Advertising news

• Female orgasms vs ‘hydra power’: why toiletries are the last bastion of sexist advertising

  17-07-2018 18:20 via theguardian.com
  Radox has come under fire from a priest who says its packaging is sexist. Why does the toiletries industry still insist on separating men and women into musk and strawberries?For women, the act of getting clean is about glamour. For men, it’s about heroism. Or so Radox would have you believe. A priest, teacher and father of two girls has called out the brand for gendered labelling on some of its shower gels that tells men they can “feel strong” with mint and tea tree or “
  
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• May the fizz be with you: how a $10 Chilean beer ad took on Star Wars

  15-04-2024 15:14 via theguardian.com
  
  After being posted on X and becoming a feature on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, the 2003 commercial that sees Obi-Wan Kenobi hand Luke Skywalker a cold beer has gone viral‘Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough”, Obi-Wan Kenobi tells a wide-eyed Luke Skywalker in the 1977 Star Wars film, A New Hope. Obi-Wan moves to fetch the precious item – an ice-cold bottle of Chilean lager, Cerveza Cristal.Cue enthusiastic brand jingle, and cut! Continue reading..
  
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• Political ads could be heading to UK TV screens due to legal loophole

  14-04-2024 12:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: ITV is considering taking paid ads from parties on its streaming platform where ban does not applySome viewers are already irritated by the adverts interrupting shows on the ITV catch-up service.But even they could soon yearn for the halcyon days of shampoo or insurance commercials after being presented with the faces of Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Smell is really important for social communication’: how technology is ruining our senses

  13-04-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Scientists say an overreliance on sight and sound is having a detrimental effect on people’s wellbeing and that our devices should deliver a multisensory experience“Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothing yet.” So went the first line of audible dialogue in a feature film, 1927’s The Jazz Singer. It was one of the first times that mass media had conveyed the sight and sound of a scene together, and the audience was enthralled.There have been improvement
  
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• OJ Simpson obituary

  11-04-2024 21:40 via theguardian.com
  
  Former American footballer and actor who was acquitted of the murder of his former wife, Nicole Brown, and her companion, Ron Goldman, in the 1995 ‘trial of the century’On the American football field, OJ Simpson ran around, past and through defenders with almost unmatched success. “The Juice” had legendary status, as both a collegian and a pro.Undeniably handsome and charismatic, he appeared in films and on TV, and was known in the US for a Hertz television commercial in
  
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• Crisps as communion: Italian TV advert accused of blasphemy

  09-04-2024 15:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Viewers association has called for Amica Chips to suspend the campaign over a lack of respect towards practising CatholicsAn Italian TV advert that depicts nuns eating crisps instead of altar bread while receiving holy communion has been accused of blasphemy by an outraged association of Catholic TV viewers.The 30-second advert for Amica Chips – one of Italy’s top crisps brands – takes place in a monastery and opens with nuns preparing to receive holy communion. Their mother su
  
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• Catholics’ fury as Italian TV ad depicts nuns eating crisps for communion

  09-04-2024 15:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Viewers’ association accuses Amica Chips of resorting to blasphemy in order to increase salesAn Italian TV advert that depicts nuns eating crisps instead of altar bread while receiving holy communion has been accused of blasphemy by an outraged association of Catholic TV viewers.The 30-second advert for Amica Chips – one of Italy’s top crisps brands – takes place in a monastery and opens with nuns preparing to receive holy communion. Their mother superior realises that th
  
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• Instagram ads in UK promoting ‘butt lifts’ in Turkey as part of holidays in potential breach of rules

  08-04-2024 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Watchdog warns cosmetic surgery providers abroad as analysis reveals thousands of Facebook advertsA post on Instagram shows the back of a woman in tight blue leggings, her lower body taking up most of the frame. The words “Temptingly sexy curves ahead … Ready to turn heads and break hearts?” are written in the caption. It is from a company offering Britons the chance to get a Brazilian butt lift while enjoying a luxury holiday abroad.The advert is one of thousands on social me
  
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• Katie Price Instagram post banned by advertising watchdog over diet claim

  03-04-2024 13:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Sponsored video promoted ultra low calorie diet without encouraging users to take medical advice, regulator rulesA post on Katie Price’s Instagram account has been banned by the UK’s advertising regulator for irresponsibly encouraging a low calorie diet, while simultaneously failing to disclose it was an advert and making unauthorised weight loss claims.The Instagram reel, a video shared on the glamour model’s account in August 2023, depicts her making meals throughout the day
  
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• Nationwide TV ads starring Dominic West banned as misleading

  03-04-2024 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  ASA says sneering bank manager character wrongly suggests building society has not closed any branchesAdverts featuring the actor Dominic West as a sneering bank manager will be pulled from TV in their current form after the advertising watchdog ruled they were misleading because they wrongly suggest that the building society had not closed branches.The Advertising Standards Authority (Asa) received 281 complaints, including one from rival lender Santander, about the advert, which ran in October
  
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• ‘We know the community is over it’: how self-regulation of gambling ads came unstuck minutes into an AFL game

  31-03-2024 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Clubs and bookmakers have set their own restrictions as campaigners await a decision on a proposed banFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastJust minutes after the first bounce in a round one AFL game, families watching on free-to-air television were exposed to more than 70 gambling ads – and all before 8pm.The fluorescent ads for gambling giant Tabcorp were splashed on digital billboards, despite the c
  
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• Readers reply: why are Britain’s rules around advertising alcohol and tobacco so different?

