Advertising news

• Roger Lambert obituary

  06-01-2025 17:54
  
  Pioneering director of commercials for ITV who introduced Arthur, the Kattomeat cat, and Captain Birds EyeWhen ITV was launched in 1955, many people seized the opportunity to make programmes for the new television channel. But Roger Lambert, who has died aged 96, was a visionary director who saw the potential for a whole new industry in Britain – producing commercials for the small screen.When the BBC’s competitor began broadcasting in the London area on 22 September, one of the firs
  
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• ‘Giant colouring book’: how money and paint mix in Melbourne’s street art scene

  06-01-2025 15:00
  
  Melbourne’s street art is world-famous and highly competitive but these artists manage to make a living from their workMore summer essentialsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastOf the many reasons to visit Melbourne, the city’s street art is pretty high. Hosier Lane, a constantly evolving graffiti and paint-covered laneway in the CBD, has become a common background in Instagram posts from visitors around the world.But for all the colourful portraits, characters
  
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• Barclays suggested ‘mystery shoppers’ could pretend to be blind or deaf

  05-01-2025 14:39
  
  Bank faces criticism over adverts saying people testing its services could ‘fabricate’ conditions for £45 a visitBarclays is facing criticism over adverts for paid “mystery shoppers” which suggested that people could pretend to be blind or deaf to test the services at the British bank’s high street branches.The bank hired market research firm Ipsos to carry out testing at branches. The Barclays-branded instructions said candidates for the roles would ideally b
  
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• Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk sponsored British pharmacies in pursuit of sales

  04-01-2025 19:59
  Danish drug company gave money for Google ads to promote weight loss services and received data on web traffic and prescriptionsThe Danish drug company Novo Nordisk provided hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of sponsorship to pharmacies including Boots and Lloyds as it sought to boost sales of its slimming drugs in Britain, the Observer can reveal.The maker of Wegovy and Saxenda weight-loss injections gave money for Google ads to promote weight-loss services, staff training, and the c
  
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• Shyam Benegal obituary

  01-01-2025 18:32
  
  Pioneering director with a vital role in India’s ‘parallel cinema’ movement who used his films to explore difficult issuesThe Indian film-maker Shyam Benegal, who has died aged 90, was a pillar of the “parallel cinema” movement, the informal grouping of independently minded and funded creatives whose work stood in stark, socially committed contrast to the song-and-dance escapism of Bollywood.Responding to real events and centred on marginalised characters (often wom
  
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• Market for TV streaming advertising to pass £1bn

  29-12-2024 13:54
  
  Two years after Netflix introduced ads, streaming advertising is 30% of the size of traditional TV ad marketA little more than two years after Netflix moved to further disrupt the TV industry by introducing commercials, galvanising already fierce competition to grab budgets targeted at traditional TV, the market for streaming advertising in the UK will pass the £1bn milestone.For the first decade of the streaming revolution the received wisdom, most fervently espoused by Netflix, was that
  
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• ‘Wild west’: experts concerned by illegal promotion of weight-loss jabs in UK

  26-12-2024 08:00
  
  Guardian review finds many online pharmacies flouting strict advertising rules that govern prescription-only drugsWeight-loss injections are being aggressively marketed to British consumers through often illegal promotions, in a practice experts have described as a “wild west” industry of drug selling.The booming market for jabs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro has triggered a price battle among online pharmacies, with even high-street chains cashing in on the soaring demand.Supermarkets
  
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• Shrinking waistlines and growing profits: the weight-loss drug boom

  26-12-2024 08:00
  Drugs such as Wegovy amd Mounjaro are an attractive prospect for online businesses and traditional pharmacies as well as the firms that make themIt is a trend rooted in profit-making. Adverts featuring prescription-only weight-loss medications are splashed across the internet – and it is causing concern among experts.But the question remains: who is driving the boom? Continue reading...
  
