Telephone trap is a trifle Galling

The Diary can be a touch obstinate and refused to change plans for a well-earned break in France just because the French exercised their constitutional right to take Tahiti a step closer to nuclear oblivion. Oh no; you can’t turn back the clock, nuclear power is here to stay. France is an ally, we both want to keep our seats on the UN top table, Chirac’s sane, the deterrent has to be effective, especially now that every irresponsible Tom, Dick and Harry’s on the nuclear bandwagon. Well, absolutely. But if there’s one thing that gets my goat (ou ma chèvre) it’s having to pay through the nose for the privilege of having one’s name and address added to a database at the French Tourist Office. The only number for this office is a premium rate 0891 number charging callers 49p a minute while an operator immediately requests address details. After all, one could be mailed all sorts of things – although there’s unlikely to be anything from French Greenpeace.

Recommended

Politicians prepare for dirty war games

Marketing Week

The two main parties are getting back on the election campaign trail but, unlike last time, Labour is armed with a 4m budget and a full-service agency, while the Conservatives lack the old Saatchi savvy. By Tom O’Sullivan Every General Election is always going to be the dirtiest; the most important, the most presidential – […]

Extremely hazy chain of events

Marketing Week

Denise Porter is indeed leaving us to join J Walter Thompson, as you reported last week (MW September 15), but I’m afraid most of the other facts in your news story were woefully inaccurate. Considering that Porter was not even on the agency’s board (and head of media, not media director as reported), the chain […]

Pepe in a spin over MTV ban

Marketing Week

Pepe Jeans is furious over a decision by MTV not to screen its latest commercial by Leagas Delaney, featuring a teenager being spun inside a tumble dryer. The company says it spent two months pushing to have the ad screened through MTV, which was only last week fined 15,000 for screening another Pepe Jeans commercial […]