Today the ASA upheld a complaint against L’Oreal against two of its current campaigns (Lancome Teint Miracle featuring Julia Roberts and  Maybelline’s The Eraser Foundation with Christy Turlington) for the over use of digital retouching.
The complainant, Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson said that images of both celebrities had been digitally manipulated and were “not representative of the results the product could achieve”. Swinson is the Co-founder of the Campaign for Body Confidence and has said that she wants to ‘tackle body image pressure by requiring advertisers to label all adverts, disclosing the extent of digital retouching of images of people’.
However, Swinson won this time due to a technicality. The complaint was upheld on the grounds of misleading advertising and exaggeration. Basically, the retouching made over claims on what the product could actually achieve. Apparently due to contractual obligations with the stars L’Oreal failed to supply the ASA with the ‘before and after’ pics that would allow them to see what affect the touch-ups had on the final images so they had no choice but to uphold the complaint. In fact, had the image been for a product not related to a visual reference (for example perfume) the ASA would have had no grounds on which to ban the ad as the retouching wouldn’t directly relate to the claims of the product.

So although not the body blow against the use of retouching that Swinson is pushing for she has gained valuable PR for her campaign. 
The whole discussion is complicated by where you draw the line – improve the lightening here a bit, get rid of a spot there, removed all wrinkles and any signs of aging here – opps gone too far.  Check out these great celebrity shots of before and after to see what can be achieved with a couple of clicks of the mouse. Bizarrely retouchers seem to dislike lower eye lids! http://sastha-knowyourledge.blogspot.com/2010/12/celebrities-before-and-after-photoshop.html

Ok, so first up, let’s me just say that of course what they did was bang out of order. Disgusting, grim, puke in the snow, just plain nasty. But was it shocking? From the paper that wheeled out the Fake Sheik? Well, it didn’t shock me. Or at least it didn’t surprise me.
 
It’s interesting that Twitter has brought down a media empire, but further to Martin’s blog below, I’m not sure if it’s all good. The NOTW was a poisoned brand and needed to close. Fine, and no doubt a replacement will ghost up from its ashes, built on new firm and unflinching journalistic principles. But here’s the thing:
 
I think we all knew that Bad Things went on at the NOTW and other papers too. We didn’t want this wafted up our noses but every morning we smelt it- and we quietly ignored it because we wanted the stories to keep coming. Partly because we are nosey, but partly because, in a world where politicians, the police, councils, companies and almost everyone in fact, is trying to cloak or spin the truth, it’s a relief to read the words of organisations who make money out of telling the you (largely) the truth.
 
It’s cracking that the press profits from getting its hands mucky on our behalf, and on countless occasions they have revealed things that the police and other public bodies have not been willing or able to do. They have done this by posing, hacking, lurking, lying and with a kickass dressing up box full of fake tan and adhesive goatees.
 
Fair enough, the NOTW got lost in its dressing up box and came out looking like Darth Vader. As the whole saga is tucked up to bed, I pray that, in this age of injunctions and twitchy twitterati, editors will have the balls to use their humanity as a lens through which to bend the rules. For instance hats off to Sunday Herald editor Richard Walker for putting Ryan Giggs on its front cover – thereby putting the poor sod out of his misery.

Who said that outdoor can’t deliver engagement….

Bluebloodsbillboard from bluebloods billboard on Vimeo.

t the Superbowl 2011 (or XLV as it’s affectionately known), Volkswagen released their Passat ad featuring a young boy dressed as Darth Vader.

Greenpeace however came back with a response, piggybacking the ad’s success to highlight Volkswagen’s resistance to cutting their CO2 emissions. They released their own video ad that went viral across the internet featuring the Darth Vader boy being met by Luke Skywalker, Princess Leya, Yoda and the gang. In addition to this, Greenpeace were extremely clever in using social media and the power of the internet to gain support for their cause by allowing users to ‘Join the rebellion’ on their website as well as connect to their social media channels on Facebook to voice their opinions.

And then, just when everybody was getting excited with where Greenpeace were going with this, LucasFilm, copyright owners to all that is Star Wars, stepped in to ruin the fun and used their force (sorry) to make Greenpeace remove all videos for copyright breach.

Now that Greenpeace have shown that they aren’t afraid to attack big brands on a big scale, we can only wonder who will be the next target. It could even be our own Kate and Wills for all their recent jetting about!

The past week will be long-remembered for the way in which the previously slow-burning News of the World hacking affair suddenly caught light.

Many hands were at play as the flames were stoked (step forward The Guardian and Mumsnet, amongst others), but I was struck by the role that numerous voices on Twitter – many of whom household names – acted as lightning rods for collating information and inciting the masses.

Maybe it’s just my penchant for following politicised, liberal individuals of a certain level of public renown, but the way in which the likes of @DaraOBriain (500,000 followers), @RufusHound (285,000), @SuePerkins (105,000) , @LaurenLaverne (92,000), @Prodnose (Danny Baker, 75,000) – and even, in a gentler way (@Wossy, 1.1 m) – launched into the NotW and its management in such an angry, public, tub-thumping way struck me as being a first for Twitter. These are mid-major level public figures, all borne of the BBC, who temporarily held back from posting anodyne musings and witty asides and instead decided to try and mobilise the public behind a common agenda. They had a fair wind at their backs, but they succeeded all the same.

