A weekly roundup of talking points, sans effort

 

Thought for the week

“I am an expert in what happens to women when access to abortion is restricted. Even if this law is enacted, only a very, very small percentage of women who need abortions will be able to access them in Ireland.” Mara Clarke, director of the London-based charity Abortion Support Network, discussing the recently passed Irish bill allowing abortions to be legally practiced, for the very first time, in specific circumstances.

Weekly high

Proving that in order to launch a great PR, marketing, or advertising campaign all that’s really needed is a strong message delivered in a timely fashion, Philips jumped on the public relations mess its rival Colgate landed itself in by placing the following advert in some of the UK’s biggest national newspapers on Wednesday. And, if this means nothing, take a look at our Weekly Low to get the gist of what inspired the statement.

Weekly low

Common sense dictates that if you decide to offer Londoners the opportunity to swap their old electric toothbrushes for brand spanking new £170 models you need to have enough to give away. Colgate obviously overlooked this advice on Tuesday, when a stall opened offering the brush exchange in Waterloo station, but had to be closed by 9.30AM due to crowd problems and a lack of stock. Sorry, what was the point?

 

Things that might happen in the next week…

Britain will continue to bask in wonderfully warm temperatures, in some areas peaking in the low 30s, for at least another five days (hopefully several weeks longer if many reports are to be believed. Trafford General Hospital, here in Manchester, will begin to make the necessary steps to close its A&E department as the oldest NHS hospital in the country suffers a serious blow, and, in other local news, the celebrated Manchester International Festival enters its second and final week of world premieres.

Just in case you missed it…

A 12-foot effigy of Mr. Darcy, from Pride &Prejudice, has been erected in Hyde Park to promote new free to air channel Drama. Timely, considering thousands will be arriving at the green space tomorrow to see The Rolling Stones, click here to read our full take on the stunt.
If there is a success story, blunder, or news event you’d like to see included email helloATsmokinggun.co.uk or tweet using #blaggersblog. Happy Friday!