ALL CREDIT TO VISA

Some light has been shed, by the Daily Telegraph, on why credit card firm Visa might have been so keen to become the official card for the Olympics, courtesy of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, LOCOG.

Fans purchasing tickets have been ordering far more than they can afford, on the basis that they will only get a small fraction of them, and that they will be able to sell their unwanted tickets on the LOCOG resale website. What however has only just sunk in with those using their Visa credit card is that if they are unable to pay for all the tickets in full in June when the Visa bill is due they will have to pay Visa rates of interest until the resale website is up and running, which LOCOG say will not be until sometime next year. Continue reading

JUSTICE ON A BUNG?

Good to note that the ludicrous gagging orders awarded to the undeserving by all the Mr Justice Noddies are being rendered useless by the publication of identities on the internet, for many a sure sign that even if some judges can’t tell right from wrong some of the general public can.

The stupid decisions – which only benefit the rich with something to hide and an income/image to protect – serve to unfairly undermine the integrity of the whole judiciary, bring it into disrepute and reassure the cynical that some of our British judges truly are the best that money can buy.

MORE GREEDY BANKERS

Bankers, arguably now less popular than paedophiles, continue to fill their boots while still being financially supported by, er, us.

This is to the tune of £5 billion a year in interest alone on the money shovelled at them, cash that covers pornographically high salaries and bonuses, such as the £7.7 million pay package for the chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Stephen Hester, a figure RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton describes as “fair” Continue reading

BUY ONE, GET TWO, THROW ONE AWAY

Food waste, said to total a value of £6 billion a year or £680 per average family, is being tackled by the government in plans to scrap “best before” dates in favour of “eat by” dates, with warnings of the risks taken by eating out of date food, particularly meat, fish and eggs.

The BOGOF offers made by supermarkets have been blamed by some for the quantity subsequently dumped.

Supermarket ASDA does its bit for the waste food problem by adding an extra day to the use-by date of some fresh, marked-down items, presenting them as fresher than they really are.

BAD MEDICINE

Doctors are continuing to screw their patients with premium-rate telephone numbers, with those phoning for appointments being charged up to 41 pence per minute, and then being held in a queue that is highly profitable for the GPs.

This is despite a Department of Health ruling that patients should not pay more than the local rate for calls after April 1 this year.

Those wanting to call loved ones in hospitals are being charged 50 pence per minute to call to bedside phones, and have to listen to a long recorded message before being put through.

WEAK WINE OR STRONG CIDER?

Buyers at the lower- alcohol end of the wine market are switching to ciders as the recession deepens. (Off Licence News)

Low alcohol wines at 5.5% abv or below and a price of £3+ per litre compare badly on price and alcohol content, though perhaps not taste, with cheap, strong cider with an abv of 7.5% and a price, in some of the budget supermarkets, of around £1 per litre.

BARCLAY’S MUGS

Those marketeers in the business of giving business gifts will know that some items can definitely give an unfortunate impression in some cultures.

The word “clock” has a similarity to the word for a pre-funeral visit to the dying in China; in Latin America the gift of a knife means that you wish to cut the relationship, and the cross logo on a Swiss Army Knife is un-impressive in non-Christian countries; reminders of death are also given by anything purple in Brazil, anything yellow in Mexico and chrysanthemums of any colour in Belgium; and in the German language the word gift means poison.

One amusing example to now add to the list has been supplied by bankers Barclays who recently gave those attending their shareholders meeting a Barclays branded mug, prompting some mischievous elements in the press to wonder if this was what Barclays secretly thought of those who gave them their money ……..

Marketing Matters May/Jun 2011 ISSUE 20

ALL CREDIT TO VISA
Some light has been shed, by the Daily Telegraph, on why credit card firm Visa might have been so keen to become the official card for the Olympics, courtesy of the….

JUSTICE ON A BUNG?
Good to note that the ludicrous gagging orders awarded to the undeserving by all the Mr Justice Noddies are being rendered useless by the publication of identities on….

MORE GREEDY BANKERS
Bankers, arguably now less popular than paedophiles, continue to fill their boots while still being financially supported by, er, us….

CLEAN-UP FOR DETERGENT SECTOR
Proctor and Gamble and Unilever have been fined a total of E315 million by the European Commission (EC) for fixing the price of washing powder….

BUY ONE, GET TWO, THROW ONE AWAY
Food waste, said to total a value of £6 billion a year or £680 per average family, is being tackled by the government in plans to scrap “best before” dates in favour of “eat by”….

BAD MEDICINE
Doctors are continuing to screw their patients with premium-rate telephone numbers, with those phoning for appointments being charged up to 41 pence per minute….

WEAK WINE OR STRONG CIDER?
Buyers at the lower- alcohol end of the wine market are switching to ciders as the recession deepens. (Off Licence News)….

BARCLAY’S MUGS
Those marketeers in the business of giving business gifts will know that some items can definitely give an unfortunate impression in some cultures….