EVERY LITTLE HELPSH

Interesting to note that Tesco’s retiring CEO Terry Leahy is such a supporter of price measures to curb the consumption of alcohol.

And that a few months ago his group was selling a 70 cl bottle of 40% ABV vodka for just £5, around 35% lower than any other retailer.

Marketing Matters Jul/Aug 2010 ISSUE 14

NOT FAR ENOUGH?
Communications regulator Ofcom is to ban repeated silent calls to the same household in the same day from early next year….

DONT TRUST THEM
Barclays have had some bad press in the Daily Mail, for their bad financial advice….

SILVER SURVEY
Those marketing to women over 60 will be interested in the recent survey of 500 of them by the Daily Telegraph’s Stella magazine. The findings included….

SAVVY?
Is there any difference between a hotel offering “1,000 rooms for 1p a night” and offering “rooms from 1p”? ….

OUT ON THE CHEAP
A survey of the eating out habits of almost 3,000 UK adults has found that the most popular places for casual dining are Wetherspoon’s, Harvester and Pizza Express….

BAG THAT BARGAIN
The pound and 99p shops now familiar on most high streets are seriously undercutting the major names….

TV DINNERS
A study of advertising on American TV has found that a diet based on the food products featured is profoundly unhealthy….

MORE O’BLARNEY
Consumer watchdog Which? has criticised Ryanair for charging £5 per passenger per flight for using a credit card, rather than charging the fee per booking, like other….

UNWANTED R’s IN OZ
Mugs commemorating the visit of US prezz Obama have been withdrawn from sale at the parliamentary gift shop in Canberra after it was discovered that his name had….

DELIA AND WAITROSE DROP ONE
A seafood risotto recipe produced by celebrity cook Delia Smith as part of her completely impartial tie-up with Waitrose has been sharply criticised by those who….

EVERY LITTLE HELPSH
Interesting to note that Tesco’s retiring CEO Terry Leahy is such a supporter of price measures to curb the consumption of alcohol….

BOYCOTT THOSE NICE CANADIANS

Those who feel strongly against the slaughter of seal pups in Canada should stop buying Canadian seafood and should not visit Canada until the cull is banned.

This is the advice of charity Respect for Animals which points out that more than 1 million seal pups have been killed in the last five years and encourages people to write to the Canadian High Commissioner in London with their objections.

Testicles of male pups are highly prized in China as an aphrodisiac.

MORE CHINESE CRUELTY

Around 10,000 bears are being kept in tiny cages on bear farms in China, to be milked for their bile, a highly prized ingredient in Chinese traditional medicine.

This has been revealed by British charity Animals Asia, which buys up the farms to release the bears, after corrective surgery to repair the infected holes in their abdomens.

COURT IN THE LONG RUN

The organisers of the London Marathon are taking legal action against a Channel 4 Dispatches episode Tracing the Marathon’s Millions.

In this it was claimed that three quarters of the event’s turnover was accounted for by salaries and undisclosed costs, a claim that the organisers refute.

EXPLOITING THE POOR TO GET RICH?

Retailer Brighthouse, which makes its money selling aspirational products to credit-impaired households at an annual rate of interest of 29.9% over three years has been criticised by charity Credit Action.

A wide-screen TV at £1650 would end up costing £3650 at Brighthouse, an item many would argue that the poor households, on an income of £20,000 pa or less and Brighthouse’s target market, should not be encouraged to buy. Credit Action say that such customers should not go to Brighthouse but should save to buy over a longer period. There is also the argument that such purchases at this price level are, in any case, irresponsible, particularly given the price of under £100 for new TVs bought in supermarkets.

In a recent piece in the Daily Telegraph Credit Action admitted that Brighthouse customers liked the fact that they could purchase products beyond their means.

EAT YOUR GREENS

Children who fail to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day are depriving themselves of essential vitamins and nutrients, and could be at increased risk of developing cancer.

This is the warning given by the World Cancer Research Fund which reveals that four out of five children do not get their five a day and that the average for children aged five to 15 is only three a day, with one in 14 boys and one in 25 girls eating none a day.

ITS CHARITABLE ASDA BOYO

An Asda store in Cardiff started charging charity collectors £100 to operate in its store.

Due to the bad publicity generated for Asda by its charging the Cardiff High School and Christian Aid to offer bag-packing services to shoppers, the group has backed down and refunded the money to the charities.