Only a few days ago, St George’s crosses were hanging from windows, from cars, and roars of “come on England” could be heard from many a pub. Who were the Scots and the Welsh supporting? Were they supporting their fellow Brits, or cheering on ABE “anyone but England”?

We did a quick analysis for fun on whether the Scots and the Welsh would be supporting the Three Lions. Read More »

Cookie brand Oreo has surprised many, won new fans and enraged Christians, as it has effectively taken a political stand on its Facebook page after posting a pro-gay pride promotion.

The pro-pride rainbow picture you can see is the first in a series of 100 “current event” promos to be released to mark Oreo’s centennial celebrations.

This is hugely significant and brave move for such a family oriented US brand. Like most brands marketing and politics are usually seen as not to mix. It is controversial area, fraught with difficulty, and brands would usually choose to walk in the opposite direction when it was so obviously going to stir up political and religious controversy. Read More »

The continued rise of automated content that is shovelled out without any human eye ever casting a look at it before it is published has its down sides as Yahoo is finding out.

It along with other sites are bleeding the line between content and commerce by allowing visitors to buy clothes featured in stories.

Usually it is the clothes of celebrities, but clearly it is trying to expand further to news as well and it has come a cropper with this tragic story from Afghanistan.

Law professor Rebecca Tushnet noticed that Yahoo was offering readers the chance    to get  ”get the look” of of a man sitting on his haunches in the wake of the Spozhmai Hotel on the shores of Lake Qargha after it was stormed by Taliban terrorists.

The ensuring siege resulted in 13 people were killed and hundreds taken hostage before Afghan security forces put an end to the insurgent attack. The full text next to the pic reads:

Text reads: “A man holding spent .50 calibre shells looks towards the Spozhmai Hotel on Qargha lake on the outskirts of Kabul on June 22, following an attack by Taliban militants. A carefree birthday party and night out to celebrate the start of the Afghan weekend were reduced to destruction and butchery when Taliban gunmen stormed a lakeside hotel, opening fire indiscriminately on wealthy revellers.”  Perhaps his outfit, which can apparently be replicated with an Express scarf, Prada shoes, and Helmut Lang pants, is of some consolation to him.

I’m sure there might be some “news content” that can be sold in this way, but without some checks this kind of thing will happen more and more as editorial teams are stripped back and technology takes over.

Saturday (23rd June) would have been the 100th birthday of English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist, Alan Turing.

Without Turing’s contribution to the advancement of computer science most of us would be sat at empty desks, just day-dreaming about a tool that could change the world of business and leisure forever. Read More »

Oh dear. On the same day that Femfresh’s Facebook account took a consumer battering for its childish euphemisms, instead of using the word vagina, the European Commission committed its own social media crimes with an online ad – completely doused in pink – designed to get young women into science.

It has been branded offensive by some, with young women strutting like catwalk models, and dressed for a night clubbing with a techno sound track. Hardly the right message, but unlike Femfresh, the EC is trying to fix its mistakes through Twitter – apparently to great success. Read More »