  31-03-2024 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsWhy is alcohol advertised openly in the UK, without pictures on the packaging highlighting the medical effects, for example, when tobacco is treated so differently? John Fisher, by emailSend new questions to [email protected]. Continue reading...
  
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• Cleaners, builders, Primark shoppers: ads for London mayor hopeful Susan Hall reveal Tories’ targets

  31-03-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Analysis shows content is aimed at working-class over-50s, and plays on fears of crime, stirs anger and pushes conspiracy theoriesAre you a cleaner or builder who likes Primark, the pub or reality TV – but doesn’t care about the environment? If yes, the Conservative party wants your vote.These are some of the interest categories used by the campaign team for the Tories’ candidate for London mayor, Susan Hall, to target audiences on social media. Continue reading...
  
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• Dementia is not a living death – I’m very much alive | Letter

  28-03-2024 19:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Willy Gilder thinks the Alzheimer’s Society latest ad campaign is a mistake and would like to see it withdrawnThe chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society has sought to justify its new ad campaign, The Long Goodbye, by saying that it “tells the unvarnished truth about the devastation caused by dementia”. It isn’t a truth that I, as a person with Alzheimer’s disease, recognise. The ad shows a family mourning their mum, and saying that she died several times i
  
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• Independent to take control of BuzzFeed and HuffPost in UK and Ireland

  28-03-2024 17:17 via theguardian.com
  
  Media companies to combine publishing and advertising platforms to target gen Z and millennialsThe Independent will take control of BuzzFeed and HuffPost in the UK and Ireland with the intention to create “Britain’s biggest publisher network for Gen Z and millennial audiences”, the publishers have said.The two media companies will combine their publishing, data and advertising platforms “to allow commercial partners to seamlessly buy across their sites”. Continue re
  
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• Mind the grub: comic Ed Gamble’s hotdog banned from tube ads

  27-03-2024 15:42 via theguardian.com
  
  Poster for sausage-themed show fell foul of Transport for London rules on promoting unhealthy foodSome comics complain that their craft is under threat from “cancel culture”. For comedians with a sausage-themed standup tour, they might have a point, after Ed Gamble was forced to remove a picture of a hotdog from posters promoting his forthcoming show on the tube network because it breached Transport for London’s junk food advertising policy.The comic was pictured with the fast-
  
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• Why are Britain’s rules around advertising alcohol and tobacco so different?

  24-03-2024 15:01 via theguardian.com
  
  The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsWhy is alcohol advertised openly in the UK, without pictures on the packaging highlighting the medical effects, for example, when tobacco is treated so differently? John Fisher, by emailPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to [email protected]. A selection will be published next Sunday. Continue read
  
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• Motherhood is a motherload of work. That’s the reality | Letters

  22-03-2024 18:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Readers respond to Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff’s article about her reservations about embarking on parenthood Re Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff’s article (I know I want at least one baby. But the more I learn about motherhood, the more terrifying it seems, 12 March), having survived the trauma of childbirth and managed to scrape enough to pay for childcare and a living, there is another aspect to consider: the immense negative impact motherhood would have on your career.Having successfully work
  
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• Print your own tickets, treat your own illnesses – welcome to DIY Britain | Tom Whyman

  18-03-2024 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Adverts telling us to take services into our own hands are trying to maintain the delusion that we still have a functioning societyOne of the beautiful things about adverts is that each one is a kind of window: into the entire thought process that led to it being produced. The television series Mad Men understood this: although I doubt there was quite so much grief and self-torture behind someone thinking, for instance: “Maybe we could use a guy with a giant head to advertise this online b
  
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• ‘Sneaky’ social media ads are luring young into gambling, say campaigners

  17-03-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Call for stricter rules for betting firms to stop use of promotions with references to popular culture that appeal to under-18sTougher rules are required to crack down on betting firms’ use of “sneaky” social media postings and campaigns that may lure young people into gambling, warns a new report.Researchers at Bristol University have reported a rise in gambling promotions that typically blur the line between advertising for a betting company and popular cultural references, f
  
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• Dual income, no kids ... and loads of free time: dinks are back – and being smug on social media

  13-03-2024 16:57 via theguardian.com
  
  They thrived alongside the yuppies in the booming 80s. Now, in tougher times, they have found a safe space to flaunt their carefree lifestyleName: Dinks. Age: The term was coined in the 1980s. Dinks have been around for longer and are, by definition, of working and child-raising age. Continue reading...
  
