BrandFame (www.brandfame.com) is a meeting-place for advertisers and video publishers, who want to match online video with product placement in an attempt to make money and ruin the internet for everybody.

Ok, let me expand on that negativity, because I wouldn’t be writing about this startup if I didn’t think it was a good idea, it’s just that a part of me wants the web to remain a free and unbiased expressive medium, and the idea that product placement has infiltrated sites like YouTube makes me want to pull out my eyes in protest.

Now I’ve got my moral opposition out of the way, I can try to look at this site objectively. As I’ve said, it is a good idea in principle, as it gives anyone with a video camera the chance to make advertising revenue from their video blogs, and after all, a can of Diet Coke™ in the background is far less intrusive than most advertising methods.

Execution-wise - only time will tell, as the site still looks to be in its early stages, built around a CMS or something or other, but it’s worth a mention because it marks the start of a very slippery (and probably lucrative) slope for the web as we know it.