Strange Meerkats
I have written before about the fact that people are prepared to trust the information given by the picture of a disgruntled dog with adenoids, called Churchill. The other day, I was informed by someone in the advertising business, that the advertisements using meerkats are an incredible success. It’s all very well to say the British are mad about animals, but it does seem a step too far to set aside common sense to that extent. There is no shadow of doubt that not only the quality but also the quantity of advertising has increased incredibly since the credit crunch. The advertising executives seem to have discovered that entertainment in any form, is preferable to giving the facts straight from the shoulder, and much of the entertainment seems to err on the side of razzmatazz, and the facts and figures that one would have thought were essential, are more than a little sparse. Just out of interest, instead of skipping over the advertisements on TV, once in a while take a look at them, they certainly are entertaining in many cases, but whether they are as informative as one would like is a matter of opinion. I must say I find it highly amusing to imagine how some of these highly paid doyennes of the entertainment business, who were themselves preaching on the value of various products, must be feeling now they have been usurped by what the Africans probably considered as vermin.
The diversification of interest
No one could say I was sport mad, I will watch the odd football match, or international rugby but I don’t think that I would willingly support these championships that are springing up all over the country, and the Olympics. However, I am of the opinion that I am doing so through the back door. Long before the credit crunch, I had a number of shares in banks and building societies which formed my savings. When the credit crunch arrived at lease three of these concerns were taken over by bigger companies that later were to have been found to be making irrational decisions. The result of this has been my income from these investments, which was supposed to be stable, was in fact reducing at an alarming rate. I now discover to my horror, through watching sports on television, that these actual companies are currently supporting sport in its various forms, which itself entails supplying kit to the players, travel expenses and probably footing the expenses of the various events in the stadia around the country. I vaguely remember having seen that some of them were also funding tours. When you consider that the government has bolstered these people out or our taxes, and to this must be added loss of income to the pensioners who have been saving for their old age. I find it remarkable that the government is happy for this procedure; the perpetrators will tell you that it is wise spending as it generates business through advertising. They’d have a hell of a job trying to prove that to me, when I see how many seats at the matches are empty.
An estimate on waste
Local authorities, by the amount of paper they use to cajole us to save the world, should be estimating the overall level of waste of the world’s resources which is induced by large food shopping centres importing products from abroad by air, to satisfy the rising demand for unusual and exotic products, as well as those products home produced. We might get a surprise. There has been a great rise in the amount of notice which is taken of sell by dates both by the traders and by the purchasers. I am of the opinion that there is a considerable safety factor built into these dates that reduces their life. For one who was brought up with no such things as refrigerators and freezers, where you built up an immune system to such an extent the tummy troubles were not a problem, I believe that one of the severest wastes of resources and man power is our throwaway society. Someone will tell me that it is our obligation to support commerce in the underdeveloped world. I feel that there is a better way than transporting food halfway around the world to satisfy a very small, out-of-season need, and the inevitable waste.