Thoughts on Writing

Cultural Tourette's – and advertising's 'white bear' problem

After a week that put Tourette syndrome in the spotlight, there are strange but important parallels in adland

Feb 27

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Race to the bottom

Locked in a state of Diversity Hypervigilance, adland and its regulators are bungling their way towards the world they want to avoid

Feb 19

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November 2025

Creativity needs criticism

Adland's misdiagnosis of its own creative malaise shows exactly why we need more critics writing more 'thought pieces'

Nov 21, 2025

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Strong piano, weak men

My important semiotic reading of this year's John Lewis Christmas ad

Nov 5, 2025

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October 2025

Embarrassing busybodies

Channel 4's latest 'Mirror on the Industry' report is diversity-by-spreadsheet from a clueless, self-appointed authority. Advertisers should reject it…

Oct 6, 2025

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August 2025

Genes, memes and manufactured dissent

The story of a Gen Z backlash that never was, a right-wing backlash that eventually was, a left-wing-influencer-academic backlash that definitely was…

Aug 1, 2025

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June 2025

The motte-and-bailey fallacy, and a response to a decent response

(Not a full-on post, more an extended LinkedIn reply)

Jun 16, 2025

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May 2025

Stengel and a strange purpose autopsy

Despite omissions, a recent purpose conversation on the CMO podcast was at least 50% sane—and might be the closest we get to closure

May 23, 2025

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December 2024

My inherently problematic Christmas ad diversity audit

This year's crop of Christmas ads is ethnically and gender diverse to a fault. But there's a weird reluctance to admit it in adland.

Dec 17, 2024

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November 2024

The post-purpose election

If the 2007-2008 financial crisis marked the start of the purpose era, the 2024 election might just mark its end.

Nov 19, 2024

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October 2024

The billboard backlash

Too many advertisers have forgotten about the social contract that allows billboards to exist in the first place

Oct 7, 2024

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September 2024

Truthiness isn't beauty

An extract from my new book The Road to Hell, in which I examine the case of Dove, hailed as the exemplar of purposeful marketing, but based on…

Sep 9, 2024

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