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• The digital signal is improving at ITV – finally | Nils Pratley

  08-03-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Traditional ad revenue may be suffering – but, crucially, streaming service ITVX is starting to deliver incomeIt’s been two years exactly since Carolyn McCall, chief executive of ITV, sent the share price crashing by 27% in a day as she announced a plan to ramp up the broadcaster’s adventures in streaming by launching ITVX. The City saw a large investment bill in the offing, plus definitive proof that the days of easy advertising money from old-style linear television were over
  
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• Profits may be down but the digital signal is improving at ITV – finally | Nils Pratley

  08-03-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Traditional ad revenue is suffering – but, crucially, streaming service ITVX is starting to deliver incomeIt’s been two years exactly since Carolyn McCall, chief executive of ITV, sent the share price crashing by 27% in a day as she announced a plan to ramp up the broadcaster’s adventures in streaming by launching ITVX. The City saw a large investment bill in the offing, plus definitive proof that the days of easy advertising money from old-style linear television were over, an
  
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• ITV profits plunge by 60% amid brutal advertising downturn

  07-03-2024 09:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Slump in ad revenue outweighs record income from studio businessITV has recorded a sharp drop in annual profits as the brutal advertising downturn seen last year outweighed record revenues in its studios business, which made the recent hit drama Mr Bates v the Post Office.The UK’s largest free-to-air commercial broadcaster said pre-tax profits had fallen 61% to £193m in 2023 against £501m in 2022 as it was hit by a drop in advertising revenue as well as the planned investment i
  
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• Ban on Calvin Klein’s FKA twigs ad revoked after ASA climbdown

  06-03-2024 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Singer accused regulator of double standards over claim she presented as a ‘stereotypical sexual object’The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has backtracked on its decision to ban a Calvin Klein advertisement featuring the British singer FKA twigs, citing the “strength of public feeling”.The ASA said that after “careful thought” it had decided that “the image was not sexually explicit, that the ad presented FKA twigs as confident and in control
  
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• Four in five billboard ads in England and Wales in poorer areas

  04-03-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: campaigners say outdoor ads pushing fast food, alcohol and more risk deepening health inequalitiesMore than four in five outdoor billboard advertisements are in the poorest half of England and Wales, leading experts to warn that the discrepancy risks deepening health inequalities.While billboards may be seen by many simply as eyesores, campaigners argue they negatively affect people’s lives in intersecting ways, by pushing unhealthy products such as fast food and alcohol, encour
  
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• Hit shows such as Mr Bates could bring a dramatic improvement in ITV’s fortunes

  03-03-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  With results due this week in a sinking ad market, the show was a timely reminder of what broadcast TV can doWhen Alan Bates took his campaign for justice to Westminster again last week, it would not just have been the hundreds of post office operators he represents who would have been pleased by his persistence. Carolyn McCall, chief executive of ITV, will doubtless be delighted at the wide-ranging political impact of the broadcaster’s hit drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which ignited
  
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• Raw deal? Judge quotes Winnie-the-Pooh in UK honey-labelling ruling

  01-03-2024 11:22 via theguardian.com
  
  AA Milne brought to bear to help settle dispute between Waltham Forest council and Greek food firm Odysea It is not every day that a judge quotes Winnie-the-Pooh. But this week, one made the return to the Hundred Acre Wood when delivering an extraordinary judgment over what constitutes “raw honey”.Judge Neville was asked to settle a row between a high-end Greek food firm and a London council over whether the company could call their product “raw” or “artisan”.
  
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• Global gambling company to leave Australia’s peak lobbying group

  29-02-2024 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Entain will withdraw from Responsible Wagering Australia in coming months, as a government crackdown on betting ads loomsGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastOne of the world’s biggest gambling companies has abandoned Australia’s peak lobbying group, just as the federal government prepares to announce tougher restrictions on betting ads.Policy analysts believe Entain’s withdrawal from the Responsible Wagering Australia (RWA) group highlights
  
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• Google sued for $2.3bn by European media groups over digital ad losses

  28-02-2024 20:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Lawsuit filed by publishers including Axel Springer allege Google ‘abused its dominant position’ in digital ad-techAlphabet’s Google was hit with a €2.1bn ($2.3bn) lawsuit by 32 media groups including Axel Springer and Schibsted on Wednesday, alleging that they had suffered losses due to the company’s practices in digital advertising.The move by the groups – which include publishers in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, L
  
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