Chris, business clients and customers, NGO's and even other agencies have used these appalling tactics for years now.

Gwen is right - you need to cover your butt's with any and all means possible when presenting intellectual property.

A non-disclosure agreement signed by all parties, before presenting the goods, can further protect the intellectual property rights of all. And from a legal point of view, can give you leverage should you wish to challenge such a scenario.

If agencies, business or any other individual is presenting such valuable glimpses of future reality, one would think by now that your exact scenario has been anticipated & prepared for by these same people. If they have not, then unfortunately, things could get out of hand, and you only have yourself to blame.Posted on 16 Mar 2010 14:35

Adorable, attention grabbing. Confusing and poor branding. Nice ad but won't get decent recall ... Also, no link between message and product.Posted on 16 Mar 2010 14:34

Beautifully produced ad that loses its message in the production. No real product message, local relevance missed to at least some degree. Funny, but linkage will be terrible.Posted on 16 Mar 2010 14:31

For years DSTV has openly shown programs depicting extreme violence. Movies like SAW, Hostel and Silence of the lambs all depict extreme violence. Along with this regularly there are shows that use psychotic behaviour as entertainment, like Dexter, where the serial killer is the hero.
And these are not on extra channels, they are available to everyone who has DSTV.

Surely this is worse than showing people having sex on TV. If i believed that TV affected my kids so strongly, then I would definitely be more worried about brutal violence than sex. The porn channel was also going to be a separate pay channel if I'm not mistaken. So if you don't want it, don't get it. Censorship takes away your right to not watchPosted on 16 Mar 2010 14:07

Which is precisely why I have a copyright clause that states - “Freelancers Writing Services CC retains the copyright to the contents of this presentation, together with its concepts, strategic input, promotional ideas, public relations and media proposals. It may not be used or be transferred to a third party in any form whatsoever without the prior written consent of Freelancers Writing Services CC.” At least this way, it is made very clear that copyright is being broken (and you may all use the wording for your contracts, I am happy to share). As for the idea that the would-be provider will “certainly be ostracised and blacklisted to the point of never getting any more government business," it is already clear the he or she is not getting it anyway. It’s a bit like complaining about clients who don’t pay but can’t be reminded for fear they be ‘offended’ - they are not clients, they are bad debt.Posted on 16 Mar 2010 13:42

BMW, go and make an ad for a change, we don't want to see your product AVs.Posted on 16 Mar 2010 13:40

The FPB goes on about protecting children from porn. What about protecting all of those that are exploited and affected by the porn industry? Porn is wrong, not just because children may be exposed to it.Posted on 16 Mar 2010 13:27

Religion is used as a tool by man to incite war.
The weak and immoral use religion as a means for their own ends.
As for your comment about religious channels - are you really serious in associating them with porn channels. Get real!Posted on 16 Mar 2010 13:21

fact linda sbiya rocksPosted on 16 Mar 2010 13:16

I am still mourning the death of Style a few years back, and now my other favourite mag has been killed off. I don't believe that Femina was not viable - it's the only intelligent magazine for the most affluent and influential sector of the female market. What could the other factors be? Media 24 not spending enough on marketing / sales? Not believing in their product? Not trying to sell it if they wanted to be relieved of it? Whatever... it's sad. What do we read now? Women & Home is for brainless grannies, Fair Lady is a boring rehash and the others are for girlies!Posted on 16 Mar 2010 13:13

I had a government department's designated person on a huge project solicit a "financial contribution" from one of our project managers. I wrote him a personal letter saying that I considered us friends and I was disappointed. But this probably only worked because we err on the side of caution as far as ethics are concerned, and perform in terms of delivery, not gifting.Posted on 16 Mar 2010 12:39

is the spawning pool of war - nothing else.Posted on 16 Mar 2010 12:36

That's about one a week these days. I keep saying it, we need to name and shame the agencies and the people responsible.Posted on 16 Mar 2010 12:24

Beautifully shot but this concept was taken straight out of 'Benjamin Button'! If the creatives behind this have acknowledged the link and don't try to claim undue credit for the concept then i'm a fan of the ad. If not, shame on them.Posted on 16 Mar 2010 12:21

I am not interested in the rantings of these people who hold bibles and belt out tripe, but they are inflicted upon us. Using the same logic that has been used to stop porn, which incidentally, I don't care to watch, I urge you to stop broadcasting religious channels with immediate effect. Religion is harmful and inciting and has caused more wars than anything else in history.Posted on 16 Mar 2010 11:23

It will indeed create a long-term boost for tourism if more South Africans join the Couch Surfing movement and give 1000s of Europeans an affordable experience in SA.
Note, however, that as hosts we generally have to go the literal extra mile in SA, as CSers arrive here thinking they can catch a train or bus every half an hour, to quickly visit Cape Town and Durban and Kruger Park.
So good on Herman for driving his team of CSers around, this is how to make ambassadors for SA all over the world.Posted on 16 Mar 2010 09:49

thank you KFC for picking out raw talent and growing it. it's about time corporates supported initiatives like these from aspiring actors from EKASIPosted on 16 Mar 2010 09:38

A good explanation of it all here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambigram

However Marcelle, it is a technique. I used to use it when I first studied calligraphy. So Gavin could do it quite easily, once the technique is understood and adapted. Nothing really there to desire being the one to come up with the artwork...really...nor would I subtly convey my worship for Dan Brown either.

many bands have used the word over the years, including one of my favs - Marillion.Posted on 16 Mar 2010 09:14

No phone number, email address or website address..????Posted on 16 Mar 2010 09:13

i refuse to support this kind of idiotic waste of moneyPosted on 16 Mar 2010 08:53