal with the Official UK Charts Company to sponsor the singles and albums lists. But the deal could be in doubt after the BBC announced it is to remove the name from the Radio 1 chart rundown and Top of the Pops on BBC1. When the sponsorship was first announced, the BBC was criticised because it has a strict "no advertising" policy. It also drew complaints from health campaigners who claimed it was promoting junk food to children.

Andy Parfitt, the Radio 1 controller, said: "The original deal with the Official UK Charts Company that agreed on-air mentions of chart sponsors was done four years ago. The broadcast market has moved on considerably since then. Taking that into account, and recent events, we no longer feel it is appropriate to allow on-air mentions of sponsors of the chart. We are therefore working with the Official UK Charts Company to resolve the situation without breaking any of our contractual obligations."

A BBC spokesman said: "In light of the views expressed by others when the deal was announced, we have decided this sort of sponsorship is not something we want."

The corporation said it would honour the current contract but take advantage of a break clause in February. Its get-out is based on the BBC producer guidelines which permit on-air credits for sponsors of "events" it covers.

The spokesman said: "The BBC no longer feels the 'reveal' of the weekly music chart adequately constitutes an event. For this reason it would not be acceptable to continue to grant on-air sponsor credits for the chart."

Coca-Cola will still be credited in newspaper and magazine rundowns of the chart.