To date, Twitter has always struck me as being about the individual – it was a way of one person broadcasting their news, or for another to follow. Naturally, you can extend this to include the way that groups of individuals, organisations and media outlets broadcasted more widely, but the recipient still felt part of a one-to-one communication at some level.

Twitter has also long been used as a means of addressing customer service issues – for many service companies, Twitter is a simple and direct way to engage with consumers and their grievances (@BTcare, etc.).

But here’s the thing, last week we saw these hitherto benign public faces align behind a topical and politically charged cause, with the sole view of using their public leverage to bring about change. And this change wasn’t ‘for the good’ in the way that support for a charitable or environmental cause might be; this was to bring down a major player in the UK media landscape. Their influence, in my opinion, was considerable.

Their output was also not without significant individual risk – invoking the wrath of News International comes at an almost guaranteed cost – how long till The Sun exposes Dara or Rufus for some matter of major public interest?

I’m not to judge whether their actions were worthy, or if they will have a lasting impact on the methods and output of the UK media, but I do believe that their actions brought Twitter to the top table for the first time – it has now proven itself to be an agent of change.

Encouraged by their success, we can expect to see more of this. I note with interest that in the last few days @The_SteveCoogan (1,000 followers) and @GrantHugh (7,000) – both of whom voiced strong opinions on Newsnight in the past week – have now taken to Twitter for the first time.

The week that Twitter grew up? Maybe, but most definitely a fascinating time.

When I first received my Sky+ HD box, I thought to myself this was really TV at its best: I would never miss my favourite programmes; I would be able to pause live shows, record entire series. Could I really ask for more? I didn’t think so until the Smart TV came in.

We have all heard of Internet or IP TV in the past, manufacturers like Sony have been making them for years now. However, Smart TV goes one step further: not only you can surf the web via your TV but like a mobile, you can get access to hundreds of apps which open you to a whole new world of entertainment. With this new piece of equipment the viewing experience becomes something else altogether: you can rent movies via Lovefilm, use social network applications such as Facebook or even chat with your friends on Skype. With VOD being part of our day to day TV consumption, the market of TV apps has become the next best thing. Samsung predicts that by the end of 2014 70% of all TV’s will be Smart TV’s. I remember when I first started in the media industry people kept saying “TV is dead”, “Video on Demand is the end of TV”. In reality VOD is simply another way for people to watch even more of the TV that they love. Gaming consoles are already challenging laptops and PC’s with BBC IPlayer, ITV player, 4OD and Sky Anytime all on Playstation and Xbox. Yet, Smart TV will bring television back in to the heart of the home and bring a whole new viewing experience. This new technology is not just about watching TV but also sharing and connecting with the world.

So to those who were quick to say TV is dead, I would say TV has risen from the ashes!!

Ok, so who wants to change from LA Fitness to this gym?

This week it was announced that Jonathan Allan is to become the new sales director of Channel 4. Having never met the man I can’t personally comment on his suitability for the job (questions have been asked about his lack of sales experience), but the challenges awaiting Jonathan are plain to see. The appointment has been greeted with a mixture of criticism, applause, and surprise in the industry. It was widely expected that the role wouldn’t go to a traditional TV sales person and the appointment of an agency’s forward thinking Managing Director demonstrates the broadcasters eagerness to embrace a “new digital generation”. The plethora of excellent programming available on 4OD such as Misfits, Teachers, and Shameless, mean the online sales team have plenty to work with under his stewardship. But then there are also complex issues for Jonathan to take on, such as the delicate state of Channel 4’s ad sales contract with UKTV.

Having written a hugely optimistic blog last year ago about my excitement over the new TV drama series The Event (Clearly not enough people shared my enjoyment of the show as it was cancelled after the first series having first been moved to the early hours of Tuesday mornings) I am now trying to get excited about The Killing, which begins tonight on Channel 4. With the Danish series of The Killing (Forbrydelsen in Danish) being such a huge success, it was only a matter of time until a US version was made. If it is able to get me anywhere near as riveted as Sky Atlantic’s fantastic Game of Thrones did, I’ll be an instant fan. Centred around the murder of a young girl and the subsequent police investigation, it sounds like the sort of plot one can expect on a Monday or Tuesday drama on ITV. I’ve watched a few clips though and it certainly seems to have an edgy appeal. Just a pity Sean Bean isn’t in it.

Channel 4 has had recent ratings success with Camelot and Embarrassing Fat Bodies, but Big Brother’s move to Channel 5 this summer leaves questions over just where Channel 4 will go to for guaranteed ratings. With Friends ending its 15 year run with the broadcaster in Autumn, the schedules will be unrecognisable from last year. With ITV expecting a strong autumn thanks to the return of The X Factor, new Ant and Dec fronted show Red or Black, and The Rugby World Cup, the former Managing Director at OMD faces a tall order, and could certainly do with a new success to match the likes of Undercover Boss or 24 Hours in A&E, or a drama series to capture the publics attention. Perhaps The Killing will be just that success…I’ll hold on for a few weeks before i get too excited though.

I went to an interesting debate last night about how divided Britain has become – young v old, rich v poor, urban v rural etc etc. The question was then raised about if we’re so divided, what is it that unites us? Is it our shared love of the great British sense of humour, or an endless capacity to watch live sport?  For me the one thing that all Brits share is their fascination with the weather. Thoughts?