-
Opinion
Outlook is cloudy for McDonald’s mood app
If you’ve been on YouTube this morning, you’ve probably been boinked squarely between the eyes by the McDonald’s home page takeover.
If you follow the link, it’s an apparently ambitious digital campaign that looks like its merely fails in the execution. Read more »
Why every agency boss needs to hear how Goodby got its groove back
In the last three years I’ve probably sat through dozens, if not a couple of hundred, industry-related presentations. Just a handful stick with me. Read more »
With a little PR magic from Max Markson, Naomi Robson’s lizard didn’t happen and neither did the cannibals
I had an intriguing press release from publicist Max Markson today.
Naomi Robson is back in front of the camera. Even if it’s only online. And Markson Sparks PR is helping her with the launch of The Naomi Show. Read more »
Coke’s phoney happiness machine is a fail for me
In this guest posting, Tony Richardson argues that the Coke Happiness Machine viral sucks.
The folks at Coke have created a viral video and as hoped it’s being circulated worldwide … but for all the wrong reasons. The main one being that it is possibly the lamest viral ever created. Read more »
Saying no to copy approval
“We’d dash back to the office to knock up a dry, arse-licking account of our “intimate chat” with Peter Andre to email to CAN, who would duly remove every trace of insight or humour, before making us feel sooooo special by perhaps deigning to allow us to publish it. No thanks.”
Will Renai LeMay’s new media business model work?
I’ve been curious for a few days now on what Renai LeMay’s plans are.
Since announcing he was leaving ZDNet, he’s been coy about what he’d be doing next.
Which of course made it all the more interesting. Read more »
Where are our marketing heroes?
“The great Australian tradition of attacking success and anyone that sticks their head above the parapet is stronger than ever. In my recent experiences around the world I can honestly say I have never experienced such collective distaste for one’s own kind.”
The Australian tries to win back Kevin
“One might wonder whether News Ltd feels the need to get on the right side of the Prime Minister, having managed to get itself thoroughly offside with him since the 2007 election.”
Bernard Keane on why Rudd was The Oz’s Australian of the Year
AFR falls four days behind The Oz
On Saturday, we woke up to discover that Wall Street had suffered a big fall. Read more »
Tips for better ideas
While it’s rather cool that Vancouver agency Rethink funds a scholarship for future art directors and designers, the ad they’ve created around it offers even better advice on the creative process. Read more »
Sack the copywriter
Here’s a nice innovation from consumer watchdog Choice, rounding up the best of the month’s Aussie ad blunders. Read more »
If agencies were bands…
The other day I was chatting to the boss of a new agency that’s about to launch.
I asked her what she wanted her agency to stand for. If it was a band, which would the agency be, was my question.
Which then got me to thinking about which bands Australia’s existing agencies would represent. As I began to make notes, I began to realise that it doesn’t look good… Read more »
When a global marketing blunder is a local problem
Sometimes I wonder if being a brand with an international affiliation is more trouble than it’s worth.
Jenny Craig – a weight control brand that’s doing very well in Australia, thanks very much – is the latest to face blowback from an international gaffe. Read more »
Vegetarian and chicken ads prove Sam’s lamb is still the one to beat on Australia Day
When Sam Kekovich’s latest pro-lamb Australia Day address was unveiled last week, a fair bit of the debate centred on whether it was time to change the strategy. Read more »
In defence of disaster journalism
The somewhat grubby tussle between Seven and Nine over who gets credit for rescuing baby Winnie from the Haiti rubble makes an easy target for those who see disaster journalists as vultures.
After all, what can the media do, but get in the way? Read more »
Sandilands taken off air again following concentration camp comment
Kyle Sandilands’ radio career is hanging in the balance after today being suspended by Austereo for comments he made yesterday about the comedian Magda Szubanski losing weight in a concentration camp.
In a short statement from 2Day FM general manager Adam Lang, the company said:
“2Day FM has suspended Kyle Sandilands following comments he made during The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Tuesday 8 September, 2009. The suspension will be in effect pending further discussions involving Kyle Sandilands and station management.
“2Day FM believes the comments made by Kyle were unacceptable and sincerely apologises and regrets any offence they caused.”
The decision by Austereo comes just three weeks after the Kyle & Jackie O show returned to the airwaves following a disastrous lie detector segment. While the pair quizzed a 14 year old girl about her sexual experiences she blurted out that she had been raped.
