Tag Archive for 'Big Brother'

Virgin Mobile to sponsor Big Brother 9

bb.gifIt’s nearly that time of year again.  12 (or 13, or 2000 - who knows what they will try this time) eager telly wannabes will line up to be put under the Big Brother microscope and have their personality flaws broadcast thoughout the land.

After last year’s little Celebrity BB racism problem (Jade Goody, Danielle Thingy and that one from S Club 7 sniggering  at Shilpa Shetty’s hilariously foreign name and treating her like a second class celebrity citizen, in case you blotted it out) the series’ sponsors Carphone Warehouse dropped out and were replaced by Virgin Mobile.

This must have turned out ok for all concerned, because Virgin have decided to sponsor the upcoming series 9 as well.

According to James Kydd, managing director of marketing and brand for Virgin Media”Big Brother is a ratings powerhouse, it is a perfect fit with the Virgin Mobile brand.”

The best news to come out of this press release is that the company have developed a load of new ‘bumpers’ to go before and after the adverts.  The worst thing about BB is having to sit through the same ‘amusing’ mini sketch-cum-advert clips again and again.. and again.

Well, maybe not the worst thing.   That would probably be the young lady finding a disturbing recreational use for an empty wine bottle.  Not exactly on-brand for the sponsor, that.



Australian police to spy on public via mobiles

Fig-228.gifDue to their portability, mobile phones are ideal for private conversations right? Wrong, at least according to the Sydney Morning Herald not if you live in Australia anyway.

If the Australian Senate has its way security agencies will be able to track people on the sly and monitor their internet browsing via mobiles for up to three months and all without a warrant. Pretty scary stuff, but what’s worse is that federal and state police forces would be able to demand that carriers stream information to them in near real time.

Can you say liberty infringement? We’re sure you can and though we all love our mobile phones, the precedent being set for their use in so called ‘anti terror measures’ is nothing if not alarming. Believe it or not this new legislation comes from the supposedly liberal Green Party. Truly it boggles the mind.

(Via textually)