A newsworthy event is happening right now. And another, and another — it never ends.
This is vital not just for feeding our 24-hour news cycle and hungry media corporations, but increasingly also for…
Microsoft’s negative marketing campaign says less about Google and more about its insecurity in the IT industry.
AAP/Everett Kennedy Brown
You can tell a lot about an organisation’s culture and view of the world by looking at what it says about its competitors.
Some enterprises, just like some politicians and academics, are serene. They…
Like them or loathe them, advertorials are now a recognised part of the mainstream press, and a key source of revenue for struggling media organisations.
AAP/Dean Lewins
RMIT professor Sinclair Davidson has recently defended the actions of journalist Paddy Manning, who was dismissed from Fairfax after writing an article in Crikey critical of what he called “advertorial…
As a publicly traded company, Facebook faces a responsibility to increase its revenue. But is its revamped news feed a step in the right direction?
AAP
Late last week, Facebook broke the news of another major change to users' news feeds, sparking interesting discussion across the globe. Described by Mark Zuckerberg as your new “personal newspaper,” the…
Efforts to reduce young people’s reliance on alcohol face a huge obstacle in the form of alcohol advertising.
Lala Roe
The most recent guidelines on appropriate alcohol consumption from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) are a hard sell to a hard-drinking public. And this is despite growing concerns…
Many proposed measures for curbing obesity around the work are aimed at restricting the intake sugar from soft drinks.
Robert Huffstutter
Merely two months into the new year and we have already seen a plethora of local and international efforts aimed at curbing what appears to be the inexorable rise of obesity. Some of these initiatives…
When does marketing spin cross the line to become misleading advertising?
Flickr\Just1of7billion
Two recent cases highlight the problem of misleading advertising.
In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has dismissed an appeal by POM Wonderful about health claims for their juice…
Nearly three-quarters of the parents said they were pestered by their children into buying food.
EPA Sam Stephenson
While we think of junk food marketing as something that happens during television commercial breaks or on massive billboard signs, supermarkets are yet another advertising frontier for food companies…
Unrealistic advertising can severely damage individual self-esteem.
Ed Yourdan/Flickr.
Body image may be the western world’s ugliest export. Images of thin, toned women and hyper-muscular men are conveyed via television, magazines, movies and the internet to the global market.
The ideal…
According to official figures, the time fathers spend with their children has been static since 1997.
flip & serena/Flickr
The success of House Husbands, the Australian drama featuring four hands-on dads may be a signal that today’s fathers really want more involvement in their children’s lives than did previous generations…
Nine CEO David Gyngell has secured a lifeline for the ailing television network.
AAP
Channel Nine is a station of two tales. The first is the positive story its viewers see: smiling in-house celebrities, reliable newsreaders, and blockbuster programs such as House Husbands, The Voice…
We want our pets to be happy, but how much luxury do they need?
nezitic[x]/flickr
People around the world are worrying about their carbon footprint. But what about their furry friends' carbon pawprints?
Consider the numbers: there are currently around 1 billion pet cats and dogs worldwide…
The new government campaign misses the mark.
Australian government
With 5,459 attempted boat arrivals to Australia in the first half of 2012, an increase of 894 since last year, it is no wonder the prime minister is desperate to demonstrate she is combating people smuggling…
A recent decision by Australia’s Advertising Standards Bureau around comments left on Smirnoff’s Facebook page comes as companies re-evaluate its value.
Flickr/Owen W.Brown
Imagine a world in which advertising companies were held directly accountable for the vision of the world their ads portrayed. Accountability could range from simple things like why deodorants don’t immediately…
Liam Lenten presents Part 5 of Some Sports Economics.
Welcome to Some Sports Economics, a six-part video series explaining economic concepts through sport, by La Trobe University senior lecturer, Liam Lenten.
In the fifth part of this series, Liam looks…
As the “rivers of gold”– classifieds – dry up, there are alternative revenue models emerging – although none offer a simplistic panacea to the media industry.
AAP
Journalists have never been particularly fond of advertising or advertisers – to most journalists, advertising was space and time taken away from good stories and advertisers were commercial interests…
The Menzies government was voted in with the help of the John Henry Austral ads.
National Library of Australia
After languishing in an archive box at Melbourne University for more than 20 years, an astonishing piece of Australian political history has recently been dusted off and digitised.
The university has…
Coles is among a number of companies that have misjudged social media campaigns.
AAP/Alan Porrit
My central problem with branded clothing is my reluctance to actually be branded. Why on earth would I pay to advertise someone?
When a Kiwi can make a motza from auctioning her buttock flesh to a strip…
Children remember advertisements and, more often than not, they want what they see.
Dimitris Papazimouris
The impact of junk food advertising on childhood obesity is a topic often debated in the media. One side calls for banning junk food advertising during children’s television viewing times while the other…
ACMA has handballed responsibility for regulating junk food advertising to kids to a preventive health agency.
Eekadman
There’s no evidence that industry self-regulation works to restrict junk food advertising to children. That’s the unsurprising finding of the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) long…
Plain packaging is one of many health reforms to enter or pass through parliament last week.
AAP
The final sitting of federal parliament last week lacked no drama, ending with the sudden induction of Peter Slipper as speaker. It was also a mammoth week for health legislation, with the passing of the…
The multi-country study concluded that in Australia, television advertising’s contribution to childhood obesity is between 10% and 28%.
Maggie Osterberg
A recent complaint to the Advertising Standards Board by the Obesity Policy Coalition about a Smarties online colouring-in competition aimed at three- to ten-year-olds, and a bill introduced by Greens…
There should be more regulation of third parties to help preserve Australian democracy. AAP/Alan Porritt.
MEDIA & DEMOCRACY: In the latest instalment of The Conversation’s week-long series on how the media influences the way our representatives develop policy, Marian Sawer examines the need to regulate…
Too much regulation of third parties like GetUp! will hurt democracy.
Paul Miller AAP
MEDIA & DEMOCRACY: In the latest instalment of The Conversation’s week-long series on how the media influences the way our representatives develop policy, Andrew Norton says there’s no need to regulate…
Cate Blanchett is among the celebrities pressed into service to persuade us on political issues.
AAP/WWF
MEDIA & DEMOCRACY: This afternoon, Andrew Hughes examines which recent political adverts have been a success, as part of The Conversation’s week-long series on how the media influences the way our…
Kevin Rudd used to manage his brand well, but was toppled after an advertising campaign against him.
AAP/YouTube
MEDIA & DEMOCRACY: Today, Andrew Hughes looks at how voters have become consumers of political marketing, as part of The Conversation’s week-long series on how the media influences the way our representatives…
Celebrities may inspire and help advertise products, but they have no place in politics.
AAP Image/Paul Miller
MEDIA & DEMOCRACY: Today, The Conversation launches a week-long series, looking at how the media influences the way our representatives develop policy. Robin Canniford explains why advertising spin…
Statutory guidelines only limit junk food advertising to children for about an hour a day.
a fc o/Flickr
Industry self-regulation has failed to change the amount of fast food advertising targeting Australian children, according to new research from the Prevention Research Collaboration and NSW Cancer Council…
