I’m not a historian, but I do have an interest in early 20th Century history and society and technology
I especially love all the glamour and artwork and sheer care and joy that went into crafting some of the adverts for even the most mundane of stuff.
This is not done so much today. I and people I work with shudder in horror when we hear the name “Nadine Baggot” and “Pentapeptides”, but not all companies chase the new ideas and disregard the old.

An example of this especially this time of the year, is the seasonal push by companies like the Coca Cola Corporation. They’ve been around for a while, so have a very large back catalogue of stuff to use. Nostalga sells especially if you’re marketing carbonated soft drinks. However its sanitised for a modern audience, as although people like the idea of the old days, they often view it with a healthy dose of soft focus from the safety of 50 years into the future.

Anyway I digress.

I was searching around some old valve radio sites when I found a link to this wonderful resource
The Ad*Access Project at Duke University

Shall I say retro nerd heaven?
I keep thinking though if I let our marketing team loose with the claims that used to be permissible in the days before the MHRA and Trading Standards…… I would be in it deep. Up to my nostrils in fact
As an example I leave you with this delight from 1929.
Happy days!

An Update!
Whilst browsing through Badscience.net, I found a post with links by someone under the name of Dibsy
The link went to here
Scroll down until you find the all time favourite of “Thor-radia” cream and powder!
Ladies! get a radiant glow with the special actives of Thorium and Radium!
A product for the time of your (Half) life!

This concerns OSAS body lotion (Hat tip to Badscience.net)
MHRA Press Release regarding OSAS (Intensive body lotion with Aloe Vera) containing Steroids

This sort of thing, how shall I say it, “Grips my Excrement”
The industry has enough problems with people like the Daily Mail having pops without idiots like this selling a product which contains licenced prescription only pharmaceuticals, and passing it off as a cosmetic product.
To quote the MHRA

Home The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has found steroids in an intensive body lotion with Aloe Vera called OSAS, which claimed to contain natural ingredients. The lotion which is an unlicensed product illegally claimed to treat eczema and psoriasis and has been found to be sold in a variety of Asian and African beauty shops in London and the West Midlands and over the Internet.

Oh great!. Birmingham trading standards is always having to go to these sort of places to get illegal skin whitening creams and “Ethnic cosmetics” such as Kohl which contains enough lead to kill a horse off the market.

The lotion was brought to the attention of the MHRA by a paediatric dermatologist who became concerned when the parent of a baby he was treating for eczema started to use this product on the baby. The lotion tested positive for variable amounts of, Betamethasone dipropionate - a type of medicine called a corticosteroid. The product also contains Clotrimazole which is used in anti-fungal medications.

Strong corticosteroids (such as betamethasone) are only available on prescription and are used in the treatment of a variety of skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis. Careful medical supervision of these treatments is important and inappropriate long-term use of corticosteroid medicines can cause skin thinning and other skin complications.

The Agency would strongly advise that anyone using this product, particularly on young children and babies, should stop immediately. Discontinuation of the product may cause a rebound effect (worsening of the condition) and you should therefore consult your doctor or healthcare provider about suitable treatments.

Anyone selling this product should stop doing so immediately, and remove it from their stock. If retailers are found to still selling this product then the MHRA will take appropriate action.

Unfortunately “Appropriate action” will be along the lines of confiscation of stock, or a fine
Prison would be more appropriate

At the time of writing, this is still on sale on ebay

Another Stupid Scare Story
This time Titled “Is your lipstick giving you cancer”
(And a quick note to Daily Mail Journalists I have a copy of this cached for when you delete it and try to pretend it didn’t happen)

All Scary stuff about how nasty Butyl Benzyl Phthalate is and how new research has proven that its really nasty and should be banned.
Well the industry agrees with you, its not good and it should be banned

Oh I forgot it already has been. A year ago (August 2006 to be precise) thanks to the EU, so no Daily Mail reader will be able to get their hands on it anyway
Thanks to the CTPA for being on the ball

And a comment to the author of the piece who is called David Derbyshire
Didn’t they teach you to at least check your facts before embarrassing yourself in print, or do you subscribe to the opinion that you don’t let the facts stand in the way of a good horror story.
Sir, You’re officially named “Gripper of the Week” , and you only get that accolade as I don’t think you’re intelligent enough to be a Wanker!

