Advertising news

• Reform MP’s claim about ‘adverts full of black and Asian people’ omits profitability for companies

  27-10-2025 19:22
  Sarah Pochin’s anger not shared by brands who find that more diversity in commercials is great for their bottom lineSarah Pochin’s claim on Saturday that she was driven mad by “seeing adverts full of black and Asian people” might have seemed like another hard-right hard sell from a politician who used one of her first sessions in the Houses of Parliament to ask Keir Starmer if he’d “ban the burqa”.The Runcorn and Helsby MP was later forced to apologise,
  
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• Nike, Superdry and Lacoste ads banned in UK over ‘misleading’ green claims

  03-12-2025 01:01
  Advertising watchdog says all three firms misled shoppers by using term ‘sustainable’ in paid-for Google advertsAds for Nike, Superdry and Lacoste have been banned in the UK for misleading consumers about the environmental sustainability credentials of their products.The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said paid-for Google ads run by all three retailers used terms such as “sustainable”, “sustainable materials” or “sustainable style” without p
  
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• US senators call for investigation of scam ads on Facebook and Instagram

  24-11-2025 13:42
  Hawley and Blumenthal cite Reuters reporting that Meta estimated platforms were involved in third of all US scamsUS senators Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal have asked the heads of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate revenue from ads on Facebook and Instagram that promote scams and banned goods.“The FTC and SEC should immediately open investigations and, if the reporting is accurate, pursue vigorous enforcement action where
  
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• UK gambling firms spent ‘astronomic’ £2bn on advertising last year

  23-11-2025 07:00
  Calls for Rachel Reeves to increase taxes in budget as estimate outstrips duties collected from online casinosBritish gambling companies spent an “astronomic” £2bn on advertising and marketing last year, according to a new estimate that has intensified calls for the chancellor to increase taxes on the sector.Bookmakers, online casinos and slot machine companies spent the sum through a mixture of print and digital promotions, as well as affiliate programmes, where third parties
  
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• Ultra-processed food linked to harm in every major human organ, study finds

  19-11-2025 00:30
  World’s largest scientific review warns consumption of UPFs poses seismic threat to global health and wellbeingUltra-processed food (UPF) is linked to harm in every major organ system of the human body and poses a seismic threat to global health, according to the world’s largest review.UPF is also rapidly displacing fresh food in the diets of children and adults on every continent, and is associated with an increased risk of a dozen health conditions, including obesity, type 2 diabet
  
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• WPP shares leap amid takeover bid speculation

  17-11-2025 12:09
  Advertising group declines to comment on reports of interest from rival Havas and private equity groups Apollo and KKRBusiness live – latest updatesShares in WPP have risen sharply amid speculation that the advertising group could be the subject of a takeover by a rival or a private equity buyer.Its French rival Havas, which was listed on Euronext in Amsterdam in December and is controlled by the billionaire Vincent Bolloré, has reportedly held internal talks about a potential bid a
  
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• ’Tis the season for dubious TV adverts | Letters

  14-11-2025 18:45
  Readers aren’t convinced by the wholesome family message peddled by John Lewis in its latest Christmas ad The issues you highlighted in your editorial are real, but please don’t think that advertisers care about them (The Guardian view on the John Lewis Christmas ad: a modern story of fathers and sons, 7 November).This ad is a shameless attempt to make consumers think they are doing something worthwhile in buying overpriced gifts in a failing store that used to share its profits with
  
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• Grub actually: Keira Knightley’s Christmas Waitrose ad is sweet and funny. The first time, anyway

  12-11-2025 11:28
  Their mini romcom is a classy move both for the star and the upmarket supermarket. But how many times will you be able to watch it before you start gagging? It has been a big couple of months for Keira Knightley. In October she starred (as a Guardian journalist, no less) in Netflix’s thriller The Woman in Cabin 10. Two weeks later she published her first children’s book. And now, to top it all off, she is making history in the only cultural medium that really matters any more: the mi
  
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• ‘I got paid £250 for one day of filming’: how to earn cash as a film or TV extra

  12-11-2025 08:00
  You don’t need acting experience and rarely have to say anything … but being flexible can result in a lucrative side hustleIf you have ever dreamed of seeing yourself on screen – or just want a fun way to earn additional cash – working as an extra (or “supporting artist”) can be a lucrative side hustle. Continue reading...
  