-
RSS Feeds
-
Email Newsletter
THE MUMBO REPORT
You can now watch clips of the Mumbrella Readers Choice Awards ceremony category by category.
The first clip is the shortlist round up and winner of media and marketing blog of the year, which went to Ben Shepherd’s Talking Digital.
Read more »
Latest News
- Starcom trio breaks away to launch media agency and production company
- ABC's Scott attacks article in News Ltd's The Australian as 'ludicrous'
- Mixed response to debut of Ten's new show The Circle
- Nine wins the night, while ABC1's Australian Story sees strong return
- Vodafone hands Host creative account
- Slow start for Naomi Robson's new online dating show
- Qantas hires The Lab's GM into key marketing role
- AMP highlights customer-centric approach in new ads
Dr Mumbo
- How Evermore rocked the Nova party from behind the curtain
- Guess who’s hunting an editorial director...
- Channel 10's Groundhog Day
- Hungry Jack's: reliably bad
- Whatever you do, don't tune in to SBS2 in the early hours of Tuesday - or you may have to watch a weather forecast
- The biggest spender
- After the twebsite, the pebsite
- Australia's Olympians left out of Coca Cola's snowballing global conflict
-
Latest Comments
- FPP on Slow start for Naomi Robson’s new online dating show
- Adam on Outlook is cloudy for McDonald’s mood app
- Anja on SMH editor Fray stands by McGurk reporting
- kelly stevens on Mixed response to debut of Ten’s new show The Circle
- Ben on Slow start for Naomi Robson’s new online dating show
- mumbrella on Slow start for Naomi Robson’s new online dating show
- Martin Walsh on Qantas hires The Lab’s GM into key marketing role
- mumbrella on Mixed response to debut of Ten’s new show The Circle
Other News
Cosy deals keep faces of finance on TV
Sydney Morning Herald
Internet nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
Mashable
Did ACA fake the hoon footage?
Crikey
Apple unveils iPad to take on Amazon’s Kindle
PC World
AFR’s dodgy ‘win a million’ promo
Crikey
Just 35 subscribers for Newsday pay site
New York Observer
How the ABC’s Mark Scott seduced Annabel Crabb
National Times
Google revenue soars in fourth quarter
Wall Street Journal
Most Discussed
- Foster's stands by VB's new brand positioning in spite of decline
With 59 comments - Unbranded ads featuring a frog on a goat unveiled as new Trading Post campaign
With 57 comments - Robert Morgan: Ad agencies suffering from lack of women in creative roles
With 55 comments - Hill & Knowlton battles to keep account after manager's anti-Sensis tweets
With 44 comments - New digital agency Reading Room: time to end the big agency bullshit
With 43 comments - Pepsi promotion to rerun after winner exposed as agency staffer
With 40 comments - Peace talks held over autorefresh rates for websites
With 38 comments - Sunny Queen Farms turns the smile upside down with Whinging Poms eggs
With 38 comments
- Foster's stands by VB's new brand positioning in spite of decline

Comments
9 Sep 09
12:18 pm
You’d think he would have figured it out by now.
9 Sep 09
12:19 pm
hmmm… maybe management are looking for a reason to sack him? (A girl can dream a little, can’t she?)
I just can’t see any large advertiser wanting to be associated with him.
9 Sep 09
12:22 pm
Enough is enough!
There’s only so much ’shock’ this jock can hand out before listeners will start switching over.
Comments about rape and concentration camps are not funny nor entertaining.
How many times will he be able to make an inappropriate comment and then apologise for it the next day?
It’s time to go….Kyle.
9 Sep 09
12:30 pm
I think Kyle should take some gardening leave and head for Jenny Craig himself
9 Sep 09
12:35 pm
Ah the beautiful irony of the man who proclaims to drink 8 litres of coke and 20 lattes a day calling someone else fat.
I wonder if he owns a mirror?
9 Sep 09
12:38 pm
Kylie Sandilands reminds me of Pavlov’s Dog.
Put him in front of a crowd and he dribbles. Just can’t help it, that’s the way’s his brain’s wired.
Sulk away Kyle, leaving all the excuses you can get your mouth around, but sulk away.
9 Sep 09
12:49 pm
Didn’t Pavlovs dog dribble at the sight of food?…….bit like Sandilands
9 Sep 09
1:00 pm
I think Kyle has it figured it out. It’s more like havent 2Day FM figured it out? As in, no, a shock jock wont improve ratings and no, the public won’t keep allowing them to apologise?
