Month: December 2017

Good Morning Britain, the breakfast show on ITV hosted by Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid was 2017’s most complained TV show, Ofcom has revealed.

 

The programme received 1,142 complaints when it interviewed Dr. Michael Davidson, who declared homosexuality was “an aberration”, “a sin” and “in some cases reversible’.

 

 

In June, another episode received 1,000 complaints when journalist Melanie Phillips made comments about Muslims that were considered offensive and incendiary.

 

The UK’s communications regulator Ofcom investigated 187 programmes, and found 97 shows in breach of broadcasting rules.

The top 10 list is predominantly featured ITV in eight cases, with the BBC and Sky News each featuring once. 

 

Here’s the top 10 list:

1. Good Morning Britain, ITV, 5 September – 1,142 complaints

 

2. Press Preview, Sky News, 20 June – 1,063 complaints

 

3. Britain’s Got Talent, ITV, 1 June – 665 complaints about Amanda Holden’s dress

 

4. Coronation Street, ITV, 27 October – 541 complaints over violent scenes

 

5. Comic Relief 2017, BBC 1, 24 March – 339 complaints about swearing and sexual connotations

 

6. Emmerdale, ITV, 6 March – 275 complaints over prison scenes featuring violence

 

7. I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! ITV, 7 December – 243 complaints about the alleged bullying of celebrity contestant Iain Lee

 

8. This Morning, ITV, 13 November – 181 complaints about guest’s controversial comments on transgender issues

 

9. Good Morning Britain, ITV, 20 June – 176 complaints over English Defence League co-founder Tommy Robinson’s interview

 

10. Benidorm, ITV, 3 May – 137 complaints about remakrs made about a character with a cleft lip

 

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In a continuing drive for greater diversity and inclusion in marketing and advertising, a new feature by The Drum highlights conversations with top creative women in the industry. 

All were nominated for The Drum’s global Woman of the Year award at The Drum Creative Awards, sponsored by Facebook, One Minute Briefs and in partnership with Creative Equals. The award is designed to push equality boundaries within the creative industry to spark discussion and action.

From icons and pioneers to prominent creative directors and designers, we asked each of them how diversity creates better work, the positive changes the industry can make, what keeps these creatives going in an ever-changing world and how greater diversity can grow the business.

Leading into the new year, this series will reveal more of The Drum’s global Woman of the Year award nominees.

Today, we speak to Thea Hamrén, Creative Director at Mr. President.

From your experience and point of view, how does a more diverse creative team create better work? What have been some examples of that in action?

From being that one girl in a room of 15 creatives, being asked “So, what does the girl think?” in the start of my career, to where I’ve got to today, things couldn’t be more different. Now, working in a very balanced creative team that actively work with diversity questions, there’s no doubt in my mind that balance is a trigger for brilliance. 

How are the conversations around creativity, and specific work/projects, different with a more gender balanced team?

With a more gender balanced team, you get diversity of thought and insight. This naturally amounts to a larger pot of angles and ideas, and makes for more interesting discussions. 

What changes around inclusion should the entire industry embrace today?

Taking a serious look at the current composition of people in any group, through a diversity lens. 

With all of the issues women face in the creative sector, what keeps you in the industry?

As a woman in this industry, I truly feel that there couldn’t be a more exciting time than right now, and tomorrow. Change is happening and there’s real opportunity to be a part of inventing the future. A chance to not just be a woman in this industry, but a thought leader that helps define it. There’s no place I’d rather be. 

Will greater diversity in the industry ultimately save/grow it?

I strongly believe that greater diversity will help modernise our industry and make it more relevant, profitable and fun!

The Drum Creative Awards puts creativity back in the spotlight and flies the flag for creativity during the digital revolution. These global awards are open to advertising agencies, design consultancies, digital agencies, production companies, marketing agencies, PR and more.

To register your interest for 2018, go to the event website.

This years awards were sponsored by: Facebook Creative Shop and One Minute Brief and partnered with: Creative Equals.

