MORE LEMONS Back in the day in the USA, when car-buyers generally trusted Volkswagen, the company was highly praised in marketing and advertising circles for …

MISS SOMEONE’S CANCER AND GET A REWARD Doctors are being paid bribes for not referring their patients to hospital specialists, it has emerged. The bribes are being …

MOST AND LEAST CORRUPT According to the Transparency Intenational Corruption Perception Index list, which ranks 175 countries by levels of corruption, the most …

THOSE SNEAKY BANKS AGAIN Banks are anxious to get everyone using contactless debit cards, despite the proven problems of accidental charging and high fraud risk, so …

PARLIAMENTARY POODLE? The Parliamentary standards watchdog has criticised Channel 4 and The Daily Telegraph for unfairly tarnishing the reputations of Malcolm …

CLAMPDOWN ON BENT MARKETING Amazon are taking 1,114 people to court who they say have been paid to write fake reviews to boost customer confidence in …

SHARE THIS AROUND Another online scam going around, and hacking into people’s email accounts to do it, is designed to encourage those who would like to make …

PRESENTING PR AS TRUTH ON TV An Ofcom investigation into “documentaries” broadcast by the BBC has found that nearly 200 of them were supplied at no cost, with …

CC OR BCC? Some marketeers are finding out the hard way the difference between a carbon copy (cc) and a blind carbon copy (bcc) when bulk emailing, and it’s a common …

SEX AND VIOLENCE LOSES SALES The old adage that “sex sells” has been questioned after a study at Ohio State University has shown that graphic sexual …

DUNCAN SMITH’S DEPARTMENT DECEIVES A misleading leaflet published by Iain Duncan Smith’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) used fake stories of benefit …

COSTA LOTTA MORE The payment of the national living wage of £7.20 an hour to all staff over 25 years old at the Whitbread-owned Costa coffee shops will mean price …

YOU COPY? The organising committee of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have withdrawn their recently-designed logos, with considerable loss and embarrassment, after Belgian …

BENT REVIEWS Those still believing that review websites such as Tripadvisor offer only honest customer opinions of restaurants should know that such establishments are …

DOPEY The panto of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves has been re-named Snow White and her Seven Friends for its presentation at the De Montford Hall in Leicester…

GRAVY TRAIN COMING Those marketeers for multi-national companies whose products are deemed unsafe, unhealthy or over-priced can celebrate the result of …

SOUR NOTES The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) along with the Musician’s Union and trade association UK Music 2009 Ltd have  …

DEATH OF A BRAND Food company Nestle in India has had to destroy £32 million of its Maggi instant noodles – the Indian answer to Pot Noodles – after the authorities there …

CATCH-UPPERS TO PAY? The BBC is anxious to extend its compulsory and legally-enforceable TV licence fee charge to those only viewing catch-up systems, such as…

LITTLE WAITROSE, BIG PRICES Wonder if the management of the “local” Little Waitrose stores, part of John Lewis, would ever guarantee to price match against …

HEALTHY OVERCHARGING Texas-based grocery store chain Whole Foods Market Inc., which has 413 stores in North America and nine in the UK has admitted …

SUPPORT NEEDY AIRPORTS Those wanting to help airports make even more money out of them can opt to buy their currency at airport kiosks just before they fly, rather …

SAUSAGES OR SUSHI? The three most popular British meals in Britain are, in descending order, fish and chips, a roast dinner with Yorkshire pudding and a fry-up …

SIR MARTIN PULLS IT RIGHT OFF Edifying to read that Sir Martin Sorrell of advertising firm WPP is trousering a pay package of £43 million, with the support of 80% of WPP …

LOST TRUST AT CEX Over the last few years we’ve added to our collection of DVD’s from trips to the entertainment exchange shops of CEX, and we’ve always been happy…

SHORTEN YOUR LIFE. HAVE AN AFFAIR Canadian adultery website Ashley Madison, credited with helping to break up thousands of marriages, is having problems with its …