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• Jean Adamson obituary

  25-12-2024 16:33
  Children’s author and illustrator best known for the Topsy and Tim booksJean Adamson, who has died aged 96, was never a household name, but the success of the Topsy and Tim books that she created with her husband, Gareth, and illustrated more than made up for that.Topsy and Tim were ubiquitous in the lives of families with young children. The simple and entertaining stories about their lives, and particularly the way that they navigated the universal everyday experiences of childhood, beca
  
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• ‘Free and impartial’ addiction helplines paid secret commission by rehabs

  22-12-2024 08:00
  Advertising regulator reprimands services that claim to offer unbiased advice but then direct people to partner facilitiesHelplines that claim to offer “free” and “impartial” addiction support have been reprimanded by the advertising watchdog for hiding the fact they are paid thousands in commission by private rehabilitation clinics.Amid record drug death rates and high demand for services, one website is promising “free, impartial, expert” advice for those tr
  
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• How YouTube (and Skibidi Toilet) changed the Christmas toys market

  21-12-2024 08:00
  The shift from live TV to video platforms has made toy makers and sellers rethink products and where to sell themLetters to Santa used to be filled with ideas from the Argos catalogue or adverts on children’s telly, but for today’s kids raised on “swiping and streaming” YouTube is their shop window – which is why some are asking for a plastic toilet this Christmas.The stakes are high for the toy trade at this time of year as consumers spend about £900m on doll
  
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• UK data regulator criticises Google for ‘irresponsible’ ad tracking change

  19-12-2024 13:10
  
  ICO says allowing advertisers to track digital ‘fingerprints’ will undermine consumers’ control over informationBusiness live – latest updatesBritain’s data protection regulator has labelled Google as “irresponsible” for allowing advertisers to track customers’ digital “fingerprints”, amid fears even privacy-conscious users will find the online monitoring technique difficult to block.The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
  
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• Lloyds advert banned for making false environmental claims

  18-12-2024 01:01
  
  Watchdog ruled social media post failed to provide balanced information over bank’s ongoing financing of polluting industriesA Lloyds Banking Group advert has been banned for making false environmental claims, making it the second major lender to break the UK advertising watchdog’s rules against greenwashing.The ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) follows an investigation into a billboard poster and three paid-for posts on the networking website LinkedIn, all of which
  
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• Canal+ listing is ‘vote of confidence’ in UK stock market, says Reeves

  15-12-2024 16:46
  
  TV channel spun off from France’s Vivendi could climb to £5bn in biggest new listing in London for two yearsCanal+, the international pay-TV company and owner of the studio behind the Paddington film franchise, is to make its multibillion-pound stock market debut in London on Monday, providing a much-needed shot in the arm for the capital’s stock exchange.The flotation, which the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said is a “vote of confidence” in the UK’s capital
  
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• Innuendo, chicken theft and a ‘high pitched screech’: the most complained about Australian ads in 2024

  12-12-2024 06:54
  
  Ad Standards received 4,000 complaints amid year-on-year rises, but only two of the 10 most controversial ads found to have breached rulesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThree fried chicken ads – and a promotion for a super fund that used a “distressing” scream – have made the list of most complained about commercials for 2024.A commercial for superannuation provider Rest featuring a disfigur
  
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• Letter: Tom Bussmann obituary

  10-12-2024 18:04
  
  In the 1970s I worked on a number of commercials made by Tom Bussmann. His studio was always fully focused, of course, but relaxed and great fun as well. One ad was for a British fortified wine, widely and cheaply sold in supermarkets.Four British mountaineers had scaled a remote peak and planted the Union flag. Time to toast ourselves with the wine, and we produced tin mugs from our back packs. A colleague was having trouble. “Tom,” he said, “it’s really difficult holdin
  
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• ‘Grooming our children’: politicians demand Sportsbet pull promotional filters from Snapchat

  09-12-2024 15:00
  
  Exclusive: Monique Ryan, Kate Chaney, Andrew Wilkie and Sarah Hanson-Young all call for gambling giant to remove the social media ads immediatelyFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSeveral federal politicians have urged Sportsbet to “immediately” pull its ads from the social media app Snapchat after Guardian Australia reported that they can be viewed by children.Sportsbet provides Snapchat users with filters
  
