21 January 2018
What's with the Local Heroes advert, just showing all the men being rubbish at household tasks? I shall write a letter of complaint to them and publish the answer on here! I did write to the Advertising Standards Authority but all they sent me was this below:
Your complaint
I understand from your complaint that you consider the ad to be offensive as it portrayed men as inept. We have looked into your complaint carefully and considered all the issues raised but we will not be taking any further action.
Our rules
Advertising should contain nothing that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. We base our decisions on the content of the ad, when and where it appears, the audience and the type of product or service. When assessing complaints under our rules, we make judgments in areas which are subjective but we do not act if an ad is simply criticised for being in poor taste.
Our decision
You may be aware that the ASA recently published a report ‘Depictions, Perceptions and Harm’, following a major review into gender stereotyping in advertising. The key findings were that evidence shows support for the ASA’s track record of banning ads that objectify or inappropriately sexualize people, and ads which suggest that it’s acceptable for young women to be unhealthily thin. However, a tougher line is needed on ads that feature stereotypical gender roles or characteristics, which through their content and context may be potentially harmful to people, including ads which mock people for not conforming to gender stereotypes.
Responding to the evidence, our sister body, CAP – the authors of the UK Advertising Codes - will develop new standards on ads that feature stereotypical gender roles or characteristics. We will then administer and enforce those standards. CAP will also use the evidence in the report to clarify standards that reflect our existing position on ads that objectify or inappropriately sexualise people or suggest it is acceptable to be unhealthily thin. CAP will report publically on its progress before the end of 2017 and any new standards will come into force in 2018.
Because CAP is currently in the process of responding to the ASA’s report we do not consider it would be appropriate for us to develop significant new standards ourselves by investigating complaints which previously we were likely to have considered complied with the rules. We think that this is the case here and so we won’t be taking further action at this time. However, we will retain the details of your complaint so that we can consider it as an example when we come to implement any new standards.
You can read more about our work in this area and find a link to the report on our website here.
Thanks again for raising your concerns with us.
17 March Today I want to talk about goal nets. Why are so many clubs' goal nets so hard to see? Liverpool, Everton, Bournemouth and Man City all have them in the same colours as their shirts, which makes it hard to see the ball go in! Bright nets are best!
Look at this; Jason Puncheon’s great free kick at Anfield (the one where he hides his face in case the defenders could lip-read him!!) would have looked even better if you could see it hit the net!
http://www.downvids.net/liverpool-1-1-crystal-palace-puncheon-super-free-kick-632292.html
15 December Since the last update of home/away points on 8 October, Palace have gained a further 7 points at home and 4 away. This gives them 26 for the season, and they have now scored as many at home as away (13 each). It's also evened up Alan Pardew's record since he joined the club (26/31). Hopefully the figure will go out of balance again over the next couple of weeks though, as the next two games are away!
21 November Today I'd like to talk about visibility in football. What I mean by this is how easy it is to see what is happening from the stands or on the television.
1 - Goal nets
The immediate, amazing excitement of seeing your team score is the best moment (other than perhaps the final whistle!). With a bright, white goal net you can see it bulge out as the ball goes into it, leaving you in no doubt. However, so many teams these days seem to use different colours. Liverpool and Everton are particularly bad, with their red and blue nets; when the ball goes in, you can't tell whether it's a goal or not! I noticed Bournemouth have a similar approach.
I can understand why clubs may want to have nets in the colours of their team, or perhaps it's to help supporters directly behind the nets to see the game more easly through the net itself. It does though make a huge difference to the immediacy of knowing a goal has been scored. Take a look at this great goal from Jason Puncheon for Crystal Palace against Liverpool.
http://www.downvids.net/liverpool-1-1-crystal-palace-puncheon-super-free-kick-632292.html
How much better that would have looked it you could see the net bulge! I'd like to hear your views on this; mail me at herbsandfootball@tropicalfusion.co.uk
2015/16 Season
21 November A point against Man United followed by that great win against Liverpool! Up to eighth in the Premier League; let's hope the good form continues against Sunderland.
20 October Disappointing against West Ham, I don't think Palace played as well as they can. This makes a record of 2 draws and 6 defeats from games with Mark Clattenburg in charge! Palace need to play better against Leicester on Saturday, hope Connor Wickham is fit soon.