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• Facebook’s job ads algorithm is sexist, French equality watchdog rules

  05-11-2025 12:17
  Regulator found ads for mechanics skewed towards men while those for preschool teachers targeted womenThe French equalities regulator has declared that Facebook’s algorithm for placing job adverts is sexist, after an investigation found that adverts for mechanic roles skewed towards men while those for preschool teachers were targeted at women.The Défenseur des Droits watchdog said the Facebook system for targeted job ads treated users differently based on their sex, and constituted
  
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• A definitive list of what’s cool (and what’s not cool) | Letters

  04-11-2025 18:50
  Readers respond to an article by Elle Hunt and share their own definitions of coolnessWhat a lovely piece by Elle Hunt (Can I learn to be cool – even though I am garrulous, swotty and wear no-show socks?, 30 October). Coolness resides in those people who are whole in themselves, who do not stop to question whether they are cool, but simply do, love what they do, and are generally excellent at it. Authenticity is cool. Less is more is cool. By definition you, Elle, are cool (you write for t
  
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• Watch the 2025 John Lewis Christmas advert – video

  04-11-2025 08:28
  This year's Christmas advert from John Lewis has arrived, launching a new campaign called Where Love Lives, with the tagline: 'If you can’t find the words, find the gift.' The 90s dance act Alison Limerick provides the soundtrack with her hit Where Love Lives, and there is a newly reimagined version by the artist and producer Labrinth. The video takes viewers to Christmas Day in a family household with the focus on the dad, who is by the tree on his hands and knees clearing up discarded wr
  
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• John Lewis ad kickstarts Christmas countdown to the tune of 90s club classic

  04-11-2025 01:01
  Department store chain banks on nostalgia to get customers into festive mood with Where Love LivesJohn Lewis is hoping that a dash of nostalgia will get consumers into the festive mood this year as it officially kickstarts the countdown to Christmas with the launch of its 2025 advert to the tune of the 1990s club classic Where Love Lives.The department store chain is appealing to ageing clubbers – and their teenage kids – with this year’s ad focused on a middle-aged dad transpo
  
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• A doctor’s bracing advice to new mums | Brief letters

  30-10-2025 18:28
  Celebrities’ bodies | Rachel Reeves | Income tax | Dogs on sofasCoco Khan’s article (Opinion, 22 October) reminded me of a visit to my GP 30 years ago, after the birth of my son. While waiting to go in, I’d been perusing the usual array of magazines featuring celebrities, several of whom had recently given birth and had seemingly bounced back into shape overnight. When I saw the doctor, a wonderful gentleman edging towards retirement, and quizzed him on how on earth this was po
  
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• WPP jobs at risk as ad group’s new boss condemns ‘unacceptable’ performance

  30-10-2025 15:02
  Review launched after firm struggles to stem exodus of clients and compete with AI and data capabilities of rivalsJobs could be at risk at WPP as its new chief executive has launched a review designed to revive the advertising group’s fortunes after a fresh profit warning.Cindy Rose announced the review on Thursday, saying she was taking action to address “unacceptable” performance at the company, which has struggled to stem a growing exodus of clients and compete with the AI a
  
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• Racism, intent and the diversity in TV adverts | Letters

  29-10-2025 18:26
  Readers respond to the Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin’s remarks about ‘adverts full of black people, full of Asian people’The “now you see it, now you don’t”, “was it or wasn’t it” racism of recent days is nothing new, but it is profoundly dispiriting and corrosive (Nigel Farage defends MP’s complaint about TV adverts as ‘ugly’ but not ‘deliberately’ racist, 27 October). It reduces racism to a prejudice that leak
  
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• What’s with the sponcon slop in Nobody Wants This? Netflix, nobody wants this | Alaina Demopoulos

  29-10-2025 12:00
  Season two of the Adam Brody and Kristen Bell-starring show feels like a long infomercial thanks to endless product placementAfter a long day, it’s nice to put on some sweats, pour yourself a glass of wine, turn on the TV and cozy up to an advertisement for Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum Synchronized Multi-Recovery Complex.Or at least that’s what I found myself doing on Sunday night, when I returned for season two of Netflix’s Nobody Wants This. In the series,
  
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• Prunella Scales obituary

  28-10-2025 14:31
  Versatile stage and screen actor who found TV comedy fame as Sybil Fawlty and later played Elizabeth II on stageAlthough it became virtually a weekly occurrence to find Queen Elizabeth II treading the boards in recent years, the first time a reigning monarch was portrayed on the contemporary British stage came when Prunella Scales, who has died aged 93, played Her Majesty in Alan Bennett’s A Question of Attribution at the National Theatre in 1988.She did so to the displeasure of the NT&rsq
  
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• It's the noblest battle of our new free-speech age: Sarah Pochin's anti-woke couch crusade | Marina Hyde

  28-10-2025 14:24
  The Reform MP was driven ‘mad’ by the number of black and Asian people on the telly. What totally settled non-issue will her party tackle next?Does it matter what colour the people in a sofa advert are? I can’t help feeling it doesn’t. Certainly, after next month’s budget, our political class might find it has more pressing concerns than skin pigment in fictional families convened to flog you something comfy in chenille. In fact, if some of the even bigger global fi
  
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• Ben Jennings on the Reform row over TV adverts – cartoon

  27-10-2025 18:55
  Discover and buy more of Ben’s cartoons hereOrder your own print of this cartoon from the Guardian Print Shop Continue reading...
  
