Category Archives: Advertising

Two-thirds of UK’s biggest advertisers to cut television spend

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Traditional TV shunned in favour of digital media and last-minute promotional campaigns

More than two-thirds of the UK’s biggest advertisers intend to cut back spending on traditional TV next year, as the recession fuels a shift to digital media and last-minute bursts of promotion.

A survey of 59 UK advertisers has found that 67% will make the deepest budget cuts to ads on broadcast TV, according to the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) and the media investment analysts Ebiquity.

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Revealed: star football pundits promote World Cup gambling despite ban

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Spirit of rules on use of celebrities in advertising is being ignored, claims charity supporting victims of gambling addiction

Football pundits Harry Redknapp, Peter Crouch and Robbie Keane are helping to promote betting on World Cup matches despite stricter rules on celebrity gambling endorsements to protect young people.

Fifa officials estimate the last World Cup generated £120bn in betting turnover. Gambling companies hope for a similar betting spree for this year’s tournament, despite a ban on gambling in Qatar.

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Festive rush for Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot as 70,000 queue online for ad toys

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Merchandise linked to supermarket’s latest Christmas campaign sells out online hours after going on sale

More than 70,000 shoppers have queued online and hundreds lined up outside UK stores to get their hands on Aldi’s toys and merchandise based around its Kevin the Carrot adverts.

By 10am, several versions of the soft toys had already sold out online amid high demand for merchandise linked to the hero of the discount grocery store’s festive campaign.

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Elon Musk tries to lure YouTube stars on to Twitter

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Platform’s new owner tells video-makers he’s planning ‘creator monetization for all forms of content’

The anarchic behaviour of YouTubers draws huge online audiences and has turned stars such as MrBeast and Logan Paul into the best-paid entertainers of the internet age. Now Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, wants a piece of this lucrative action and will attempt to lure video creators on to the social media platform.

In a series of messages, Musk engaged with video-makers, saying he was planning “creator monetization for all forms of content”, and that his company could “beat” the 55% cut of advertising revenue that YouTube gives its top entertainers.

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Australia’s major parties ‘weaponising’ taxpayer-funded ads for political gain, report finds

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One-quarter of federal government’s $200m advertising budget going towards politicised messaging, Grattan Institute says

Major parties routinely abuse taxpayer-funded advertising, co-opting public information campaigns for political purposes, a report says.

The Grattan Institute report found nearly one-quarter of the federal government’s annual $200m advertising outlay went towards politicised messages.

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Activists subvert poster sites to shame aviation and ad industries

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Billboards have been hijacked across Europe to highlight role of airline emissions in climate crisis

As Kate, 23, walked out of Seven Sisters station, in Tottenham, north London, she noticed an airline advertisement attracting unusual attention.

“I was on my way back home, I was coming out of the station, and I saw two people taking pictures of the billboard,” she said. “I thought at first it was just a normal airline ad, so I just walked past. Then I did a bit of a double take.”

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Gordon Ramsay gin ad banned over nutritional claims

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Scottish producer Eden Mill made claims about ingredients on its Instagram and Facebook pages

An ad campaign for celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s new gin has been banned for making nutritional claims that are not allowed under UK marketing rules.

Ramsay, known for his restaurant empire and shows such as Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen, launched his first gin last year in partnership with the Scottish producer Eden Mill.

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Queen’s funeral may break TV records – but it’s no cash bonanza for media industry

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A total blackout on TV advertising was agreed with Buckingham Palace following the death of the Queen

• Death of the Queen and King Charles’s accession – latest updates

The death of the Queen and coverage of her funeral will top the ranks of the most-watched broadcasts in British television history, while newspaper publishers have seen an unprecedented boost in sales as mourners seek commemorative copies. And yet the biggest national event in decades will not provide a commercial bonanza for media firms.

ITV has planned its largest-ever outside broadcast, with all of its channels simulcasting ad-free blanket live coverage for the first time in history. The day of the funeral will also be the first time in Channel 4’s four decades on air that it has instituted a 24-hour ad block across its channels.

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Model mother or pretty face: campaign reveals seven potentially harmful female stereotypes in ads

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shEqual wants to reduce sexist stereotyping in advertising to avoid reinforcing dangerous social norms

Advertising agency founder and gender consultant Bec Brideson beamed with pride when her 11-year-old daughter pointed out the students at her all-girls school were being taught muscle anatomy by studying a drawing of a male body.

“My daughters have been trained to look to notice that male default and see that it’s all around them,” Brideson said.

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UK watchdog to examine whether telecoms companies mislead customers

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Cap says mobile and broadband users must get clear information about inflation-busting bill increases

The UK advertising watchdog has launched an investigation into whether telecoms companies are misleading consumers about inflation-busting bill increases when promoting deals in their marketing campaigns.

Telecoms companies make billions of pounds annually by instituting price rises to mobile and broadband bills midway through contract periods – increases that will add to the biggest squeeze on the cost of living facing households in generations.

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Shares in Snapchat owner slump 25% amid slowdown in ad revenue

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Parent company Snap talks of ‘incredibly challenging’ conditions as it seeks new sources of revenue

Shares in Snapchat’s parent company have fallen 25% after it confirmed investors’ fears of a slowdown in advertising revenue for social media firms.