8 October A great home win against West Brom on Saturday. Lots of positives from the game, with Zaha superb on the wing, Bolasie scoring and another clean sheet. Two penalties in two games now for Cabaye, again earned by Zaha. Good to see Alan Pardew playing a proper striker for the whole game as well (Gayle/Campbell).
15 points now from eight games, if they carry on like this it will make 71 for the season! The three home points also makes things more balanced now for the season, with 6/9 home/away (19/27 since Alan Pardew joined the club).
Great to have the result just before the international break, so Palace go into it with three wins in a row in league and cup, fourth now in the table. Bring on West Ham on 17 October!
29 September A win against Watford on Sunday and a clean sheet. Good to see Cabaye's confidence with the penalty. Hope Palace can now follow this up with a good performance at home on Saturday.
The win makes it 12 points for the season, so would be just about 65 for the season, back in line with my prediction. 9 of the points are away so it would be good to get some at home at the weekend. 16 home/27 away now for Alan Pardew.
25 September A great win in the cup on Wednesday with goals for the strikers as well! Super hat-trick from Gayle.
21 September A second disappointing result yesterday, but at least Alan Pardew is talking about playing with a central striker now. A good result against Charlton in the cup tomorrow will get Palace back on track!
It was disappointing that Man City scored in the last minute, and this now makes two home defeats for the season. Of the nine points this year, six have therefore been earned away.
Since Alan Pardew took over the management of Crystal Palace his record is 16 points at home, 24 away.
Like last year (see below), I'd like to set a points target. They finally achieved 48 points last year and tenth place. Given their great improvement, the target is 65 points and fifth place this year. With nine points from five games they're on line for this.
I'll split this between home and away, with 35 points from home games and 30 away. As a result, at present they are just behind on home, but well ahead on away.
Games
Season opener against Norwich!! Won 3-1
Home against Arsenal, lost 2-1
Home against Aston Villa, won 2-1
Away against Chelsea, won 2-1 !
Home against Man City, lost 1-0
Away against Tottenham, lost 1-0
Position 20 September: 9th with 9 points, 8 goals for, 7 against
Latest news 1 September: Glenn Murray has moved to Bournemouth
2014/15 season archive
8 February 2015
An excellent win at Leicester yesterday. Palace now have 26 points. I feel that a further 14 points from the remaining 14 games will definitely see them safe.
In fact, 36 points was enough to keep West Brom in the Premiership last year. 34 would have been enough so the average could be their first target, 35.
The second would be the 40 needed to certainly survive.
Finally, a third target would be 46 points, to exceed their total last year.
We could even add on another, 50 points, which should mean top ten.
My current prediction is that they will meet their first target in a further 5 games, so after 29 games of the season. Let's see how I get on!
11 February A draw with Newcastle, so another point to make 27 for the season. 8 more needed from the next 4 games to stay on target !!
14 February Disappointing to be out of the cup against Liverpool; let's hope to bounce back against Arsenal in the Premiership next week !
February/March Two narrow defeats to Arsenal and Southampton haven't helped the cause but there was a super away win at West Ham in between. Palace now have 30 points so won't meet my first target of 35 after today's game against QPR. Let's hope for a win to get up to 33 then there's a chance to meet it against Stoke next week!
14 March An amazing win against QPR, 3-0 up at half time thanks to our flying wingers. A great goal from QPR second half, but Palace held on well for 3-1. 33 points now with 9 games left, the first target of 35 points is possible in the next game!
21 March A great battling win at Stoke, coming back from 1-0 down with a penalty and then a Zaha goal on the stroke of half time, then fighting well to keep the scoreline the same in the second half. We also made plenty of chances as well, rather than just defending; for once luck was on our side too, the penalty could have gone either way and we got away with a 'goalkeeper' defensive save in the second half.
Palace have reached 36 points so have passed the 35 point target in just one more game than I predicted on 8 February, so not bad! The next three games are at home to Man City, away at Sunderland and home to West Brom. I think we should certainly be able to make four points from these three games on current form so predict reaching 40 points after 33 games.
29 March I saw a replay of Jedinak's great free kick against Germany. Palace have done well while he's been serving his four match ban, but he certainly adds to the team defensively and creatively, particularly from set pieces. I hope he comes back in against Sunderland once his suspension's completed (and avoids a third sending off!).
