Cleaning specialist Clearway's ad banned in UK

The uk's advertising standards authority has banned an ad for cleaning specialist Clearway Environmental Services because the real-life images it contained were "too graphic and shocking for consumers". The ad in Inside Housing magazine was headlined "No job too big, no job too awful. Clearway the specialists in dealing with undiscovered

Chhattisgarh govt's ad for engineers follows two-child norm

a recent full-page advertisement by the Chhattisgarh government for the post of 129 sub-engineers has left prospective applicants shocked because of three conditions tagged with it. One, an applicant should not have more than two children. Two, the elder child should not be more than six years old. Three, the applicant should not have married prior to the official marriage age--21.

Computer games simulate society

Video games have long been a controversial subject among critics, consumers and parents. They have been accused of desensitising children to violence and emphasising that violent behaviour is acceptable. These are valid criticisms. Partaking in virtual violence does have a seemingly realistic feel to it. But it's an aspect that has also of late fostered a distinct characteristic to video games. With game pyrotechnics becoming more advanced, the virtual world has become an arena for social simulation.

Online Pure hype

www.dasani.com This website is prefaced by a question "What makes your mouth water?" Before you have a moment to think, the answers come thick and fast. "The crisp taste of Dasani. Delicious Dasani flavours...Each Dasani product is enhanced to deliver a mouth-watering experience." There is an exegesis on a "vitamin-enhanced" variety. Dainty posters to download besides.

Corporate care for mine workers

Mine workers' safety has moved beyond fulminations of activists and official confabulations. To corporate circles, it seems, going by an ad issued by Simplex, an engineering products company located in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh. "How long coal miners will work manually?" the ad asks.

South African ad authority hard on Monsanto

South Africa's Advertising Standards Authority has ordered Monsanto to withdraw an ad in the widely read You magazine. The full-page magazine advert titled 'Biotechnology -- the true facts', sought to assure South Africans about the safety of gm foods. It, in fact, held that gm foods were "safer and more nutritious than natural food".

Nickelodeon characters endorsing junk food

There is something not-so-comical about our comic channels. A recent study says Nickelodeon, the popular entertainment channel, is spreading junk food among kids through its advertisements.

Advertisent in Pakistan of lost radioactive material raises furor

A few advertisements on 'lost' radioactive materials have raised concern in Pakistan. The advertisements appeared in some Urdu newspapers last month. They asked the public to inform officials if they found any 'lost or stolen' radioactive material. Pakistan's nuclear authority on May 2 said there was a "very remote chance" that nuclear materials imported 40-50 years ago "were unaccounted

News snippets

>> A report released on May 7 by the pressure group, Media Matters for America, says minorities and women get less space in prime-time news programmes in the us. The three-week study said most of the hosts and guests on the shows at msnbc, Fox News and cnn were white males. On some networks women representation was 18 per cent. > On May 8, Friends of the Earth, Europe, said it would approach European regulators against a Royal Dutch Shell Plc advertisement, which says

Brazil to regulate junk food

In November last year, Brazil's National Health Monitoring Agency launched a public debate on regulations that would ban radio and tv advertising for soft drinks and foods with sugar, saturated fat or salt. The government is expected to issue a decree on such measures in June. Brazil is not alone. Junk food regulation bills are also on the anvil in other Latin American countries such as Mexico and Chile.