An update on the COSi debacle.

The Maesteg site has now been bought out by the Dutch Company Budelpack.
Budelpack site announcement
BBC news Wales announcement, which goes around the “Not for Publication on the Budelpack site”

IIRC Budelpack are not a stranger to South Wales, as they used to have a plant in Hirwaun. It unfortunately caught fire.
Twice…

Chris Moerkerken, chief executive of Budelpack International said the acquisition was “strategically interesting” as it would “enhance our product and service portfolio, strengthen our position in the personal care market, and add new strategic relations.”

Historically Budelpack has a habit of buying up unwanted manufacturing plant around Europe, but if I was a COSi employee, I’d be keeping my CV up to date.
Just to be on the safe side you understand

A little gem I robbed off the Cnwmr website
No its not Welsh, but a Marketing company in the US who proved that a Prius is less ecofriendly than a Hummer

Whats below is verbatim rip, but before you read it, if you substitute Japanese for the competition, and American for your company, does it still ring horribly true? If it does, ask yourself this one thing.

Do I need to learn Japanese?

The Canoe Race

A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (General Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River.

Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese team won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat.

A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action. Their conclusion was the Japanese team had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.

So American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.

They advised that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.

To prevent another loss to the Japanese, the Americans’ rowing team’s management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the “Rowing Team Quality First Program,” with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment.

The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year’s racing team was outsourced to India!!!!

Cosmetics Design Europe again:

This is about a manufacturer who is based in two places in the UK. Southern England and South Wales.

Article here

Now a bit of history, COSi is the company who bought the Bodyshop manufacturing department way back when. They’ve been doing contract manufacture ever since at the Littlehampton site, and a while back they bought the ex Revlon plant at Maesteg.

Now why is this an issue? Well its indicative of a general malaise in the industry in the UK.
I believe strongly that we should have manufacturing industry in the UK. I have fought long and hard in the companies I have worked in to keep products sold in the UK made in the UK. Therefore I like the idea of COSi doing just that.
However, in my experience the company has been run badly. They have taken on way too many people in non-productive office jobs, and forgotten the fact that their major customer (Bodyshop) has been free to go elsewhere for stock, in the same way that they (COSi) have been free to make for other people.
The writing really was on the wall when L’Oreal took over the late Mrs Roddick’s business.
L’Oreal are one of the biggest manufacturers in the world. They have plants all over including places in Wales, France and God only knows where else. If they put their mind to it, they could stock Bodyshop for a years sales with little effort from one of the bigger manufacturing plants. The products don’t claim to be complicated, so they can be knocked out quickly.

So with that writing on the wall, what did the CEO do? Go searching for more business? Keep his existing customers by keeping them fully stocked and providing great service that would keep people coming back for more?

err no.
To quote the article
“In addition to the lower than expected sales figures Cosi was hit recently by the decision of a large US customer not to renew its contract with the struggling company.
Chief Operating Officer, Stephen Bracegirdle, said the company is facing a number of serious challenges and that they were fighting hard to keep the jobs in Maesteg.
The company was reluctant to blame market conditions for the current situation and is currently working hard to consolidate its operations and set itself on the road to recovery. “

The large US customer was probably pissed off, and as Mr Bracegirdle doesn’t sound particularly Celtic, he probably thinks that a few taffs on the dole doesn’t mean much.
Trouble is he blagged £9million off the Welsh Assembly to expand and take on people, no doubt helped by the factory next door shutting up shop and going to Poland.
So lets see then. Nobody sourcing products wants to know you, cos quite frankly you’ve pissed them off, you’ve pissed off an area with a long memory, you’ve pissed off a regional parliament, and because of all that the people you need in the supply side of the industry will be reluctant to sell you materials at trade rates, as they don’t know if they’ll get paid.
Prehaps he ought to get out and leave the company to someone who can run it.

So what you might say?

Well when you’re doing your shopping in Boots or the Supermarkets, or wherever for that gift pack of smellies for one of your loved ones, have a look on the tab and see where it is made.
If its not made in the UK have a thought for someone who is going to have a pretty shitty Christmas this year, as they couldn’t compete with a Chinese worker being paid a bowl of rice a day

Billy Connolly,

The most quoted video in the toiletries industry

Watch it, Watch it now

Blogs are a place where people can say much of what they like, normally without the bounds of taste and decency.

