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The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which regulates adverts and packaging, ruled that adverts featuring Sainsbury’s ‘Fairly Traded’ tea has the potential to mislead consumers, by implying that the tea was in fact Fairtrade Certified when it is not.

As we reported in November, last year Sainsbury’s withdrew its tea from the official Fairtrade scheme, instead opting to set up its own internal ethical standards which it labelled as ‘Fairly Traded’.

At the time campaigners pointed out that Sainsbury’s labelling lacked the transparency and accountability of Fairtrade, and amounted to the supermarket piggybacking on consumer recognition of fair trade, while ducking the standards and certification fees paid to the Fairtrade Foundation which administers the official scheme.

As one of the UK’s largest Fairtrade retailers, there are fears that Sainsbury’s apparent loosening of its commitment to Fairtrade could threaten the integrity of the label, as well as confusing consumers as to what the standards mean.

Co-operative Party MPs, led by Stella Creasy and Stephen Doughty have been instrumental in challenging what they dub ‘fauxtrade’ tea, working in partnership with Labour colleagues including Holly Lynch and other members of the cross-party Fairtrade APPG to draw attention to the issue.

Since November, thousands of party members and supporters have also signed a petition calling on Sainsbury’s to reverse the decision. While the supermarket has not yet agreed to resume Fairtrade certification of its tea, today’s ruling presents a huge opportunity for it to do the right thing and to restore its well-earned reputation as a champion of fair trade.

Commenting on the ruling, Co-operative MP Stella Creasy said:

This ruling should be a wake-up call for Sainsbury’s that backing out of the Fairtrade movement and pretending its Fairly Traded tea is the same won’t wash – the ASA agree how Sainsbury’s present its products will confuse consumers. Put simply, its ‘fauxtrade’ tea is not the same thing and consumers deserve the right to know.

Today the ruling on our complaint about @sainsburys#fauxtrade scheme has been made public as upheld by advertising standards authority- their pretence that their tea is ethically sourced to consumers to the standard of @FairtradeUK. It’s not and shouldn’t be marketed as such. https://t.co/nGMvpw57UJ

— stellacreasy (@stellacreasy) March 7, 2018

Fairtrade Fortnight debate in Parliament

Separately,Geraint Davies MP led Co-operaitve MPs in a debate in Parliament today to mark Fairtrade Fortnight. He joined with MPs of all parties in drawing attention to the enduring strength of the Fairtrade label and the positive impact it makes on the lives of the World’s poorest.

Fairtrade farmers receive 34% more income. We need to make sure that the right price is paid for the products ending up in our supermarkets. Find out more & sign the @CoopParty petition ? https://t.co/rciigY6Fy5pic.twitter.com/Mxuck3j4wK

— Geraint Davies MP (@GeraintDaviesMP) March 7, 2018

Building on the Party’s campaign ‘Don’t Make the World’s Poorest Pay for Brexit’, Davies also secured assurances from the government’s International Development Minister Harriet Baldwin MP that trade deals pursued by the UK post-Brexit will uphold existing protections for developing countries. Baldwin’s comments are warmly welcomed, and we look forward to hearing them reiterated by her colleagues across government.

So with action in parliament, beyond and by members across the country, voices across the Co-operative Party are using this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight to celebrate the success of Fairtrade and to champion a fair deal for the world’s poorest.

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Butcher Pete Lymer has received a police warning over his risqué blackboard messages – after advertising ‘big breasted birds’, ‘big cocks’ and ‘horny sausages’.

The 43-year-old had been told by officers to tone down his slogans following complaints about them being ‘offensive’.

Now Pete has criticised the decision as ‘political correctness gone mad’ after using his sign outside J W Ash & Son, in Leek, to attract customers for years.

Pete, from Leek, said: “We’ve put the signs out for years and it’s always been a bit of a laugh.

“Just after Christmas apparently somebody complained to the police, saying it was offensive.

