Have you any idea how much money UK supermarkets spend on Christmas advertising every year? It’s a staggering £9.5bn, according to new data by the Advertising Association.
Some of the Christmas ads are clever and watchable, but when it all starts in the first fortnight in November and goes on until December 24 it gets extremely boring.
And this year supermarket chain Iceland has said it will not roll out a Christmas advert but will instead spend the money supporting its customers. I say good for them.
These supermarket ads are continually banging on about all the festive foods they have on over for Christmas. Why on earth we want to know about stocking up with Christmas fare at the start of November beats me. These ads after a few weeks have lost all their appeal.
Christmas advertising has become big business for celebrities. Michael Bublé has taken on a role in Asda’s Christmas advert, while Rick Astley is the face of the Sainsbury’s campaign.
Last year’s advert for Iceland was voiced by Brian Blessed and featured Slade’s Noddy Holder. And all this when people have been facing a cost of living crisis.
And this advertising is ridiculous. If you normally do your shopping in Sainsbury’s or Tescos, that is where you are most likely to Christmas shop – regardless of any of the TV ads.
I get so bored with TV adverts. When they are on – and it’s got worse with 5 minutes of repetitive drivel every quarter of an hour – I’m, doing the washing or drying up or getting breakfast laid up before going to bed.
And these adverts are never ending. How much longer are we going to see a criminal running about opening a bag with a hair shampoo, girls prancing around in a corn field, a ridiculous looking guitar player in a desert surrounded by wolves or a woman running up a hill with lions?
And isn’t it about time that middle-class father bought his son a spaceship for Christmas rather than see him waiting for a washing up bottle to empty; when are we going to see people smiling when they see light from a roof window rather than looking gormless, and when is the bedroom furniture company going to end its ever-lasting half price sale? These advertising companies must think the public are halfwits.
PUBLIC PROTECTION FROM DANGEROUS DOGS
Two people have been airlifted to hospital with serious injuries after a dog attack in North Wales. Two other people suffered minor injuries.
How many more times do we have to see stories like this in the newspapers before something serious and lasting is done to deal properly with dangerous dogs and protect people?
Apparently, the authorities had to deal with 37 dogs and a number of cats at the property. Incredible! One of the dogs was destroyed.
Hardly a week goes by that we don’t hear of people being seriously injured and even killed by dangerous out of control dogs. The law and courts must crack down severely against owners, to reinforce that society will not tolerate dangerous dogs any longer.
DING DONG MERRILY
At last common sense has arrived at a village in Scotland – and it has taken just one person to achieve it.
A church bell has chimed every hour for 200 years but has been silenced after a resident complained to the council’s environmental health department that sleep was being disturbed. The church has to keep the silence from 11pm to 7pm daily.
It must have been dreadful having to put up with the noise of a bell ringing every hour each and every night – and for what?
LAW AND ORDER
Just one Co-op store on the outskirts of Manchester city centre has an average of 20 incidents of shoplifting each day.
Over the last month staff there have faced verbal abuse from shoplifters they have interrupted, while one threatened to kill a member of staff, and another threatened them with a knife.
Across the country, the Co-op reports that members of staff have been attacked with syringes, bottles, knives and even a medieval mace. Police failed to attend 76% of incidents where suspected shoplifters were held by specialist staff in their stores, the Co-op has said.
It paints an appalling picture of a country where law and order is out of control – and it’s worse when we hear that judges are being asked not to jail offenders because prisons are full.
Stores are getting together to provide funds to employ specialist police to deal with shoplifters – but again what is going to happen with offenders when judges and magistrates cannot jail offenders? I have ideas about how to deal with offenders – what do you think?