Snap painted a grim picture of the effects of a weakening economy on social media in quarterly results on Thursday and declined to make a revenue forecast in “incredibly challenging” conditions, hitting its share price in after hours trading and setting off a chain reaction among listed rivals.

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Incendiary Republican ads boasting of ‘hunting’ rivals raise fears of violence

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Ads like Eric Greitens’, in which he says ‘get a Rino hunting permit’, could lead people to rationalize violence – experts

Before the Capitol attack on 6 January, Robert Pape, a University of Chicago professor, had studied political violence around the world but not in the United States because there had not been much to examine, he said.

Pape worries that could soon change because of politicians like Eric Greitens, a former Navy Seal from Missouri running for Senate, who recently released an advertisement in which he racked a shotgun and led a team of armed men as they stormed a house to hunt more moderate members of his own party, know derisively as Rinos, as in “Republicans in name only”.

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Ofcom may extend TV ad breaks in review of broadcasting rules

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Regulator says it may change ad rules in light of growing competition from online streaming platforms

Ofcom has said it may extend the time and frequency allowed for advertising breaks on UK television as part of a review of broadcasting rules.

The regulator said it would consider changing advertising regulations amid market developments including the increasing influence of online streaming services.

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Adidas sports bra ads banned in UK for objectifying women

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Twitter and poster campaign featuring dozens of sets of breasts was harmful and offensive, says ASA

An Adidas campaign featuring dozens of sets of breasts to promote the diversity of its range of sports bras has been banned by the UK advertising watchdog for using explicit nudity and appearing where children could see the ads.

The campaign, versions of which ran on Twitter and select large poster sites, prompted 24 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that the ads were gratuitous, objectified women by “sexualising them and reducing them to body parts”, were harmful and offensive and were able to be seen by children.

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Scott Morrison accuses Labor of ‘sewer tactics’ over Gladys Liu attack ad

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Opposition ads say Chisholm MP ‘spread fake news on Chinese messaging apps’ and had to return $300,000 in donations over national security concerns

The Coalition has accused Labor of “sewer tactics” over what Josh Frydenberg described as a “racist” attack ad targeting Liberal Gladys Liu, that accuses the Chisholm MP of spreading fake news and trying to trick voters at the previous election.

But Labor frontbencher Penny Wong has rubbished claims her party was vilifying Liu, saying there were “legitimate” questions over her conduct.

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Online casinos face crackdown on exploiting gamblers’ superstitions

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Guardian understands advertising regulator is likely uphold complaint against firm’s claims about ‘hot or cold’ games

Online casinos face a crackdown on exploiting gamblers’ superstitions, after the advertising regulator launched an investigation into one firm’s claims about certain games being “hot or cold”.

The Guardian understands the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is likely to uphold a complaint lodged seven months ago against PlayOJO, which advertised a feature last year that offered gamblers a “unique chance to see the games on winning streaks”.

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Will the news boom prevent more media outlets going bust?

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Analysis: newspapers have attracted record numbers of readers seeking trusted sources in uncertain times

From the pandemic and the war in Ukraine to the Westminster partygate saga, newspapers are benefiting from a financially lucrative news boom. However, is the news industry enjoying a one-off blip in the battle for survival against big tech, or is this proof that publishers have finally forged commercial models fit for the new media age?

In a sign of the shifting fortunes amid unprecedented news events, Rupert Murdoch’s Times and Sunday Times last week reported a doubling of operating profits to their highest level since 1990 and the Sun, a one-time cash cow turned high-profile casualty of the digital age, is within £1m of returning to operating profit for the first time in a decade.

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Morrison government’s advertising spend tops Coles and McDonald’s

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Coalition spent $145m on advertising last financial year, with defence recruiting and Covid vaccines among biggest campaigns

The federal government spent more money on advertising last financial year than McDonald’s and Coles, new research suggests, prompting calls for greater oversight on taxpayer-funded public campaigns.

A new paper from progressive think tank the Australia Institute scrutinises government spending on “campaign advertising” – a repeated series of ads to promote important messages.

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Facebook a no-show in Andrew Forrest criminal case arguing West Australian court lacks jurisdiction

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Mining billionaire alleges social media giant failed to stop clickbait advertising scams using his image on its platform

Facebook believes an Australian court has no jurisdiction to hear a criminal case brought against it by mining magnate Andrew Forrest – who claims the tech giant failed to stop clickbait advertising scams using his image.

The case in the magistrates court of Western Australia is believed to represent the first time Facebook – owned by Meta Platforms – has faced criminal charges.

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Super Bowl: the ads, the music and everything but the football – live

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While the game rages on, there are several major ads and movie trailers and a much-anticipated half-time show from some hip-hop and R&B legends

After the success of last month’s Scream, the legacy sequel – aka the one that brings back the old to mingle with the new – continues with force this year with our first real look at the inevitable greatest hits sequel Jurassic World: Dominion. The last film brought back BD Wong and a cameo-ing Jeff Goldblum to join Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard but this time they return with both Sam Neill and Laura Dern, an exciting prospect for hardcore fans. The trailer has some promising moments but there’s an awful lot here to be juggled – despite the familiar faces, it’ll be the lesser-known DeWanda Wise who leads – so whether all balls can be kept up in the air remains to be seen.

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