Gef the Mongoose, Howard's Der Sturmer?

[VinnieK 1,434]

17 minutes ago, Rhumsaa said:

 

You horrible man.

 

[thesultanofsheight 9,453]

1 minute ago, VinnieK said:

You horrible man.

 

Good job he wasn’t wearing a particularly coarse brown tweed jacket. 

[Uhtred 11,100]

If I saw any woman actually wearing that, I’d instantly decapitate them on the grounds of good taste and to improve their wellbeing.

[Roger Mexico 10,925]

1 hour ago, Rhumsaa said:

Equally Gef as an advertising or PR company was one that blurred the lines between paid for and non paid for content - but that is the modern style with that Buzzfeed-esque kind of online presence. 

Mixing news which the British Isles has always viewed as impartial and sacrosanct might blue the line further but it's very much how most of the world operates

Actually it's Britain which has led the way on this sort of thing for many years - and often the 'posh papers' like the Times have been first in the queue to sell their reputation to the highest bidder.  And Buzzfeed did do some good investigative journalism for a while, though they've cut back now.

The problem with Gef (and maybe others) at the press conferences was that, by expanding the number 'there' the Communications people had an excuse to limit the number of questions each outlet had and then to limit which news organisations there could be at a time, splitting them into these ridiculous 'pools'.  Most of this was the usual Manx Government delusions of grandeur and make-work by the Comms minions, but it did mean that the main news organisations were prevented from asking questions when they might have been awkward.

[gettafa 6,542]

2 hours ago, Rhumsaa said:

 

 

2 hours ago, thesultanofsheight said:

They jibbed out with that red tie! 

 

 

 

Edited July 27, 2020 by gettafa

[gettafa 6,542]

1 hour ago, Uhtred said:

If I saw any woman actually wearing that, I’d instantly decapitate them on the grounds of good taste and to improve their wellbeing.

I have a bit of a feeling that many of the women who were clapping Howard on Tynwald Day were wearing their Howard cossy under their Tynwald Day finery.

[the stinking enigma 12,059]

I want a pair of swimming trunks with Howard's arse on them.

Edited July 28, 2020 by the stinking enigma

[quilp 11,347]

Life-sized..? 

[the stinking enigma 12,059]

Ideally. Perhaps inflatable for intermediate swimmers

[Donald Trumps 5,537]

12 hours ago, gettafa said:

To be fair to Gef The Mongoose they do produce, advertise and sell some swimming costumes with Howards face on them*, and those mugs, the ones that encouraged us to get rat-arsed on red wine** at 'Howard O'Clock'.

* I could look on the internet for a picture of them but one of the difficulties I had over lockdown was trying to 'unsee' the picture from teh first time I saw it.

** that's what I took it to mean, and indeed did.

Have they got a t-shirt for Howard Quayle's 'Mother Of All Weekends'?

[maynragh 460]

20 hours ago, Rhumsaa said:

Personally I don't believe it is a conspiracy or any nefarious plan.

I think it was a genuine move that just doesn't look great

Equally Gef as an advertising or PR company was one that blurred the lines between paid for and non paid for content - but that is the modern style with that Buzzfeed-esque kind of online presence. 

Mixing news which the British Isles has always viewed as impartial and sacrosanct might blue the line further but it's very much how most of the world operates

I agree. Even if government had explicitly asked for positive news stories and press questions, we live in a world where that would no longer be considered that unusual I guess. It's just a question of disclosure from my perspective. I don't believe anyone in Government explicitly asked anyone at Gef to feed, modify or soften their questions in press conferences, or to spin 'news' stories - the reality is that isn't necessary. If you run this type of media company and someone walks in to ask you to run a bit of PR or some infomercials, you do not then stick it on them in a press conference or news article. It doesn't need to be spelled out. I am sure the smart chaps behind Gef were able to work that out for themselves without anyone in Government having to put it in writing. Plenty of examples about of what happens if you bite the government hand. As you say, nothing actually nefarious. Just doesn't look great because it wasn't / isn't fully disclosed, and because of the illusion of impartiality some folks like to maintain in their mind when it comes to what 'news' is. 

[TheTeapot 11,616]

The soft questions came from Simon at Business365. Wonder how much money that got.

[Mr Newbie 855]

47 minutes ago, maynragh said:

I don't believe anyone in Government explicitly asked anyone at Gef to feed, modify or soften their questions in press conferences, or to spin 'news' stories - the reality is that isn't necessary. If you run this type of media company and someone walks in to ask you to run a bit of PR or some infomercials, you do not then stick it on them in a press conference or news article.

Given how genuinely flaccid and appalling the questions from proper journalists and news reporters at Manx Radio (subsidized by us) actually were what exactly were you expecting Get the Mongoose (which is largely a public relations company) to actually ask? Where all the secret bodies were buried? Is Ashford really 500 years old and sleeps in a casket of earth from his home land? 

[Rhumsaa 3,601]

40 minutes ago, Mr Newbie said:

 Is Ashford really 500 years old and sleeps in a casket of earth from his home land? 

I confess that did give me a surprise chuckle

[slinkydevil 5,138]

2 hours ago, TheTeapot said:

The soft questions came from Simon at Business365. Wonder how much money that got.

Yeah he 'just turned up' one day as well.