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Your support makes all the difference.Comparative advertising, it turns out, is legit after all. Last week, a High Court judge made that clear when he chucked out a claim brought by Vodafone against its rival Orange. Vodafone accused Orange of malicious falsehoods, misleading consumers and infringing the Vodafone trademark, in the first TV ad to compare brands using a rival's name and logo. The judge disagreed. Before ordering Vodafone to pay all costs, Mr Justice Jacob characterised some of its claims as "hopeless" and "preposterous'. The judgment should bring relief to the agency which produced Orange's ads. Step forward and take a bow, WCRS.
Bill stickers will be prosecuted - again. The poster industry is once more puffing up its collective chest and expressing dark thoughts about the scallywags who have defaced its sites with illicit posters promoting some rap band. What really upsets this most sensitive section of the ad industry is the meaty language used on the fly posters: "What the f*** are you looking at?" the ads inquire. The vigilant industry - principally comprising Mills & Allen and More O'Ferrall - took scarcely any time to rush out and paste over the offending sheets, but consumers were too fast, clocking up 10 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority.
Meanwhile, the creator of Wonderbra's "Hello Boys" posters, Trevor Beattie, received a rare endorsement of his long curly locks this week. The words of encouragement came from boxer-turned-Brighton-dandy Chris Eubank, star of Beattie's latest commercial. Whizzing along on a motorbike in the film - for London-to-Brighton line Network South Central - Eubank felt obliged to put a special leather flying hat under his crash helmet. This, explained the style-conscious former world champion, prevented his (almost non-existent) hair from 'fluffing'. Turning to Beattie, Eubank pronounced: "You're all right, you just shake your hair and go."
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