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• Consumers: tell us how you feel about large quantities of emails from brands

  27-10-2025 14:02
  Whether it’s transactional confirmation messages, special offer alerts, abandoned cart reminders or newsletters, we’d like to hear what people make of the steady influx of emails from brandsA single online purchase can leave a dozen emails in a consumer’s inbox: order confirmations, processing confirmations, courier handover confirmations, dispatch, transit and delivery confirmations as well as multiple prompts to review a purchase are now being sent out by many retailers for e
  
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• From the archive: Who owns Einstein? The battle for the world’s most famous face – podcast

  22-10-2025 06:00
  We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.This week, from 2022: Thanks to a savvy California lawyer, Albert Einstein has earned far more posthumously than he ever did in his lifetime. But is that what the great scientist would have wanted?By Simon Parkin. Read by Ruth Lass Continue reading...
  
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• What’s gone wrong at WPP? The crown slips at world’s biggest advertising group

  20-10-2025 07:00
  Exodus of big clients, falling profits and dire forecasts raise prospect of a once ‘unthinkable’ breakupA dark joke is doing the rounds in adland that the original Wire and Plastic Products, the small Kent-based basketmaker that Martin Sorrell bought 40 years ago as a stock market-listed vehicle to build WPP, might outlast the advertising giant itself. Now named Delfinware, and a maker of dish drainers with 10 employees, the business is 56 years old and privately held, while the list
  
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• ‘A 360 turn’: concern as fashion shows feature fewer plus-size models

  17-10-2025 19:31
  Vogue report finds fall in number of ‘curve’ models, while widespread use of weight-loss drugs credited with normalising thinnessFashion insiders have expressed concern that efforts towards size inclusivity are being eroded, with experts saying the industry has “done a 360 turn” back to promoting thinness.This week a report by Vogue Business found that out of the 9,038 looks presented across 198 shows in the womenswear collections earlier this month, 97.1% were shown on s
  
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• Google given special status by watchdog that could force it to change UK search

  10-10-2025 12:53
  CMA puts Google under tighter regulation with ‘strategic market status’ designation and can enforce changesBusiness live – latest updatesGoogle faces enforced changes to its UK search business after the competition watchdog conferred a special status on the company that puts it under tighter regulation.The Competition and Market Authority (CMA) confirmed that Google has “strategic market status” (SMS) in search and search advertising, a term that means the company h
  
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• Sportsbet dines with government minister at Labor fundraiser despite calls to reject lobbying from industry

  09-10-2025 16:00
  Exclusive: Dinner occurred on the same day that four crossbench MPs held a press conference calling on government to ignore lobbying from gambling industryFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSportsbet was invited to a Labor party fundraising dinner with an Albanese government minister earlier this week, despite bipartisan calls for the party to ignore lobbying from the wagering industry and introduce tougher regulation.
  
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• Steve Smith obituary

  06-10-2025 16:50
  My friend Steve Smith, who has died aged 68 of prostate cancer, was a successful advertising copywriter. Imaginative and funny, in the late 1980s and early 90s he created many of the scripts for the classic Time for a Sharp Exit campaign for Harp lager, which was his concept. His stories all had blokes in awkward situations, such as in the “Randy the Dog” advert in which a man inadvertently causes his nextdoor neighbour’s pooch to jump out of a top floor window.Among other camp
  
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• UK regulators step up crackdown on firms chasing cut of car finance payouts

  06-10-2025 14:37
  Some claims companies shut down, others told to stop taking on clients and misleading ads ordered to be pulledUK regulators have shut down some claims companies and ordered others to stop taking on clients as they step up a crackdown on firms making misleading statements about car finance compensation.Four regulators have joined forces to tackle a wave of bad practices among claims management companies (CMCs) and consumer law firms that are attempting to grab a slice of the billions of pounds in
  
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• Assisted dying adverts to be banned if service legalised, Kim Leadbeater says

  12-06-2025 17:45
  MP to table amendment amid ‘wide consensus’ that ads should not be allowed to promote the procedureAdverts promoting assisted dying services will be banned if the procedure is made law under a new amendment, the MP sponsoring the bill has said.Labour’s Kim Leadbeater said adverts promoting assisted death as an option for terminally ill people would not be allowed. Continue reading...
  
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• The latest Andrex advert is a life-changing masterpiece | Adrian Chiles

  11-06-2025 16:59
  In scraping the bottom of the barrel to find something new to say about toilet paper, they’ve struck gold. If I had seen this as a kid, it would saved me years of fear and shameIf the latest Andrex TV advert had come along 50 years ago, it would have changed my life. It would have made my schooldays more enjoyable and might even have helped me to perform better academically. Honestly, I think it’s a gamechanger.It begins, unpromisingly, with a schoolboy breaking wind in class. What p
  
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