An advert for an advert

There are offers on the front pages of Richard Desmond's papers almost every day. On Friday 30 March, the Daily Express and the Daily Star had this:

And on Monday 2 April, the same offer for a different supermarket:

So: £5 off a £40 shop at Tesco and Asda - with the promise of more details inside.

But it turned out that those promotions were simply existing offers running at both supermarkets. Those mentions on the front pages were simply adverts for an advert. Like this, in Monday's Express:

In other words, there was absolutely no need to buy the paper to get the offer.

Going by the comments on a couple of voucher and money saving forums, it seems several people were fooled by this.

Some have also mentioned contacting the Advertising Standards Authority. Here's 'Hanonymouse':

This one is ripe for the ASA - there is nothing on the front page that says this is an advertising promotion - and given that previously these HAVE referred to in-paper vouchers, this has to be against the rules. Waste of 30p and shoe leather!

Have complained to the ASA and Tesco - this is very underhand by whoever the promoter is - taking advantage of people who recognise the recent spate of cut-out vouchers and thought this would be the same. Surely if it's an advert and not editorial or a promotion, it needs to say so, especially as it's a BIG ad in the middle at the top of the front page.

(Hat-tip to James Holden)

Some things never change...

Tabloid Watch began two years ago today.

The first post highlighted an article in The Sun which was plugging Sky HD as the best way to cure the winter blues.

Two years on, the Sun is still at it. Yesterday, Rupert Murdoch launched 'The Daily' - his iPad-only newspaper. Unsurprisingly, Sun Digital Editor Derek Brown was impressed:

Some are calling it as significant as the day in 1788 that the first issue of The Times hit London's streets...

The American football coverage, ahead of this Sunday's Super Bowl, is presented brilliantly. There is a feature about what it's like to stand in the tunnel, accompanied by lovely 3D-style images. There is also a section on top plays which has video running through tactics. The prospect of using this technology with proper football is mouthwatering.

Fashion also works well, with the ability to click on outfits for a more detailed look...

The Daily runs smoothly, downloads quickly and is a promising glimpse into what the future holds.

And it's not just them doing the cross-promotion. Richard Desmond's Daily Star continues to give free advertising to Richard Desmond's Channel 5 - the latest being this puff piece about some upcoming programmes, including the TV show linked to Richard Desmond's OK! magazine...

Express website thinks bra advert is news

Here's a screenshot from the story that is currently fifth highest in the UK news section of the Express website:


Yes, it's an advert for a bra. Sorry, a miracle bra. It also appears on the OK! magazine website - which also happens to be owned by Richard Desmond - so no doubt they have paid handsomely for the coverage.

The article, which begins with the curious question:

Cleavage like crepe paper?

even includes a link to the manufacturer's website.

This is the third time in recent months that an advert has been listed in the Express' news section. Surely the Advertising Standards Authority should be slapping Desmond's knuckles for this, as they did over the printed ads-as-editorial.

More breaking news from the Express

Currently the fifth story in the UK News section of the Express website:
This is the second time in a week the Express has run an advertising feature in the 'news' section.

Clearly, Richard Desmond hasn't learnt anything about mixing advertising and editorial.

Believe it or not - Desmond papers are about to get worse

MediaGuardian is reporting the National Union Journalists' claim that Richard Desmond is to cut over 70 journalists from its four 'newspaper' titles, following the news that 80 more were to be made redundant last September.

Regular readers will know that Desmond is a liar and a bully and a totally inappropriate person to be running newspapers. And his rarely rise above nasty, racist, anti-immigrant, anti-Islam, Britain-isn't-Britain-any-more bullshit.

How are fewer journalists going to help get the exclusives, which the Express never get? When was the last time an Express story led the news agenda - and that doesn't include the ones where they are paying damages for weeks of inaccuracies.

As noted before, the Express is made up of a lot advertising. And lately even its editorial has been advertising. How can fewer journalists change that? Just looking at today's edition and on a rough count, 34 and a half pages (out of 88) are advertising.

That's 39%. Add to that all the pictures and already it is staggeringly lacking in journalist-written content.

And that will only get worse. Because Desmond has no concern for journalism. All he has a concern for is making money and treating minorities like crap.

Great news!

I can hardly contain my smiles on hearing that Richard Desmond has lost his libel case against Tom Bower.

This presumably means the jury disregarded his evidence, which may very well make him, officially, a liar.

As if we didn't know. Some of his evidence was clearly untrustworthy - such as the claims about him not using his awful rags to settle scores, when evidence about his long-running fights with the Mail is well known.

He also claimed - on the witness stand - he only read Bower's book on holiday in August 2007, when he had in fact instructed lawyers to take action in July.

The court also heard a tape of Desmond threatening Jafar Omid with the words: 'I am the worst fucking enemy you'll ever have'. He also said:

It's seventy-five grand, you know, and I think, fuck me, you know, we've done so much, you know, business together, you know. And we got, you know, a little, what's the word, situation over seventy-five grand.

This from a man whose newspapers, you know, complain about the language skills of others.

He denied he meddled with the editorial side of his papers - his friendship with Mohammed Al-Fayed clearly had nothing to with endless of pathetic Diana conspiracy stories appearing in the Express.

He has issued a statement, post-verdict, in which he has said:

I sued Mr Bower for defamation because he made inaccurate and damaging allegations about me...It was worth it to stand up in court and set the record straight.

Set the record straight? The jury clearly didn't believe what his version of 'the record' was, so what is he on about?

On top of all the libel payouts that the Express and Star have incurred recently, it's hard to believe that anyone bothers to buy either paper any more.

But the Express with its veneer of respectability (very thin, but the people who buy it do think it's a quality paper) it gives credibility to its incessant abuse of, and misleading articles about, minority groups.

I happen to have picked up a copy today and was amazed at how much advertising it had in it. A very rough count of quarter, half, or full page ads suggested that of the 80 pages, around 28 were adverts - that's 35%. (Compared with today's Times, for example, which had around 14 pages of ads out of 72, around 3 of which were for either the Times or Sunday Times, which is 19%).

It is a quite shockingly low rent piece of tat, with an insidious, racist agenda.

And its editor and owner are now both proven liars.

Sun is boost for Sky

Although listed as 'news', this blatant advert appeared in The Sun website's 'news' section on 2 February 2009.

In it, The Sun (owned by Rupert Murdoch) reports that the best thing to cheer us up in winter is to watch Sky HD (owned by Rupert Murdoch). That's the view of Donna Dawson, a psychologist who regularly contributes to discussions on, er, Sky.

Shameless.