9 Sep 09
1:07 pm
Kyle will be lapping this up. Anyone heard that bad pr can be a great thing?
Kyle could be marketed over in the USA: “The DJ that was thrown out of Australia.”
Kyle might set up a show on radio or TV in the USA and have a following of dense, materialistic, numbskull beings, loving every word that comes out of his boring mouth…
Parts of society are tragic and Kyle fits into that market place. Delivering his profanities and unfunny drivel to the brain dead and hopeless…
9 Sep 09
1:10 pm
@Andy,
Ha! Yup, he did; food and a metronome (which, if you know the theory, is the conditioned stimulus).
Point is, when presented with the stimulus (a radio mic & a crowd to hear) poor little Kyle enters into a conditioned response i.e. he dribbles inane trash.
Seems Kyle lacks the complex structure that allows most humans to counter classical conditioning in this context.
Either that, or he likes being a tool.
9 Sep 09
1:20 pm
Adam, yep The Holocast and child rape. Two sure fire ways to land a show in America. Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrtttttttttttt. (Said in A Borat like voice.)
9 Sep 09
1:31 pm
He really is just a talentless waste-of-space. Anyone can be abusive – that’s easy – being witty and interesting is slightly more difficult and unfortunately it’s just something Kyle hasn’t seemed to have mastered.
9 Sep 09
1:39 pm
The United States of Kyle
9 Sep 09
1:40 pm
The main problem I have with this latest incident (someone actually called it a ’scandal’ today) is that people are only making a fuss about the comments because it is Sandilands behind them. The strange thing is, without defending Kyle… he’s not in the wrong in this situation and is completely entitled to share his opinion. His opinion was neither defamatory nor racially motivated, so I fail to see how he is worse this time than any number of mainstream comedians that make fat jokes, or Jew jokes, or fat Jew jokes.
Let’s make things clear – this is not comparable to the sexualisation of a 14 year old girl. This is an offhand comment about an overweight woman struggling with her weight, with a poorly conceived reference to the holocaust.
As big of a douche as he is, Sandilands does not deserve the disproportionate backlash that he has received and although Australia does not have any explicit legal protection of free speech, that protection is implied. It’s the same implied protection that allows every Australian that has ever posted on the twitter hashtag #SandilandsIsADouche to continue to do so.
Perhaps we should get into that good old American tradition of shooting people that we disagree with.
9 Sep 09
1:52 pm
@Matt.
You’re right, everyone is entitled to their opinion, though I think you’ve missed the point.
Yes, you’re right. The heat is on Kyle, but only through his own doing. Because of this, and assuming he wants to keep his job, he is obliged to be more careful with what comes out of his mouth. From that point of view, he’s an underperforming employee and if he continues to bring disrepute on the brand, then he should go.
You’re also right that this is not the same as the previously most recent incident. My opinion is entirely in the context of his own attitude (or lack thereof) to his audience, environment, advertisers and his employer. Yes, there are plenty of fat jokes, and jew jokes, and fat jew jokes. Whether the subjects of those feel defamed by any other comedians (and I’m pretty sure you weren’t branding Kyle a comedian by that reference) is irrelevant.
What matters here most is the context, at which Kyle is the centre having built it up all on his own. As you said, a poorly conceived reference to the holocaust, in this context, is going way too far past the point of no repercussion, in my opinion.
9 Sep 09
2:37 pm
Why do I get the uneasy feeling that this is all part of his evil plan.
Many years ago, didn’t people falsely put ‘Banned in Boston’ on books or records to dial up the edgy factor, and sell more stuff?
Does being thrown off air in Australia help Kyle’s cred overseas?
I hope not.
9 Sep 09
2:37 pm
Morning radio, what can I say?
Jonsey and Amanda all the way!
If you want fun entertainment that is not risque
It’s Jonsey and Amanda all the way
9 Sep 09
2:37 pm
Was pretty easy to work out that something like that would happen due to his latest verbal sludge…Magda is a much loved celeb so he painted a big target on himself when he dribbled out those words…
9 Sep 09
2:37 pm
Jew joke? Szubanski is of Polish origin. Millions of Poles were killed in concentration camps (and not all were Jewish). Thus the idiotic insult of Kyle’s.
9 Sep 09
2:42 pm
sooooooooooooo stupid. we cannot only back freedom of speech when it suits us. on top of that, i missed the 14 tear old rape victim segment, but our national news programming were kind enough to play it to me at least 5 times since the incident. and now the possibly offensive statement about concentration camps is reaching more poeple than it initially would have. yes – i am shooting the messenger.
