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BEARDVERTISING (Melissa)

Over the last few years we’ve seen the world of advertising and PR change dramatically with social media sites like Twitter and Facebook and smartphones exploding in popularity across the world. However, there is something new on the advertising scene that could be set for future success- beardvertising. Yes, you read that right. Advertising for your beard. Simple really,  you walk around with some an advert on your beard and everyone you meet/see that days notices it. This “genius” idea is the work of a US-based ad agency, Real Native Advertising, who are looking for men, and ahem, women, to join their Beardvertising network which could see them earn $5 a day for attaching a “beardboard” to their facial fuzz. But let’s not just laugh at this crazy idea, maybe it could work. I mean, doesn’t love a good beard?
http://www.thedrum.com/stuff/2013/05/21/could-beardvertising-be-next-big-thing

FACEBOOK FATHER (Laura)

Grandparents are most commonly accused of over-loading their grandchildren with love and unsolicited advice, rather than with trying to sell them to the highest bidder. However, a man in India has been tracked down by the country’s police force for doing just that – selling his grandson for 70,000 rupees, on Facebook. Not even ebay.  Feroze Khan, with the help of some hospital staff, took the baby and was able to give him to his buyer, Amir Kumar. According to Mr Kahn the reason for all this was he was planning on another arranged marriage for his daughter and had hoped that his daughter would get an abortion, but the hospital staff did not agree. Once again I’m pretty glad I live in Scotland.
http://www.weirdasianews.com/2013/05/16/stolen-newborn-sold-facebook/

CLOUDS (Aimee)

A new internet hit has been circulating around YouTube, when a touching goodbye from has been given an extra push thanks to a handful of celebs. Zach Sobiech is 17 years old and was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer that takes the lives of a large percent of its childhood victims. Given only months to live, Zach turned to music to say goodbye. His song “Clouds” spread, and soon, Zach’s message was heard across the country. To help raise money and awareness of the disease, celebs such as Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston and singer Jason Mraz, mimed along to the song, and a collaboration video of all them of singing was put together. The song is very moving and it is great to see the awareness being raised.
http://youtu.be/7zxXAtmmLLc 

DYING FOR A CAREER IN PR  (Lisa)

I was shocked and saddened to read about the death of an up-and-coming PR employee at Ogilvy & Mather who died at his desk from a heart attack. Although it is not clear whether long hours played a key role in the 24-year-old’s sudden death, overtime is routine for white-collar executive working within China’s PR industry. UK professionals can breathe a sigh of relief as culturally, there are few boundaries between work and personal life with a combination of punishing working hours and highly demanding clients.
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/05/20/drum-runs-industry-survey-gauge-average-working-hours-and-pressures-facing-marketing

FACEBOOK THE LIFE-RUINER (Sarah)

Don’t deny it; you’re a social media fiend. Most people are. And for the majority of us our daily poison is the social media platform known as Facebook. No matter how often you ‘post’ are ‘tagged’ or comment on other people’s ‘timelines’ (it used to be ‘walls’ but we all know that’s old hat now) there will be little nuggets of this communication tool that drive you round the bend. So, in the spirit of collective irritation (and yet an unwavering obsession with telling everyone we have ever met exactly what we are up to at every moment of very day)  here is a little list of the top 33 ways Facebook ruins our lives.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/ways-facebook-ruins-your-life