Monday, April 30, 2007

All the news that's unfit to print, broadcast, etc

Dilemma time. I need them, but I can't stand most of them, or what they stand for.

This blog, maybe rightly, will continue to be slim for a while as I try to maximise the PR value of the Geneva win.

So far, it has been a mixed bag.

One thing that is hard to understand is the almost complete silence from the majors.

But then again, as Carol Thatcher rightly pointed out yesterday on the Andrew Marr Sunday Show, as she dumped all the packing and inserts from her papers on the table: 'how can we take any of them seriously in their 'wars' on packaging when they are so hypocritical?' It seems they are so obsessed with being seen to be green they are not in the least bit interested in actually being it. Or playing up genuine efforts to help people make a small difference.

Meanwhile the various BBC programmes remain mute. Paranoia is knowing they are out to ignore you, but I do wonder if my critiques have resulted in some kind of blacklist. So be it. They have a new Chairman of the Trust in place now, and his claimed remit is to respond to the customers they serve rather than just defend the Corporation. I think this needs testing more.

The same day I get yet another form 'so what?' reply to a complaint about a blatant ad for ASDA in the increasingly laughable Breakfast 'Business' slot, they run another, even more ridiculous plug for them.

And I've just switched off the TV this morning in disgust at the boss of EDF energy being given his opportunity to do the same, before running off like excited kids to see the new Kate Moss collection being unveiled. This isn't news, but if there is no financial reward for them doing it, I can't figure what it is mean to be, or for.

BBC - EDF to lower its gas bills by 10% - In case you missed the plug on air