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• You’ve got a great new product for dogs’ bottoms? That’s nice – but please don’t call it a revolution | Nell Frizzell

  02-12-2024 12:00
  Stop the hype! The way advertisers talk up every new mascara or pet product is … well, revoltingThis morning, I walked past an advert for something described as the anal gland revolution. I didn’t know anal glands had been calling for a revolution and, futhermore, what’s going to happen once they start buying munitions?In recent years, the word “revolution” has become as overused, meaningless and commodified as other natty terms such as “journey”, &ldqu
  
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• Claws are out as Jaguar heads down EV rebrand road

  01-12-2024 08:00
  A new electric model will be unveiled this week. Will it turn round the culture war embroiling the marque?When German manufacturer BMW took over the Mini brand and launched the Mini Cooper in 2001, some people were outraged. Drivers with previous models even slapped on bumper stickers reading “this is a real Mini”. The BBC reported that executives insisted the car “is not a small BMW”.The storm died down, and Mini has gone on to sell more cars each year (about 300,000) th
  
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• Could bad publicity be good for Jaguar? | Brief letters

  24-11-2024 18:17
  
  Jaguar’s new branding | Sport and Israel | Jonathan Liew’s words | ‘Remote’ Scotland | CapitalismMarina Hyde, among others, has been critical of Jaguar’s new brand launch (Hats off to Jaguar’s ‘inclusive’ new branding: now people of all backgrounds won’t buy its cars, 22 November). But it seems to have attracted a lot of headlines and column inches, which has meant more people notice it than otherwise would have. Is this clever rather than ba
  
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• Jaguar boss defends new ad and rebrand amid ‘vile hatred’ online

  23-11-2024 12:27
  Social media clip features models in colourful clothing but no car in what Rawdon Glover describes as a ‘reimagining’The boss of Jaguar has defended the company’s move away from “traditional automotive stereotypes” after a clip of its new advert was met with a barrage of “vile hatred and intolerance” online.This week, Jaguar Land Rover, the luxury UK carmaker owned by India’s Tata Motors, posted a 30-second clip on X featuring models in brightly co
  
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• Hats off to Jaguar’s ‘inclusive’ new branding: now people of all backgrounds won’t buy its cars | Marina Hyde

  22-11-2024 13:59
  
  In the aftermath of Trump’s victory, the ad already looks like a period piece. But aside from that – I mean, seriously?There are many eve-of-the-offensive conversations I would love to have been a fly on the wall for. Inside the Trojan horse, say, with that Ancient Greek SAS unit bantering the day away, before busting out for their daring small-hours raid. Or inside the Jaguar marketing department, on the night before their new rebrand, as these crack experiential troops prepared to
  
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• John Lewis Christmas ad shows search for perfect gift – video

  14-11-2024 09:30
  
  This year's John Lewis Christmas ad breaks the mould – by actually being about Christmas shopping, without a lovable penguin or snowman in sight. The Narnia-inspired tale is about a woman’s last-minute dash to buy the perfect gift for her sister. There is still magic: like the children in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, she tips through a rack of dresses into a world of memories that give glimpses of her sister growing up John Lewis Christmas advert this year tells tale of two
  
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• Most UK TV ads for sweets and snacks shown before children’s viewing watershed

  14-11-2024 01:01
  Research has prompted claims firms such as Mars, Haribo and PepsiCo are in ‘flagrant’ breach of codes of behaviour Most TV adverts for sweets, crisps and chocolate shown when children are likely to be watching are placed by firms who claim not to promote their products to that age group.The disclosure, in new research by the University of Liverpool, has prompted claims that food giants such as Mars, Haribo and PepsiCo are in “flagrant” breach of their own codes of behavio
  
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• John Lewis Christmas advert this year tells tale of two sisters

  14-11-2024 01:01
  
  This year’s ad is actually about going shopping and features Oxford Street store plus song by Richard AshcroftShocking! John Lewis’s Christmas advert is actually about … shoppingOver the years its Christmas adverts have featured a menagerie of lovable creatures but this year John Lewis is tugging on heartstrings with a Narnia-inspired tale of two sisters that for the first time gives its struggling department stores a starring role.After last year’s lighthearted outing f
  