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Microsoft’s AI chatbot Zo has collaborated with social media influencer Moriah Rose Pereira, known as Poppy, to create what she described as “high-quality internet content”.

 

As part of the collaboration, Poppy created a video ‘I’m into Zo chill’ that began with prompts from Zo, which Poppy fashioned into sketches. Poppy, in the video, tried to act like Zo (AI) while Zo also tried to act human like Poppy.

 

They have also organised the Zo and Poppy sweepstakes, only available to US residents.

 

Microsoft said about the partnership: “Poppy and Zo makes sense due to the creator’s interest in artificial behaviors and the bot’s desire to talk with us. They’re a dynamic duo and, what we realized, is a bidirectional critical engagement with both Poppy and Zo and people who interact with them.”

 

Zo was introduced last year. Its own Facebook description explained:  ‘I’m Zo, AI with #friendgoals.’

 

 

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Snapchat is set to introduce two new features including one called ‘2017 Story’ which will compile saved photos and videos into a personalised highlight video.

 

As reported by Recode, Snapchat will create the year-in-review by using software that can analyze the images and text on each video or photo, which means Snap knows if users have taken a selfie or a sunset picture, and can read and understand any text users have added to those videos as well. 

 

A company spokesperson said that this data will not be used for other purposes, like targeting users with ads. Snapchat’s rival Facebook already has a similar year-in-review feature.

To access this feature, users just need to click on the memories icon at the bottom of the screen and select the A Look Back at 2017. The snaps are automatically assembled to create the Story, but users can choose to “Edit Story” and then tap on  “X” to delete the specific snaps they don’t want to include. 

Meanwhile, Snapchat is also expected to introduce another new product called “Stories Everywhere” with the aim of making Snapchat Stories available outside the app for the first time.

 

If successful, Snapchat would make it easier to share videos on other platforms through a web player that also prompts users to sign up and download the app.

 

Snapchat recently introduced another product, Sponsored Animated Filters for brands.

 

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Snapchat is set to introduce two new features including one called ‘2017 Story’ which will compile saved photos and videos into a personalised highlight video.

 

As reported by Recode, Snapchat will create the year-in-review by using software that can analyze the images and text on each video or photo, which means Snap knows if users have taken a selfie or a sunset picture, and can read and understand any text users have added to those videos as well. 

 

A company spokesperson said that this data will not be used for other purposes, like targeting users with ads. Snapchat’s rival Facebook already has a similar year-in-review feature.

To access this feature, users just need to click on the memories icon at the bottom of the screen and select the A Look Back at 2017. The snaps are automatically assembled to create the Story, but users can choose to “Edit Story” and then tap on  “X” to delete the specific snaps they don’t want to include. 

Meanwhile, Snapchat is also expected to introduce another new product called “Stories Everywhere” with the aim of making Snapchat Stories available outside the app for the first time.

 

If successful, Snapchat would make it easier to share videos on other platforms through a web player that also prompts users to sign up and download the app.

 

Snapchat recently introduced another product, Sponsored Animated Filters for brands.

 

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In 2017, Silicon Valley did some soul-searching about tech’s role in spreading fake news that exacerbated social divisions in the U.S. Chinese tech firms should do some soul-searching too, given they work with an authoritarian government skilled in using technologies to try to control society.
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Purpose-driven advertising agency Matter Unlimited created a call to action for the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, an Obama Foundation initiative, featuring President Obama, Chance the Rapper and Steph Curry. The spot, “We Are the Ones,” opens on a young man seemingly inspired by an Obama speech he watches on his cellphone to deliver an address…
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Apple issued a rare apology for its handling of concerns about performance issues in iPhones with older batteries and said it will reduce the price of some iPhone replacement batteries to $29 from $79.
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Netflix plans to increase salaries for a number of its top executives in 2018, citing the U.S. federal tax overhaul as the reason.
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One of the costliest years for natural disasters puts some U.S. insurers in a position to do what they haven’t done in years: raise prices.
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