“Last month a lady from the police came in and asked if we could pull our sign in. And a bobby came in last Thursday. They’re just doing their job so I’m not annoyed with the individuals.”

The sign on display at the time said ‘big cocks on special offer’.

Pete added: “We did bring them in but then folks kept moaning asking ‘why isn’t your sign out?'”

The blackboard was swiftly changed to say ‘have your rump tenderised before you leave’.

“It’s a sign, and it’s light humour at the end of the day. People do go past beeping their horns at the messages,” he said.

“I think it’s just blown out of proportion. I’m not trying to upset anybody, I’m not the kind of person who would write something genuinely horrible.

“Paul Duffield, who used to work here, started it off with me. About four years ago some ladies posed with him next to the sign – they thought it was funny – and the picture appeared in Take a Break magazine. So I think times have changed a bit. I think political correctness is getting a bit out of hand.”

Pete had even been overwhelmed with responses after he put an appeal on Facebook in January asking people to submit their own risqué sayings.

“It wasn’t even mostly blokes sending them in, it was women!” he said.

Ady Woodcock, co-owner of Moorlands Carpets and Vinyls next door, described the blackboard as ‘banter’.

The 43-year-old, from Leek, said: “It’s a bit of fun and it does make me laugh sometimes. You see people going past taking pictures of it with their phones.

“I’ve known Pete a long time and he has a good sense of humour. I don’t know why this has come out now, all of a sudden. More people seem to be offended nowadays or get upset about certain things. I have never thought that they are particularly offensive but you can’t please everybody.

“I think it’s a bit much the police getting involved.”

Jean Fisher, aged 64, from Leek, added: “That is just Pete’s sense of humour. I didn’t think anybody took that much notice.

“I don’t know why somebody suddenly decided it wasn’t OK. I’ve never thought the signs were too much. It’s quite sad because that’s a part of his shop. He just does it to draw attention to the business. I wouldn’t have thought it was a police matter.”

A Staffordshire Police spokesman said: “We’ve received no complaints about signage outside J W Ash and Son butchers in Leek.

“However, the local Chief Inspector for the Moorlands did advise the owner to give careful consideration to what was written on the boards in case anyone took offence. No other action has been taken.”

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The right-wing news site Breitbart has declared “#WAR” on Kellogg’s, calling for a boycott of the cereal company’s products after they decided to cease advertising on the site.

On Tuesday, the Kellogg Company pulled their adverts from the site, saying that it wasn’t “aligned with our values”. Recent inflammatory stories include “Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive And Crazy”; “Data: Young Muslims In The West Are A Ticking Time-Bomb” and “Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism Or Cancer?”.

“We regularly work with our media-buying partners to ensure our ads do not appear on sites that aren’t aligned with our values as a company,” Kris Charles, a spokeswoman for Kellogg’s, told Bloomberg. “We recently reviewed the list of sites where our ads can be placed and decided to discontinue advertising on Breitbart.com. We are working to remove our ads from that site.”

Other companies have pulled ads from the site, including Allstate, Nest, EarthLink, Warby Parker, SoFi and the investment group . Many did not realise they were advertising on Breitbart because their campaigns are run through automated systems which distribute ads across a large network of sites.

In response to Kellogg’s statement, Breitbart published a furious attack on the cereal company on Wednesday saying that the move represents “an escalation in the war by leftist companies … against conservative customers”. Editor-in-chief Alexander Marlow called for a boycott of the company’s products, saying: “For Kellogg’s, an American brand, to blacklist Breitbart News in order to placate left-wing totalitarians is a disgraceful act of cowardice.”

Breitbart News, founded in 2007 by conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart, rose swiftly to prominence in the last year as it became what its former chairman Stephen Bannon – now senior advisor to the president-elect – called “the platform for the alt-right”, a far-right political movement with links to white supremacist organizations.