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• Swedish firm censured for use of C-word in ads for vaginal health supplements

  13-11-2024 17:23
  Regulator deems posters offensive, though Elexir Pharma argues term is ‘not loaded in the same way as in the UK’The Swedish advertising ombudsman has criticised a company for using the C-word in posters to promote vaginal health supplements, saying the use of the “gross profanity” is offensive to consumers.The ads, displayed on public transport in Stockholm and Gothenburg, feature the phrase “you can cunt on us” in pink writing. Continue reading...
  
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• LJ Hooker branch used AI to generate real estate listing with non-existent schools

  11-11-2024 15:00
  Agency apologises after an ad said a house in Farley, NSW, was close to two ‘excellent’ schools even though there are none in the townFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe principal of a branch of one of Australia’s largest real estate companies has admitted using ChatGPT to generate property listings after a rental home was advertised as being close to two “excellent” schools that didn&r
  
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• Great Britain ‘lags behind’ Europe on betting ad regulation, says gambling charity

  11-11-2024 01:01
  Public health concerns fuel restrictions across comparable markets, yet UK remains ‘lenient’Great Britain “lags behind” Europe on measures to restrict betting adverts, according to a report released days after official data showed a sharp increase in the number of children with a gambling problem.Restrictions on ads by bookmakers and casinos are increasingly becoming “the norm” across Europe in response to public health concerns, according to a report commissi
  
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• Vulnerable Australians ‘force-fed’ gambling and alcohol ads on Facebook, report finds

  10-11-2024 14:01
  
  Study highlights ‘predatory marketing practices’ of companies who target people at high risk of gambling or alcohol-related harmFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastVulnerable Australians at high risk of gambling and alcohol problems are being “force fed” Facebook ads for that content, with experts claiming they are being targeted by social media marketing.A study by University of Queensland resea
  
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• Watchdog rules Eurostar ads on social media for £39 seats were misleading

  06-11-2024 06:00
  
  Advertising Standards Authority censures posts on Instagram and Facebook for trips from London to Amsterdam and BrusselsCross-channel train operator Eurostar has been criticised by the advertising watchdog for exaggerating the number of £39 seats on sale.The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that Eurostar ads across Instagram and Facebook for £39 tickets from London to Amsterdam and Brussels were misleading, the second time it has censured its ads this year. Continue readin
  
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• Greggs scoffs at reports of snub by its Christmas ad star Nigella Lawson

  03-11-2024 19:00
  
  TV chef, who has signed up for bakery chain’s first ever festive advert, says she is a fan of its sausage rollsNigella Lawson has issued an impassioned paean to the Greggs sausage roll, amid reports of a banger-based dust-up that threatened to cast a shadow over her appearance in the bakery chain’s first ever Christmas advert.Greggs confirmed on Sunday that the celebrity chef and cookbook author had agreed to star in its inaugural Christmas promotion, in which Lawson will purr over s
  
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• Sky faces bill for hundreds of millions after advertising blunder

  03-11-2024 15:00
  
  Sky Media will have to recompense business partners after discovering it had miscalculated what it owed themSky is facing a bill for hundreds of millions of pounds after a blunder that meant it accidentally underpaid its advertising partners, it has emerged.The broadcaster’s advertising sales arm, Sky Media, will have to recompense business partners such as Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery, after discovering earlier this year that it had miscalculated what it owed them. Continue reading
  
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• US election answers the question: how do you spend a billion dollars?

  01-11-2024 08:00
  The candidates have raised an extraordinary amount of money in an election awash with cash on an unprecedented scaleIt was one of the most striking images of the final full week of the presidential election campaign: a giant projection of Kamala Harris’s face on the 516ft-wide, 366ft-tall Las Vegas Sphere.At a reported $450,000 a day for what is believed to be the first political ad to appear on the futuristic new attraction, it was also one of the most expensive. But even at those rates,
  
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• In Michigan, attack ads are inescapable. Are they changing any minds?

