In the tricky world of corporate branding, a row has broken out between Wikipedia and the FBI over the use of its seal. In a letter sent to Wikipedia’s San Francisco office, the FBI said that “unauthorised reproduction of the FBI Seal was prohibited by US law”. “Whoever possesses any insignia…or any colourable imitation there of..shall be fined…or imprisoned… or both,” the FBI wrote.

Not being easily phased, Wikipedia denied that it had done anything wrong and said that FBI lawyers had “misquoted the law”. The issue centred on the FBI’s Wikipedia entry which, in addition to information on the US bureau, also features an image of the “Seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation”.

“We are compelled as a matter of law and principle to deny your demand for removal of the FBI Seal from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons,” said Mr Godwin from Wikipedia adding that the firm was “prepared to argue our view in court.”

Does the FBI have nothing better to do? I’m sure a quick look on Google images will find hundreds of other examples of their logo.

Selfridges in Oxford Street will launch its Christmas season on the 2^nd of August, a full 145 days before the holiday – it’s earliest-ever start for the store.

People keen to plan ahead can purchase trees, crackers, fairy lights or even a £500 life-size donkey. The store said previous sales had shown some customers, especially overseas tourists, started thinking about Christmas during August. Last year, its festive shop sold more than 1,000 baubles during the first week of trading after opening on 8 August. The shop said customers could paint their own baubles this year.

Did you know the flagship store in London’s Oxford Street is the second largest shop in the UK (after Harrods) and was opened on 15 March 1909. Don’t worry Gift Selection won’t be putting out it’s Christmas based promotional items just yet, and I doubt they will even offer any life size donkeys what so ever. If you’re looking for branded baubles however, your talking their language…

Not all branding is popular with the people; a word of warning if your planning a large scale marketing campaign. Although to be fair, your brand probably won’t have oppressed million of people, which is why with authorities in Georgia have taken down a statue of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin that stood in the central square of Gori, his hometown.

The six metre (20ft) bronze statue was removed unannounced from its plinth in the middle of the night. The statue will be moved to a museum in Gori dedicated to Stalin, said the head of the city council, Zviad Khmaladze. It will be replaced by a monument for the victims of Georgia’s 2008 war with Russia.

Though he was not a decisive figure in the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917, he quickly rose through the ranks of the Communist Party after the revolution, securing his position as undisputed leader in the years after Lenin’s death in 1924. His forced collectivisation of agriculture cost millions of lives, while thousands were executed and millions sent into exile during purges in the 1930s.

Recently, the fate of the statue has been a subject of debate in Georgia, with supporters of the pro-Western “Rose Revolution” that brought President Mikhail Saakashvili to power in 2004 arguing for its removal.

                          I can’t believe they have nothing better to do, but FIFA is investigating whether their sponsorship rights have been breached by a brand of English ale.

Striker, made by Oxfordshire brewer Hook Norton, has been launched to coincide with the forthcoming football tournament. Promotional material claims it is ‘Brewed to celebrate the FIFA World Cup 2010. Supporting England’.

A spokesman for FIFA said that citing the World Cup would ‘clearly go against our regulations’. I think it’s pretty obvious that the beer has no links with FIFA, but there still not happy. I don’t know why Hook Norton even bothered mentioning the FIFA name, as it seems unnecessary to me.

To add to the poor breweries problems, Carlsberg aren’t happy either as they are the official beer of the England team and The Football Association, however they will not be taking action.

If you do have any questions about branding, contact the branding experts at Gift Selection.

We’re all up for some self promotion here, one way another, you can get your message across. It doesn’t necessarily mean it will be well received though, as the Senegalese people will tell you.

Senegal has inaugurated a new monument, higher than the Statue of Liberty, costing a bargain £18m. The 49m (160ft) Monument of African Renaissance has been unveiled in Dakar as the highlight of the nation’s 50th anniversary of independence, but has drawn huge criticism over its cost and symbolism.

The Soviet-style bronze statue, built by North Korean workers, is the idea of President Abdoulaye Wade, who not one to miss an opportunity, said he should take 35% of the revenue generated by the monument because it was his idea.

Nineteen heads of state, including Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo, attended the statue’s inauguration, which coincided with the country celebrating 50 years of independence from France.

Deputy opposition leader Ndeye Fatou Toure said the statue was an “economic monster and a financial scandal in the context of the current [economic] crisis,” AFP news agency reported. Not only that, but now most of the Muslim community has got the hump, as scholars have labelled its scantily clad figures un-Islamic, while others said it was a waste of money and ‘idolatrous’.

On the eve of the celebrations, the Reuters news agency quoted a leading imam, Massamba Diop, as telling worshippers at a mosque in the capital: “We have issued a fatwa urging Senegal’s imams this Friday to read the holy Koran in the mosques simply to ask Allah to preserve us from the punishment this monument of shame risks bringing on Senegal.”