“They insult our incredibly diverse staff and spit in the face of our 45,000,000 highly engaged, highly perceptive, highly loyal readers, many of whom are Kellogg’s customers,” said Marlow, whose publication ran a story in 2015 with the headline Hoist It High And Proud: The Confederate Flag Proclaims A Glorious Heritage .

“Boycotting Breitbart News for presenting mainstream American ideas is an act of discrimination and intense prejudice,” he added. “If you serve Kellogg’s products to your family, you are serving up bigotry at your breakfast table.”

The article ends with a list of Kellogg’s products followed by the phrase “Kellogg’s: #WAR” and a link to advertise with the site.

Kellogg’s decision to pull its ads coincided with a campaign by Twitter user Sleeping Giants to pressure firms to drop their ads from Breitbart. Sleeping Giants is now receiving support from a likeminded online campaign to persuade consumers to boycott the Trump brand and any retailers carrying their products, organized around the hashtag #GrabYourWallet.

The targeting of advertisers recalls a similar campaign perpetrated against the now-defunct Gawker Media by the Gamergate movement which Breitbart vocally supported. Breitbart technology editor and “alt-right” darling Milo Yiannopoulos wrote at the time to chastise Gawker for not “apologi zing for the tone of its coverage and the language of its writers”.

Representatives for Kellogg’s and Breitbart News did not respond to requests for comment.

• Joanna Walters contributed reporting.

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If you love what you do, you never have to work a day in your life, they say.

So although an 80-hour working week might sound absolutely exhausting, if you get to live in a Disney cruise ship, how much of it will actually feel like work?

And who doesn’t dream of being paid to travel?

If that sounds like something you’d be up for, you’re in luck – Disney is currently looking for a youth activities counselor to travel on board its luxury cruise ships.

Some of the exciting places you could be visiting include Mexico, the California coast, Barcelona, and a private island in the Bahamas.

You’ll also have to brush up on your Spanish or Portugese as it’s a preferred quality to have if you want the job.

Other basic requirements include a minimum of two years experience working in a fast-paced recreational environment with children.

It’s far from a party ship, even in your own time; you can’t expect to get hammered at night as staff will be tested for alcohol consumption while on the job.

Basically it’s like a camp on water, which means you will have to share a cabin.

Despite the long hours and intense work environment, other youth activity counsellors say they love the gig.

Your main responsibilities will naturally include looking after children – aged three to 17 – and participating in youth activities programs on board the boat.

So you’re basically making dreams come true.

The less fulfilling part of the job involves anything from organising group games to cleaning floors and prepping food trays.

Some of the successful candidates posted online about the application process, saying: ‘You will first get an email, then a Skype and phone call. The process didn’t take too long, I got to know if I got the job in the first couple weeks of applying’.

Another wrote: ‘A very efficient interview with basic questions about yourself as well as the position. Make sure to smile, be yourself and honest with your work experiences.

‘Show them how you would be a perfect fit for the Disney team. The overall experience from interview stage to finding your date is very lengthy, but absolutely worth it’.

One user mentioned that Disney are not big on tattoos on their staff.

According to careers site glassdoor.co.uk, youth activities counselors can earn up to $1,504 (£1,074)  a month with their living expenses covered while at sea.

Certainly not a bad deal.

MORE: First Dates’ Disney superfan melts everyone’s hearts as he reveals he’s seen Beauty And The Beast over 100 times

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American Express has become the first multinational company to pull its advertising from Sky News in the wake of the channel’s interview with the far-right extremist Blair Cottrell.

The finance company’s Australian division announced on Twitter that it had decided to suspend its relationship with the channel.

The company’s account said: “American Express has made the decision to suspend advertising from Sky News, as recent content on the channel does not reflect our brand values.”

The move – the first by a multinational company – comes after Sky News’ The Adam Giles Show on Sunday broadcast an interview with Cottrell, a far-right extremist who has previously said he wanted a portrait of Hitler in every school classroom.