  31-10-2024 16:00
  
  TV, radio and mailboxes in Saginaw, Michigan, and any place likely to decide next week’s election, are being bombardedThere is almost no escape. One minute, you’re watching the spin of a wheel on a game show and a few seconds later, Jeffrey Epstein is staring out of the screen with a youthful Donald Trump at his side.What follows is yet another of the election ads bombarding viewers in Saginaw, Michigan, or any other place likely to decide the outcome of next week’s presidentia
  
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• Do motorway billboards signal the first death throes of capitalism? | Adrian Chiles

  30-10-2024 16:11
  
  The ads come and go so fast you have to speed up to watch them – and before you can see them properly they vanishI glimpse them in the distance just as the M4 readies itself to peter out into west London. They are now to be found along furred-up arterial roads in cities everywhere. They shine so brightly that you can probably see them from space. Up close, they make my eyeballs hurt. But before I get that near, I start reading whatever is being advertised on these enormous electronic billb
  
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• ‘I woke up and found myself famous’: Rory Sutherland on his TikTok success

  28-10-2024 13:35
  
  Advertising executive, 58, shares old-school tricks of the marketing trade, enjoyed by millions of viewersRory Sutherland is reaching for an analogy to describe his newfound status as one of the UK’s most viral TikTokers. “It’s a bit like Lord Byron, I woke up and found myself famous.”That he conjures up the name of a 19th-century romantic poet tells you a lot: Sutherland is not your average social media influencer. Continue reading...
  
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• Anthony Albanese could prove his moral courage with bold action to battle gambling harm | Jenny Ware

  28-10-2024 03:33
  
  More than 16 months after the parliamentary committee (of which I was a member) handed down a bipartisan report, the PM is yet to respondBarely weeks after being elected prime minister in 1996, John Howard’s leadership, political courage and integrity were put to the test on the issue of gun ownership following the tragic mass shooting at Port Arthur. It was a test he passed – Australians have lower rates of gun ownership than our counterparts thanks to gun reform, and have not been
  
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• Elon Musk hopes Trump victory will help his $44bn Twitter bet pay off

  27-10-2024 13:00
  
  The platform’s billionaire owner has seen its value plunge as advertisers run shy, revenues drop and user numbers fallTwo years ago, there was some trepidation among advertisers, anti-hate-speech groups and staff about Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter.Those concerns have been borne out: advertisers have sharply reduced spending on the platform, Musk has sued nonprofits over their coverage of a rise in controversial content and about eight out of 10 employees have been sacked. Conti
  
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• Geoff Capes obituary

  24-10-2024 17:53
  
  Britain’s greatest shot putter who twice won the World’s Strongest Man competitionStanding close to 6ft 6in and weighing more than 26st in his athletic prime, Geoff Capes was a mighty figure who commanded international respect as a record-breaking shot putter, and later achieved even greater renown as a sporting personality through appearances in televised strongman competitions. Twice he won the accolade of being World’s Strongest Man, as well as achieving serial successes in
  
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• Peter Rhodes obituary

  23-10-2024 21:53
  
  My father, Peter Rhodes, who has died aged 86, had a successful career in sales and advertising working for national newspapers, independent television and finally for Golf World magazine. As an accomplished sportsman, this was his dream job, enabling him to travel the world visiting the finest golf courses and resorts.Peter also played tennis, including at Wimbledon during the 1957 Inter-Services tournament while serving in the RAF, and cricket, but football was his main love. In 1962 he played
  
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• Tom Bussmann obituary

  20-10-2024 18:13
  During the 1990s my father, Tom Bussmann, who has died aged 86, wrote the Guardian’s popular Zeitgeist column, which provided a weekly tongue-in-cheek round-up of quirky news stories from around the world.Tom was not actually a journalist – his day job was in advertising – but he made Zeitgeist his own with his playful turns of phrase and nose for the absurd. Continue reading...
  
