As I’m sure you’re aware, allegations have been made that investigators working on behalf of the News of the World hacked into Milly Dowler’s voicemail and wiped some of her voicemails, hampering the investigation into her disappearance.

Now further allegations have come to light that they did the same thing to people surrounding the disappearance of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman later that same year.

Jesus shitting Christ.

I suppose we’ll now have all the bullshit from the people who were in charge at the time, suggesting that they could not possibly have known that these methods were being used. That they had absolutely zero fucking idea that this was the method by which they acquired a huge number of their stories. That a NOTW story about Milly Dowler could mention knowing what was on her voicemail without that being a cause for alarm.

‘How come you know what’s on her voicemail? Surely that’s the kind of information only Milly herself could know.’

‘Ummm, we um… er… Oh look! Cheryl Cole’s beaten up a toilet attendant!’

‘Shit! Hold the front page!’

Innocent until proven guilty and all that, but I think it says plenty about the newspapers involved that most people find it quite believable that this happened.

Anyway, while we wait for all the denials and protestations, you can make your own mind up. And if by some chance you think there might be some truth in the allegations, you can always  let the NOTW know how you feel.

UPDATE: Mainly due to this post, the News Of The World is now dead.

Here at Sabotage Times.

I agree with what he’s saying, but there are so many other factors involved:

1. Money. Of course people in advertising have always wanted it, but now it is the sole imperative for the vast majority of decision makers in the industry. The rise of the holding companies, who only tolerate creativity as a means to a financial end, has stifled those parts of the business where the magic happens. You need a bit of indulgent wiggle room to let talent breathe, but that is a grey area that is impossible to quantify. As a result, the leash is let out only so far and the ads stay just that bit safer.

2. Vicious circles. …And when the ads get a bit safer, they get a bit safer than that, then a bit safer still and on and on… If the gold standard of Ker-azy Kreativity is 20% duller than last year, then most agencies will work another 20% below that. Risks cost cash, so let’s have no more of the pesky things.

3. Globalisation. The more people you aim at, the less accurate your aim. If you have to hit 500,000,000 people who speak fifty different languages and have infinite cultural differences between them, one message will manage a 6/10 reaction from most of them but nothing more. But now, thanks to that financial imperative, consolidation and globalisation is where it’s at. Otherwise the shareholders might get a penny less in the dividend and the man at the top of the enormous corporation might earn a seven figure bonus instead of eight.

4. The talent drain. Either out of the country, out of the industry, many of the most creative people no longer see advertising as a job that will allow them to express themselves in a way that is properly fulfilling. If you spent your day making Drugstore, Surfer or Cog, you’d rightly feel pretty pleased with yourself and would happily pour every ounce of your thinking into the next ad opportunity. But now it seems pretty obvious that great ads are much fewer and further between (partly due to budget cuts). In addition, we now have excellent people working in the industry who get their creative kicks outside it. They know there is no chance of greatness in the day job, so they pour skill and intelligence that they would once have used for ads into some other project. And the ads get worse, and the circle gets more and more vicious.

5. The downgrading of creative status: relatively far less pay is one thing (in real terms, top creatives are paid 8 times less than they were in the eighties), but now CDs are mere employees, hired by the financially-minded people higher up the chain to produce something, anything that they can charge for. Is it good, or is it great? Who knows and who cares, as long as the money is coming in. Go Compare is a massive success, so why beat ourselves up trying to make Sony Balls? Why indeed…

So some fear of conflict might be a factor, but it’s a small part of a bigger story.

When these won a silver:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4KE_9BVbFg

Here’s a post I meant to do last year:

I cycled past this poster last summer and thought it was the best one I’d seen in ages:

So I went back a couple of days later intending to photograph it, but alas it was gone.

Earlier this year it won a Gold at Creative Circle, but I still didn’t get round to getting hold of a shot of it for the blog.

But last week I began a freelance ‘stint’ at 4 Creative and, even more conveniently, I was placed at the desk next to Molly Manners (her real name), the creative behind R eye P.

So there it is: the best poster of last year.

While I’m here, I’d like to direct you towards a couple of excellent promos, also from 2011:

Love Lost by Temper Trap, shot by the always brilliant Dougal Wilson.

And click here for the uncensored version of Blind Faith by Chase and Status, directed by the also always brilliant Daniel Wolfe.