But where there is freedom, there is responsibility, and there are certain unwritten rules, like not harassing someone because you don’t like the views they hold, and certainly not resorting to using information about their kids to do so.

So it saddens me when long standing blogs such as LeftbrainRightbrain, a blog about autism is taken down

Final post explaining why
I agree with Kevin, at the end of the day you put your family first.

and here is the contemptable little shit who has been causing it

Hating Autism
Please note that he holds forth on all sorts of unsavory views, not just on autism. If you’re a minority of whatever flavour you will probably be offended

And secondly…..

Sometimes truth on blogs upsets people. People with dodgy lawyers, who threaten ISP’s when the public persona that they wish to portray (As in a caring ethical organisation) is not backup by their actions. A shame they didn’t tell said lawyers to Foxtrot Oscar

This is the post involving the Society of Homeopaths
This was Cut and pasted from Dr*T, as it copies nicely. There are a lot of copies of this about. Call it a “I’m Sparticus” moment. (and so’s my wife!)

The original was posted on The Quackometer

Read and evaluate

The Gentle Art of Homeopathic Killing

By The Quackometer

The Society of Homeopaths (SoH) are a shambles and a bad joke. It is now over a year since Sense about Science, Simon Singh and the BBC Newsnight programme exposed how it is common practice for high street homeopaths to tell customers that their magic pills can prevent malaria. The Society of Homeopaths have done diddly-squat to stamp out this dangerous practice apart from issue a few ambiguously weasel-worded press statements.

The SoH has a code of practice, but my feeling is that this is just a smokescreen and is widely flouted and that the Society do not care about this. If this is true, then the code of practice is nothing more than a thin veneer used to give authority and credibility to its deluded members. It does nothing more than fool the public into thinking they are dealing with a regulated professional.

As a quick test, I picked a random homeopath with a web site from the SoH register to see if they flouted a couple of important rules:

48: • Advertising shall not contain claims of superiority. • No advertising may be used which expressly or implicitly claims to cure named diseases.

72: To avoid making claims (whether explicit or implied; orally or in writing) implying cure of any named disease.

The homeopath I picked on is called Julia Wilson and runs a practice from the Leicestershire town of Market Harborough. What I found rather shocked and angered me.

Straight away, we find that Julia M Wilson LCHE, RSHom specialises in asthma and works at a clinic that says,

Many illnesses and disease can be successfully treated using homeopathy, including arthritis, asthma, digestive disorders, emotional and behavioural difficulties, headaches, infertility, skin and sleep problems.

Well, there are a number of named diseases there to start off. She also gives a leaflet that advertises her asthma clinic. The advertising leaflet says,

Conventional medicine is at a loss when it comes to understanding the origin of allergies. … The best that medical research can do is try to keep the symptoms under control. Homeopathy is different, it seeks to address the triggers for asthma and eczema. It is a safe, drug free approach that helps alleviate the flaring of skin and tightening of lungs…

Now, despite the usual homeopathic contradiction of claiming to treat causes not symptoms and then in the next breath saying it can alleviate symptoms, the advert is clearly in breach of the above rule 47 on advertising as it implicitly claims superiority over real medicine and names a disease.

Asthma is estimated to be responsible for 1,500 deaths and 74,000 emergency hospital admissions in the UK each year. It is not a trivial illness that sugar pills ought to be anywhere near. The Cochrane Review says the following about the evidence for asthma and homeopathy,

The review of trials found that the type of homeopathy varied between the studies, that the study designs used in the trials were varied and that no strong evidence existed that usual forms of homeopathy for asthma are effective.

This is not a surprise given that homeopathy is just a ritualised placebo. Hopefully, most parents attending this clinic will have the good sense to go to a real accident and emergency unit in the event of a severe attack and consult their GP about real management of the illness. I would hope that Julia does little harm here.

However, a little more research on her site reveals much more serious concerns. She says on her site that ’she worked in Kenya teaching homeopathy at a college in Nairobi and supporting graduates to set up their own clinics’. Now, we have seen what homeopaths do in Kenya before. It is not treating a little stress and the odd headache. Free from strong UK legislation, these missionary homeopaths make the boldest claims about the deadliest diseases.