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• Martin Lewis warns of online scam ‘wild west’ over fake Rachel Reeves ad

  20-10-2024 13:00
  
  Money expert urges Ofcom be given more powers as interview with chancellor used to trick people to share bank detailsMartin Lewis has warned of a “wild west” of online scams after criminals used a fake interview with Rachel Reeves to trick consumers into sharing their bank details before the budget.The Guardian spotted an online advert from an outfit calling itself “Quantum AI” designed to look like a BBC News article covering an interview with the UK chancellor. The adve
  
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• Simone Lia: Targeted advertising – cartoon

  20-10-2024 09:00
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• Monster pickup trucks accelerate into Europe as sales rise despite safety fears

  12-10-2024 07:00
  
  A Dodge Ram 1500 is bigger than a Panzer I tank and campaigners say heavy trucks are ‘lethal’ in collisionsThe engines rev, the guitars thrum and a gruff narrator lays out why the vehicle occupying the driveway is more than just a machine. “A truck is a tool,” he says, “but a Ram – a Ram is life.”So begins an advert for the Ram 1500, a pickup truck slightly bigger than the Panzer I tanks of Nazi Germany and almost as heavy. It is growing in popularity in
  
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• ‘Racist’ Heinz advert has diverse lessons for us all | Letters

  10-10-2024 18:44
  Readers respond to Nels Abbey’s criticism of a wedding scene that is claimed to be ‘based on a true story’Last year I married my husband. He’s white, I’m black. Both his parents were present, my mother was too. My father died when I was 15, but he wasn’t really in my life until that point. If he were alive, I doubt I would have invited him to our wedding.Do I think the Heinz ad is racist (When a Heinz advert features racist stereotypes to sell pasta sauce, it&
  
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• Kyle and Jackie O lose advertisers as campaigners accuse show of normalising ‘violent misogyny’

  09-10-2024 15:51
  
  AMP, Bendigo Bank, Flight Centre and Australian Super confirm they have stopped or are reviewing advertising with KIIS FM programFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastKIIS FM’s Kyle & Jackie O Show is facing an advertiser boycott after a campaign that claims the content on the breakfast program is normalising “violent misogyny”.High-profile advertisers including AMP, Bendigo Bank, Flight Centre and A
  
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• UK advertising watchdog cracks down on misleading broadband price ads

  09-10-2024 01:01
  ASA says telecoms firms must scrap ads that do not give enough prominence in marketing to mid-contract risesThe UK advertising watchdog has cracked down on marketing campaigns by telecoms companies including BT, EE, Virgin Media and O2 for misleading consumers about price rises added to their bills during their contracts.The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has issued a batch of rulings against ads run by BT, its subsidiaries EE and Plusnet, as well as TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media broadban
  
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• When a Heinz advert features racist stereotypes to sell pasta sauce, it’s vital to speak out. So I did | Nels Abbey

  08-10-2024 11:00
  
  I’m glad that an ad apparently minimising the role of Black fathers has drawn an apology. It’s lazy thinking we just don’t needIt’s Black History Month, one dedicated to reclaiming narratives. It also happens to be a month before the 140th anniversary of the plotting phase of white supremacy’s most enduring set of crimes: the Berlin conference (in which it was decided which European nations, empires or monarchs would get to own which parts of Africa and, effectively
  
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• Heinz apologises after ad featuring black family sparks anger online

  06-10-2024 19:11
  Firm accused of stereotyping in advert spotted at Vauxhall and Manor House tube stations in LondonHeinz has apologised after an advertisement displayed in London tube stations featuring a black family sparked anger online.The US manufacturer, which recently launched an ad campaign for family-sized pasta sauces, was criticised for promoting stereotypes in a billboard advertisement spotted at Vauxhall and Manor House stations. Continue reading...
  
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• Euston station’s big advertising screens turned off after overcrowding fears

  04-10-2024 15:29
  Network Rail promises to turn round station after criticism from passengers and watchdogsLondon Euston’s vast advertising screens are to be switched off as Network Rail promised to turn round the station after scathing criticism from passengers and watchdogs.The garish overhead displays were installed in January after the station’s main departure information boards were removed. Continue reading...
  
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