On Monday Sky said it was suspending the show, banning Cottrell from appearing again and announced a restructure of senior management.

On Tuesday evening, a spokesperson said the news channel acknowledged and respected Amex’s decision to suspend advertising, but added they had apologised and addressed the concerns “in the strongest possible way.”

American Express’s decision comes amid an activist campaign to target advertisers urging them to pull commercials from TV networks and newspapers that publish far-right extremist and sexist views.

The campaign group Sleeping Giants Oz has also highlighted the Sky News show Outsiders and News Corp newspapers that syndicated an anti-immigration Andrew Bolt opinion piece last week.

Initially founded in the US as Sleeping Giants, to target the far-right news site Breitbart, the Australian arm of the volunteer organisation was set up in last August.

Organisers say targeting advertisers is the most effective way to fight the normalisation of racism and far-right speech in Australia.

After Cottrell’s Sky News interview on Sunday, the group tweeted out a list of companies that had advertised with Sky News that night.

Qantas, which has a commercial partnership with Sky News and shows the network in its lounges, said it would not alter its arrangement. Nor would other advertisers: the glasses retailer Specsavers, ANZ Bankand Westpac bank.

“People are voiceless,” the organisers, who chose to remain anonymous, said. “They see something on the TV they can do nothing about. They might go on Twitter and have a whinge about it … [but] if media outlets go to air without advertisers it’s a real smack in the face for their credibility.

“We don’t boycott the products of the advertisers, what we are saying is we are looking for advertisers to make a considered ethical decision … Companies are taking blanket advertising, unaware of the content their advertising is aligned with. What we do is bring to their attention, in a polite way.

“Whilst it is not our aim to discourage healthy debate, expression of opinion and freedom of speech, we don’t believe these freedoms should extend to the level of hate speech and misogyny without challenge.”

Organisers said the tactic was proving effective and had led to multiple advertisers pulling out from Outsiders, a show that had come under fire for airing offensive comments about the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

On Monday they announced that the holiday organiser Luxury Escapes had pulled advertising from Outsiders.

“We have advised a permanent removal from the show (including re runs),” Luxury Escapes wrote on Twitter.

Organisers said they would continue targeting those companies that advertise with Sky, including the nappy maker Huggies.

“We will go back tonight and have a look a which companies are missing [from the channel],” they said. The group also organised phone calls to companies and intend to later pursue shareholder action.

Last week Labor politicians also expressed concern at the escalation of anti-immigrant rhetoric in the national media, after Melbourne’s Herald Sun published a nationally syndicated opinion piece that described suburbs with high Muslim, Jewish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian and Italian populations as examples of poor social cohesion.

The article, headlined in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph as “The foreign invasion”, was condemned by the Jewish Community Council of Victoria and was referred to the Australian Press Council for complaint.

The Labor MP Julian Hill, whose electorate covers three of the suburbs that Bolt criticised, said the government needed to show more leadership in fighting racist speech.

“The people he is dismissing and belittling are Australians,” he said. “The sheer human diversity is, I believe, a immense strength.

“There’s a very deliberate pattern from the government … If the PM [Malcolm Turnbull] doesn’t call this stuff [anti-immigrant sentiment] out in his own party room – I’m not saying respond to every silly article from Andrew Bolt, we have better things to do in the day – but his failure to do so says all we need to do.”

The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, whose neighbouring electorate was also criticised, also rejected Bolt’s claims.

“It’s a place of great harmony and the idea that there is some siloing going on is simply wrong,” he said. “Anti-immigrant language has been used by senior Liberal ministers.

“It is language we should never hear from leaders of a multicultural community like Australia. The repeated talk about gangs in Victoria, in Melbourne, is a racialising of criminal activity where the ethnicity of perpetrators of crime is almost never relevant.”

Tim Wilson, who represents neighbouring suburbs, said he disagreed with Bolt’s claim that migrants harmed social cohesion, but that he was entitled to raise his concerns.