9 Sep 09
2:47 pm
What about Kochie this morning on Sunrise referring to Yoko Ono as a witch!
9 Sep 09
2:50 pm
Leaving aside the issues as to Kyle’s competence (or not), surely the real issue here is for Austereo – after the last Kyle episode and their internal review they said they were putting a delay on the K&JO Show (like in all other radio) to avoid just this sort of problem. Whoever had their finger on that button yesterday was asleep at the wheel, and that raises the question of whether Austereo is a fit and proper person to continue to hold a radio licence. Kyle is a clown, but for AEO this has far deeper implications IMHO.
9 Sep 09
2:56 pm
Kochie is a tool also…maybe he needs to be “suspended” also. Get Paul McCarthy who does the impersonation of him on Double Take to be the host..he is a least funnier than the real thing!
9 Sep 09
4:01 pm
seriously if it wasn’t for the rape drama, doubt this would have created much ferver at all. jokes like this appear daily on commercial waves.
9 Sep 09
4:21 pm
andrew Gee and Danni minogue will be joining Jackie O on air tomorrow morning until further notice…
9 Sep 09
4:22 pm
“As big of a douche as he is, Sandilands does not deserve the disproportionate backlash that he has received…”
Meh, you’re probably right, but I’m not going to cry for him.
“…and although Australia does not have any explicit legal protection of free speech, that protection is implied.”
Even if Australia *had* an explicit right similar to the First Amendment of the US Constitution, that would not do anything to stop Austereo sacking Sandilands (if that is what they want to do).
That Amendment only stops the US Congress passing any law “abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press”. It doesn’t give any legal rights to anyone who might get sacked for making stupid comments in the course of his employment.
Also, the implicit Australian protection of free speech only applies to political speech.
9 Sep 09
4:22 pm
just wondering why the producer didn’t kill the segment. He/she seems to be the one who is getting off scott free as well
9 Sep 09
4:32 pm
Gahhhh I am just so over all this rubbish and outrage about every daft comment Sandilands makes. May as well all just listen to Classic FM and not be offended by anything. I agree with dave also… all this furore is just making a massive issue out of something that is basically not even worth reporting…clearly a very slow news day… and by the way I am of jewish origin and just so totally not offended by this because it’s all just ridiculous waste of everyone’s time and I’m sure was said with irony as he knows he’s a fat bastard…
9 Sep 09
4:32 pm
From what I can see, Mr. Sandilands despite being a loose cannon dick head, could use a few months on Lite & Easy himself. He is pretty round, smooth and soft himself – shouldnt have said anything about anyone elses weight challenges in the first place.
9 Sep 09
4:34 pm
If it’s true…wouldn’t Andrew G and Danni Minogue worse to listen to than Kyle and Jackie O?
9 Sep 09
4:38 pm
@ Sal – Nothing offensive at all about what Kochie said this morning.
Yuko Ono IS a witch!
9 Sep 09
5:04 pm
Everyone is entitled to an opinion…FACT.
When you have the opportunity to air your opinion to a mass audience, you need to be aware of the people you may potentially be offending and discuss your opinion with a decency and respect to others…
This latest episode just goes to show that “Vile” is indeed a stupid, brainless turd that simply cannot stop his mouth from spilling out rude, ignorant, disgusting bile.
I don’t want to waste my time and energy on this type of cretin, but unless we, as the general public, stand up to this then he is not going to go away.
9 Sep 09
5:42 pm
@ Stevie P
Hang on a minute… are you an employee of Trusted Avatar and is Lite N Easy your client?
9 Sep 09
5:43 pm
That comment @ Stevie P was me – I just forgot to put my name in before I hit return!
9 Sep 09
9:02 pm
The freedom of speech argument has one major flaw: it is grossly and disproportionately represented by the voice of the over confident anglo larrikin male. Nothing wrong with this per say until someone like Kyle is given the speaking stick and doesn’t have the respect to use this privilege for good not evil (he is such an idiot I can’t believe I am wasting wonderful epiphanies like this on him).
As if that 14 year old girl (or any 14 year old) has the same freedom of speech he does. She’s begging never to be heard again. Makes you wonder how ‘freedom’ is defined? Feeling ashamed & being too young limits your freedom of speech.
He reminds me of a western s3x tourist going to a less developed country or Letterio “that dog ruined my holiday” Silvestri: an over representation of someone using their freedom (generally) to embarrass humanity.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks