If you’re planning a protest, maybe you’re a Liverpool fan or your child benefit is being taken away then take a look at the French for inspiration. Many French workers are stepping up their protests against pension reforms next week, a top trade union leader says. Bernard Thibault, head of the CGT workers’ confederation, made the statement as union leaders prepared to discuss plans to hold a seventh day of national protests across France. The French are in a mad panic because they might have to retire at 62, whereas I doubt I’ll get to retire ever; and keep paying for other peoples...

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...

Promotional mobile phone accessories are big businesses, as they seem to physically attached to most people. However mobile phone users are being encouraged to find out if operators are doing enough to keep their calls secret.     Security researchers have released tools that, they say, make it easy to see what security systems operators use to stop eavesdropping. The researchers want to expose those operators that have not updated security systems to prevent others listening in.The tools are based on an attack first demonstrated in late 2009.     “We do want people to go out and study how...

Selfridges in Oxford Street will launch its Christmas season on the 2nd 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...

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...

                          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...

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...

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...

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...

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...