MORE ADVANCE FEE FRAUD An elderly widow spent her life savings and a trust fund of £100,000 sending increasing amounts of “administration fees” to fraudsters who told …

HOW YOU SHOULD LIVE, FROM D&G Clothing brand Dolce and Gabbana are facing calls for Macy’s and Debenhams to stop stocking their products. (Ethical Consumer) …

SERIOUSLY? Clothes for overweight and underweight people should be banned from most stores, to make people feel uncomfortable about their size when they can’t find …

NOT COOL TO EAT IT The marketing manager of the Royal China restaurant group has been pilloried in the press for illegally importing shark’s fin to make soup, not on the …

CLIPPED AT ASDA A recent trip to our local ASDA found their bar-coding and till-reading working in their favour. Expensive convenience packs of washed and bagged salad …

DOCTORS – WHAT DO THEY KNOW? Interesting to read in Association News that the British Medical Journal (BMJ) the official organ of the British Medical Association …

JACK GOES UNDER THE RADAR A recent Channel 4 Dispatches documentary Politicians for Hire trawled twelve well-known names with fake offers of lucrative …

A CHOKER FOR BIG TOBACCO The marketing of cigarettes is to be restricted in the UK after MPs in the House of Commons voted by 367 to 113 to require tobacco …

BIG PHARMA CON? Legal action for allegedly misleading its customers with its marketing is being brought against pharma firm Reckitt Benckiser in Australia by the …

SMART SPY IN THE HOME TV manufacturers Samsung has advised its customers that its Smart sets that have a voice recognition system and connection to the internet …

TIGER SAVAGES DRAGONS Tiger Mobiles, a smart phone comparison site rejected for a slot on the Dragon’s Den reality BBC2 TV series by the producers in 2008 have …

KING OF THE FILM ADAPTATIONS A recent BT TV survey of books that adapted into successful films placed the Harry Potter collection by J K Rowling top of the list …

JEREMY PULLS IT OFF News that mild-mannered and softly-spoken Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended by the BBC from its popular Top Gear shows for allegedly …

STORM OVER THE FAT CATS An overdue and welcome storm is building, it seems, over the issues of company and executive greed. The first loud and frightening rumble…

WONGA FINALLY GETS IT Reviled payday lender Wonga has removed its branding from football club Newcastle United’s children’s replica kit after concern from MP’s that…

WATCH THE DRIVING More than £90 has to be added to car insurance premiums to cover the increase in fraudulent whiplash claims, which insurer Aviva say surged by…

FINES FOR BAD PHONE MARKETING Ofcom have fined two companies £20,000 each for making excessive numbers of silent and/or abandoned calls to consumers…

SHEERAZ, ANYONE? Britain’s new food policing unit, set up in the wake of last years horsemeat scandal is to focus on the growing trade in fake wine. One of the signs …

A TASTE OF THE ETHICAL STUFF As gourmet readers will know Waitrose does not sell foie gras – traditionally made in France from the unhealthily swollen livers of …

THE CORRUPTION GAME A student in Valencia has invented a board game that features the corruption rife in the ruling classes of Spanish society. With business …

GAME OVER? “EGO, PR SPIN AND A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN” is how the Daily Mail headlined the feelings of many over the fourth person to be killed in Sir …

ANTI-CONSUMER AGREEMENT British consumers are at risk of having to fund huge compensation payments to large US firms suing governments for damaging their profits …

BUILDING PYRAMIDS Nine West-country women aged 34-69 who ran an illegal pyramid scheme scooping more than £20 million from 10,000 duped “investors” have pleaded …

LOAD OF BULLS Energy drink company Red Bull GmbH has settled two class action lawsuits in the USA with an agreement to pay consumers $13 million for misleadingly…

YOU’RE BETTER OFF AT ASDA? Another example of careless shopping costing consumers their cash was recently given by Asda on its sale of Cathedral City cheddar…

COME BACK SIR TERRY Poor Tesco seem to be missing their former chief executive Sir Terry Leahy rather badly since he left in 2011, judging by current woes that include…

EYE-CATCHER A system of electromagnets that can make an object float in clear air could be the next attention-grabber for shop windows, showrooms and exhibition stands.