A bit of web research shows where Julia was working (picture above). The Abha Light Foundation is a registered NGO in Kenya. It takes mobile homeopathy clinics through the slums of Nairobi and surrounding villages. Its stated aim is to,

introduce Homeopathy and natural medicines as a method of managing HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria in Kenya.

I must admit, I had to pause for breath after reading that. The clinic sells its own homeopathic remedies for ‘treating’ various lethal diseases. Its MalariaX potion,

is a homeopathic preparation for prevention of malaria and treatment of malaria. Suitable for children. For prevention. Only 1 pill each week before entering, during and after leaving malaria risk areas. For treatment. Take 1 pill every 1-3 hours during a malaria attack.

This is nothing short of being totally outrageous. It is a murderous delusion. David Colquhoun has been writing about this wicked scam recently and it is well worth following his blog on the issue.

Let’s remind ourselves what one of the most senior and respected homeopaths in the UK, Dr Peter Fisher of the London Homeopathic Hospital, has to say on this matter.

there is absolutely no reason to think that homeopathy works to prevent malaria and you won’t find that in any textbook or journal of homeopathy so people will get malaria, people may even die of malaria if they follow this advice.

Malaria is a huge killer in Kenya. It is the biggest killer of children under five. The problem is so huge that the reintroduction of DDT is considered as a proven way of reducing deaths. Magic sugar pills and water drops will do nothing. Many of the poorest in Kenya cannot afford real anti-malaria medicine, but offering them insane nonsense as a substitute will not help anyone.

Ironically, the WHO has issued a press release today on cheap ways of reducing child and adult mortality due to malaria. Their trials, conducted in Kenya, of using cheap mosquito nets soaked in insecticide have reduced child deaths by 44% over two years. It says that issuing these nets be the ‘immediate priority’ to governments with a malaria problem. No mention of homeopathy. These results were arrived at by careful trials and observation. Science. We now know that nets work. A lifesaving net costs $5. A bottle of useless homeopathic crap costs $4.50. Both are large amounts for a poor Kenyan, but is their life really worth the 50c saving?

I am sure we are going to hear the usual homeopath bleat that this is just a campaign by Big Pharma to discredit unpatentable homeopathic remedies. Are we to add to the conspiracy Big Net manufacturers too?

It amazes me that to add to all the list of ills and injustices that our rich nations impose on the poor of the world, we have to add the widespread export of our bourgeois and lethal healing fantasies. To make a strong point: if we can introduce laws that allow the arrest of sex tourists on their return to the UK, can we not charge people who travel to Africa to indulge their dangerous healing delusions?

At the very least, we could expect the Society of Homeopaths to try to stamp out this wicked practice? Could we?

Well that badly made bit of tat is rattling around the industry at the moment.

A premium example of badly made pseudoscience. I’m sure somebody somewhere has given it server space, but it sure as hell won’t be me.

There have been discussions in the lab where to start on it.

Is it the fact that the numbers don’t match up on the toxin loadings

Is it the fact that she can’t count the number of “MAN MADE CHEMICALS!!!!” on the back of a bottle of shampoo

Is it the fact that it was so disjointed and repetative, and that this was due to them having to edit out a lot of lies, and then they ran out of space.

 This will probably run and run, but for starters (And because if I did a full fisking of this I could easily rack up 2-3000 words minimum) I’ll just post a few links to forums where the full horror that is Beeny is being stripped bare

Beeny site

Channel 4 forums

Badscience forums

Doesn’t stop the crystal stroking side of the industry trying to cash in mind

 Oh and did I mention the “MAN MADE CHEMICALS”.

The bit about the breast milk though was the point that annoyed most people I’ve talked to on the school run.

The average Mothers attitude was. “Don’t you dare tell me that I have toxins in the tit, but its OK really”.

No information, no levels, no backup. That lost it for the target audience.

Note for producers: Don’t play the baby card unless you really want to back it properly. Without suitable wadding it will blow up in your face

Update 15/10/07

A mate of mine has suggested that if you were really p’d off by the programme, you should tell channel 4 about it. You can do it here:Channel 4 complaints

I’m a believer in manufacturing products for people who think they might have a need for them. It pays my Mortgage

I spotted some of these products in Boots, and fair enough I’ll link them here, as they have caused much astonishment in the lab

Bald Guyz Head Wipes (!)

 Only in America (And your local Boots)

I dread to think what category our friends in the land of the free will come up with next