TWILIGHT’S LAST GLEAMING

One of the truly riveting and under-rated political thrillers of the 70’s, Twilight’s Last Gleaming, deals with the reasons why the truth about American involvement in the war in Vietnam was kept from the American public. It features a fictional war hero and renegade USAF General (Burt Lancaster) who breaks out of prison with a small group of convicts to capture an ICBM missile silo he helped design, threatening to fire its nine Titan nuclear missiles at Russia and start WW3 unless the President (Charles Durning) tells the American public the truth, suppressed for years, about why so many had to die. Continue reading

Marketing Matters Nov/Dec 2016 ISSUE

KAROSHI The offices of one of Japan’s biggest ad agencies have been raided after a young woman committed suicide due to karoshi (chronic overwork). Ad firm Dentsu …

TAKING AGGRESSIVE SALES AND MARKETING SERIOUSLY Directors who put their companies into liquidation to avoid fines for making nuisance calls from the Information …

BROADBAND SELLERS TO STOP MISLEADING A complaint from Virgin Media that ads selling BT’s Infinity broadband were misleading has been upheld by the ASA…

COPYRIGHTS TO BE REGAINED The copyright protection period has been increased from 25 to 70 years after a designer dies by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) …

BREXIT BANDITRY? One company that was very keen on staying in the EU, and advised all its employees to vote to stay in the referendum, is Unilever. The firm makes …

BIG PHONE FIRMS IN BIG TROUBLE Phone giant Vodaphone has been fined a giant £4.6 million after it failed to credit 10,000 customers who had paid for top-ups, and then …

AND CAR FIRMS TOO German car makers Volkswagen are set to add to their £15.5 billion bill for emission rigging after it emerged that its Audi luxury brand cars could also …

BUT YOU DO GET A COMPANY CAR Company cars could be a perk of the past, if government plans to increase taxation for employees awarded them are implemented …

CASINOHOLICS Gambling firms are getting around restrictions on TV advertising to children by targeting them on social media, a study has found. Researchers at the …

STARTING EARLY Childhood obesity is being fuelled by TV advertising of sugary breakfast cereals, a study by researchers at Dartmouth University in the US has …

HAPPY AS YOU ARE? An ad that exploited some women’s insecurities about their figures has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) …

KAROSHI

The offices of one of Japan’s biggest ad agencies have been raided after a young woman committed suicide due to karoshi (chronic overwork).

Ad firm Dentsu is being investigated on suspicion of systematic illegal overtime. The 24-year old, Matsuri Takahashi, was working 100 hours overtime a month when she killed herself last December.

In 2014 around 70 people a day committed suicide in Japan.

COPYRIGHTS TO BE REGAINED

The copyright protection period has been increased from 25 to 70 years after a designer dies by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).

This applies to any artistic work for which more than 50 copies have been produced.

Companies using designs and artworks for which the 25 years have expired, but not the 70 years could find themselves in breach of copyright. These companies have until January 28 2017 to comply, after which time the copyright holders will be able to take legal action against them.

BREXIT BANDITRY?

One company that was very keen on staying in the EU, and advised all its employees to vote to stay in the referendum, is Unilever.

The firm makes Marmite, Hellmans mayonnaise, Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream and the Pot Noodles gourmet treat, and has increased prices on many lines, blaming the Brexit vote and the subsequent fall in value of the pound. This is despite many products being made in the UK, a fact pointed out by Tesco, which won plaudits for being on the side of the British shopper. Continue reading

BIG PHONE FIRMS IN BIG TROUBLE

Phone giant Vodaphone has been fined a giant £4.6 million after it failed to credit 10,000 customers who had paid for top-ups, and then handled their complaints badly. The fine is the largest ever imposed on a telecoms company.

And equally large phone firm Samsung has revealed that the withdrawal of its Galaxy Note7 phone due to a battery defect causing it to catch fire or explode is likely to cost it nearly £2 billion in lost profits. The South Korean company is also being sued for compensation by hundreds of its customers.

AND CAR FIRMS TOO

German car makers Volkswagen are set to add to their £15.5 billion bill for emission rigging after it emerged that its Audi luxury brand cars could also be similarly rigged to pass emission tests.

And Japanese car makers Toyota are recalling 340,000 Prius vehicles over faulty brakes after reports of crashes, injuries and deaths were received. The problem affects cars manufactured and sold in the last 14 months.