...but I don't know which half.

If you don't know what precedes that statement, this blog may not be for you.

I kick off with this: Why cutting ad budgets will come back to bite Boris

Gotta love the certitude of that 'will'.

Thing is, I quite like a lot of public service advertising, and think it is effective. I have also personally gained as a result of some messages, usually by not dying thanks to a wee voice in the back of my head courtesy of an ad.

But some... a lot... is utter cack. And beyond the execution, there is the distinct suspicion that mnay of these ads are cranked out more to build, or support empires, and are racked up and up by an unhealthy level of navel-gazing between various 'professional' practitioners for self-interest more than any real aim of, or success at making the public's lives any better. I'm am not sure what falls under the remits of the GLA and TFL, but it will be interesting to see what vital messages are left in... or out. I have to say the sheer number of press officers alluded to makes one wonder who the heck is/was doing what. In fact, though horribly tricky, I think a lot of public service stuff needs much more of a microscope on what it sets out to do, why, with what budget, and to what value.

So before whacking out a rather Mandy Rice Davis 'well they would say that' snipe, I'd say it ill behoves any industry to get too political too quick, when perhaps a wallet closer to home is playing more than a small part in comparison to one's moral outrage on behalf of the tax-paying public.