Apart from that, the ceremony went down very well. If you have a budget of £18m, or even less, talk to the promotion experts at Gift Selection who will share their expert advice.

How about this for a good piece of branding? A Hollywood-style sign spelling out the name of an Essex town has been erected along the A127. Basildon District Council hopes the giant letters will promote the town as a place to do business.

The £400,000 project is being funded from a grant from Thames Gateway. The glitzy sign, modeled on the famous Hollywood sign, is part of a package of measures to signpost the district better and make it easier for visitors to find their way. People in the Essex area can now, presuming they actually want to go Basildon, can just look up and follow their noses.

What I love about British council’s, is that they know how to save money sensibly. Spend £400,000 a sign – absolutely no problem. Council leader Tony Ball said: “The sign will be good if it makes people think ‘ah, Basildon’ when they drive past, rather than just driving through, and in no time finding themselves at Rayleigh Weir.”

It isn’t all about ex London gangsters, and girls wearing white stilettos and not much else. According to Denise Van Outen (Basildon born and bread), the girls have “moved from that image and now the girls are all into the WAG look.”

Changed beyond all recognition then. If you work for a council, and are looking for some more affordable ways to promote yourself. Investing in some value for money promotional material from Promostore isn’t a bad idea.

If your business is struggling, promoting it in a cost effective way is your best plan of action. Spreading your corporate identity and marketing your business in a tasteful way, will hopefully get your business back on its feet.

Rather than invest in promotional items, a business women decided to diversify, which looking back on it, probably wasn’t the best course of action. Sheri Uppal was an antique dealer whose business rapidly declined during the recession, so naturally she decided to turn her business into a brothel, which she ran from her family home in Torquay.

Police raided it after locals complained about men visiting at night, who weren’t presumable antique hunting. She admitting the offence, and got a nine month suspended sentence, and ordered to do 125 hours unpaid community service at Exeter Crown Court. Judge Graham Cottle told her: “Your financial circumstances were dire but it is quite a leap to keeping a brother.”

The paternal government of Finland has become the world’s first state to take the bold move to completely phase out smoking.

Anti-tobacco laws are being tightened further, in what anti-smoking campaigners have cleverly called a war on the cigarette industry. Their citizen’s reaction to the government’s plans has been mixed. Many people cite that they would prefer future children not to grow up around smokers, while other groups, namely smokers, would prefer to carry on smoking.

Marketing for tobacco companies around the world is getting tougher, one method however is to use branded lighters. Promotional cigarette lighters are an unusual promotional item, but they much more common on the continent then in the UK.

The same Bic who make your low cost promotional pens, also manufacture great value promotional cigarette lighters too. Quality corporate gift suppliers like Gift Selection, can organise great value Bic Lighters with your artwork and get them to you ASAP.

Google hasn’t been out of the news of late, their recent controversy surrounds their lack of patience with the ever suspicious China. The internet giant has said it may end its dealings in China, after a “sophisticated and targeted” cyber attack originating from the country.

Google’s David Drummond, SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, made the big announcement on the Google blog. As it turns out, Google discovered that what first appeared to be a random cyber attack on their company, was actually a concerted effort against various organisations. The story took a darker twist as, Google claims that the primary target of the attack was the GMail accounts of Chinese human rights activists from all over the world.

Google did not accuse the Chinese government directly, probably as they are nervous of being kidnapped, but said they have said they are no longer willing to censor its Chinese search engine - google.cn.

Google launched google.cn in 2006, agreeing to some censorship of the search results, as required by the Chinese government. It currently holds around a third of the Chinese search market, far behind Baidu with more than 60%.

The NHS rolled out a £25,000 ‘Cocktales’ campaign designed to highlight the dangers of drink to young people specifically in Derbyshire, only to see it taken off YouTube.

The video shows a young woman who urinates in the street, falls over and is then jeered at by a group of passing young men. When I saw this clip, I just presumed it was a fly on the wall documentary about Preston, and didn’t think anything of it. However ‘Bloody Mary’ received 15,000 hits in the eight days it was on YouTube and was also distributed to local media.

Alison Pritchard, from Derbyshire Primary Care Trust said: ‘This video does have a dark humour in it designed to capture the imagination and show what can happen if you overstep the mark on a night out. ‘It has been banned from YouTube because of its content which we realise some people may find controversial. We want people to think about the main messages of safe drinking and use the information to make informed choices on their nights out, particularly around the Christmas period.’

If you’re the kind of person who likes to go out of their way to be offended, just to confirm they will be offended, it can still be viewed at the campaign website. The second instalment tantalizingly involves a man dressed as a turkey, who unfortunately gets run over.