“There have always been people who have raised concerns about multiculturalism, and they should be entitled to do so as it is a matter of public policy,” Wilson said. “I do not think it is growing … Healthy societies debate topics. Sick societies shut down debate.”

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Adidas is on a journey to shift from marketing efficiency to marketing effectiveness, admitting a focus on ROI led it to over-invest in digital and performance marketing at the expense of brand building.

The sports brand’s global media director, Simon Peel, explains that four years ago the company didn’t have any econometrics, its attribution modelling was based on last-click and it didn’t do any brand tracking. It also focused on efficiency over effectiveness, leading it to look at specific KPIs and how to reduce their cost rather than what was in the best interests of its brands.

This focus on efficiency was one of a number of issues that needed sorting at the company in order to drive long-term growth. It also had an over-supply problem, meaning its products were too often sold on promotion and creating price sensitivity. Plus, it had multiple agencies, inconsistent measurement and a business set-up that meant its main divisions were competing against each other and creating friction on messaging and creative.

“All the basics that exist to tell you how much you should invest in marketing didn’t exist,” Peel told the EffWeek conference this week.

Over the past four years, Adidas has been working to change this. Under a new marketing playbook – dubbed ‘Creating the new’ – and a renewed focus on generating brand desire, Adidas introduced a new campaign framework with emotional, brand-driving activity at the centre. This was an attempt to connect with consumers around major campaigns three or four times a year, while at the same time Adidas ran advertising with a rational message.

Adidas also had a performance budget linked to ecommerce in the belief that digital ads drove digital sales. Adidas was keen to drive online sales because it is the most profitable part of its business.

“We had an understanding that it was digital advertising – desktop and mobile – that was driving those sales and as a consequence we were over-investing in that area,” said Peel.

Mark Ritson: Adidas’ CEO is failing his brand with his exclusively digital mindset

At the same time, Adidas brought in an econometric model. That helped it discover that where it had thought loyal customers were driving sales, and it was therefore investing in CRM, in fact 60% of revenue came from first-time buyers.

Adidas also found that its business units were not just driving their own sales. It thought that football advertising would drive football sales but found in reality that all advertising drove general Adidas sales.

Plus, while Adidas thought only performance drove ecommerce sales, in fact it was brand activity driving 65% of sales across wholesale, retail and ecommerce, while performance also drove wholesale and retail sales.

This was a problem because Adidas’s advertising split was 23% into brand and 77% into performance. Yet work by Les Binet and Peter Field recommends the split be 60:40 in brand’s favour.

We had an understanding it was digital advertising driving ecommerce sales and as a consequence we were over-investing.

Simon Peel, Adidas

“The reason for that is short-termism because we are trying to grow sales very quickly,” said Peel. He added: “We had a problem that we were focusing on the wrong metrics, the short-term, because we have fiduciary responsibility to shareholders.”

Those wrong metrics were caused by Adidas’s four attribution models – Google Last Click, Google Custom, Adobe and Facebook – as well as a focus on short-term, real-time measurements that focused on ROI and return on ad spend (ROAS).

That led Adidas to over-invest in paid search, for example, an error it uncovered in its Latin America market when a breakdown at Google AdWords and therefore inability to invest in paid search didn’t lead to a dip in traffic or revenue coming from SEO.

“It told a very digitally focused story, that you should invest in paid search, online display. But when you look at econometric modelling it tells you something very different,” said Peel.

What the econometrics told Adidas was that it should invest in video, which hadn’t shown up before because it didn’t do well in last-click attribution, as well as TV, outdoor and cinema to drive ecommerce.

Adidas is now working on what the right media and attribution model is for it. Peel believes that will involve econometrics as well as a test-and-learn approach.

“We are just walking, we have a long way to go. We do overly focus on digital attribution, but we are improving,” he concluded.

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