TRUST US? YOU MUST BE JOKING.  An Ipsos MORI poll has found that only 49% of politicians trust that their fellow politicians tell the truth…

MORE FOOD PROBLEMS COMING UP Food fraud is now more attractive to organised crime than trafficking drugs – with the potential profits the same, the …

KEEP KICKING Good to see that the nice people at TV Licensing, collecting the increasingly invidious and questionable license fee for the BBC, continue to get a …

NAZI COWBOYS AT ZARA? From the fashion experts who launched, and withdrew, handbags adorned with swastikas in 2007 comes another gem…

ANTIPODEAN ERROR Encouraging to hear that marketeers at Air New Zealand have finally listened to some good sense from their passengers and belatedly scrapped the…

DELETE MARKETING FOR TASTE EVALUATION  If you really want to find out which wine you like the best, and how much you are being influenced, perhaps unknowingly…

ART AND LIFE We read that Studio City, a new $2 billion gambling, entertainment and retail resort in Macau, has hired director Martin Scorcese to make a short film to …

PR MAN PULLS IT OFF Fascinating to read, in Max Clifford’s book READ ALL ABOUT IT, (Virgin Books 2005) how the celeb’s publicist was so proud of his part in exposing …

WONGA @ DONTTRUSTTHEM .CON 
Readers will doubtless have heard that usurers Wonga have been sending out fake legal letters to victims of their greedily high interest rates of up to 5,853% per annum, to scare…

MORE POLITICAL SLEAZE 
“Cash for Access” seems to be the rule for lobbyists who want to buy influence with our Prime Minister and others ahead of the next election. David Burnside of lobbyists…

CARTEL RULING 
An EU court has agreed that companies benefitting by taking advantage of the artificially high prices caused by the illegal actions of a cartel – even if they were not involved in…

LOW TRICK 
Clever marketers who label foods stuffed with sugar and salt as “low fat” – implying that they are a healthy option – are being targeted by local councils concerned about the …

EAU KAY THIS TIME? 
Another firm that hasn’t done so well in the customer trust stakes is Coca-Cola GB, which is throwing £3 million into next month’s UK launch of its successful American Glaceau…

DEAD SOON 
Could the current trend of companies begging for positive reviews on social media, and offering financial inducements for them be the (welcome?) death of it all any time soon…

LIDL CONSOLATION 
Let’s hope that some of the extra staff that German discounter Lidl say they will be taking on as part of their expansion plans will be charged with making sure that offers made…

GOOD PRESS FOR PR NOW? 
Practitioners of public relations (PR) can’t be pleased to read about the imprisonment of one of their number, that nice Max Clifford, any more than they, and David Cameron…

CORRUPT TO THE MAX
Interesting that convicted sex attacker and the public face of PR, Max Clifford should claim that women who gave evidence against him before he was jailed for eight years were “in …

GO COMPLAIN
The Go Compare ad featuring the opera singer generated the most complaints – 1008 – about advertising in 2012. This however was easily topped by the 2,200 complaints …

CENTER PARCS AD IRRESPONSIBLE SAY ASA
An ad by Dutch holiday park operatives Center Parcs has been deemed irresponsible by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) who say it would encourage parents to take …

HEIR TODAY……….?
An Ealing hairdresser who used a picture of popular and dapper North Korean leader Kim Jong-un with the caption “BAD HAIR DAY?” to promote a discount offer has complained …

NICE ONE, NIGE
Nigel Farage of Ukip is doing his bit, we note, to persuade us all not to trust politicians, with his manifesto featuring a pic of an attractive and sincere-looking young lady who the …

CUPID STUNTS ANYONE?
An April Fool stunt by marketing mag The Drum has been variously branded “genius” and “puerile”. The stunt involved daubing a battered taxi with mis-spellings of their …