3 April Man City at home on Monday; a tough game but who knows! Palace are certainly far stronger than when they lost at City earlier in the season so they'll be pushing for the three points.
10 April An amazing win last Monday, great free kick by Puncheon. 39 points now, so a great chance to reach 40 a game earlier than I predicted at Sunderland on Saturday. A win would make it four in a row!
11 April Live updates of the Sunderland game from 3pm!
3-07 No goals as yet, but good to see Jedinak back alongside Delaney. I hear West Ham have scored though, which will please my friend James.
3-31 A bit more possession from Palace but no clear chances for them as yet. The foul count is rising for both teams; 14 all together already!
3-40 We have a corner, only Palace's second of the game.
3-48 Half time, still nil nil.
18 April Apologies my commentary ran out at half time last week, the second half was so good I forgot the updates! Yet another goal from Murray and that incredible hat-trick from Bolasie, which was Palace's first in the Premier League. Great that he's got some goals now as a reward for his brilliant form all season.
West Brom are next up today; a win would make it five in a row. With 42 points Palace have already met the second of the two targets, they're in such great form I have to predict that they'll meet the 46 point target in the next two games; this would beat their club record points total set last year.
29 April A disappointing last couple of home games, Palace need to get back to their previous form for a strong finish to the season!
4 May A good game against Chelsea yesterday, another defeat unfortunately but I thought Palace played better than in the previous two games and the penalty decisions could easily have gone the other way.
A real positive I've calculated though is that Palace are now mathematically safe, barring a massive win from Sunderland (or massive loss by Palace!). Neither QPR or Burnley can now reach Palace's 42 points with their remaining games. Leicester can reach 43 and Sunderland 45, so it looks initially as if Palace could still finish third from the bottom.
However, Leicester and Sunderland have a game against each other. If this is a draw or Sunderland win, Leicester can only reach 41 or 40 points, so would be below Palace. If Leicester win, then Sunderland can still reach 42 points, the same as Palace; however, their goal difference is minus 22, compared to minus six for Palace.
By winning three and losing one of their remaining four games, Sunderland's goal difference will of course rise by at least two goals, to minus 20, and by losing all three games left, Palace's will fall to at least minus 9. That still leaves a difference of 11 goals for Sunderland to make up (12 to avoid probably still being behind on goals scored, as they have 28 at present compared to Palace's 42), which seems very unlikely. Let's hope we don't have to worry about this!
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21 January 2018
What's with the Local Heroes advert, just showing all the men being rubbish at household tasks? I shall write a letter of complaint to them and publish the answer on here! I did write to the Advertising Standards Authority but all they sent me was this below:
Your complaint
I understand from your complaint that you consider the ad to be offensive as it portrayed men as inept. We have looked into your complaint carefully and considered all the issues raised but we will not be taking any further action.
Our rules
Advertising should contain nothing that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. We base our decisions on the content of the ad, when and where it appears, the audience and the type of product or service. When assessing complaints under our rules, we make judgments in areas which are subjective but we do not act if an ad is simply criticised for being in poor taste.
Our decision
You may be aware that the ASA recently published a report ‘Depictions, Perceptions and Harm’, following a major review into gender stereotyping in advertising. The key findings were that evidence shows support for the ASA’s track record of banning ads that objectify or inappropriately sexualize people, and ads which suggest that it’s acceptable for young women to be unhealthily thin. However, a tougher line is needed on ads that feature stereotypical gender roles or characteristics, which through their content and context may be potentially harmful to people, including ads which mock people for not conforming to gender stereotypes.
Responding to the evidence, our sister body, CAP – the authors of the UK Advertising Codes - will develop new standards on ads that feature stereotypical gender roles or characteristics. We will then administer and enforce those standards. CAP will also use the evidence in the report to clarify standards that reflect our existing position on ads that objectify or inappropriately sexualise people or suggest it is acceptable to be unhealthily thin. CAP will report publically on its progress before the end of 2017 and any new standards will come into force in 2018.
Because CAP is currently in the process of responding to the ASA’s report we do not consider it would be appropriate for us to develop significant new standards ourselves by investigating complaints which previously we were likely to have considered complied with the rules. We think that this is the case here and so we won’t be taking further action at this time. However, we will retain the details of your complaint so that we can consider it as an example when we come to implement any new standards.
You can read more about our work in this area and find a link to the report on our website here.
Thanks again for raising your concerns with us.