Although she’s not particularly keen on opening the purse herself, Karoline (with a K) is especially critical of meanness in others. Even more so when it comes to clients. Their consistent refusal to spend as much as she thinks necessary on PR is responsible for most of her black moods, which now seem to occur almost every day. These bouts are usually lightened with chocolate and/or drink, though as an office we’ve been boycotting Tunnock’s wafers and whisky for the past few weeks for being too Scottish.

Now the wee chocolatey treats are back on the menu but they are having the wrong effect on K’s demeanour. “Look at this packaging,” she bellows. “It hasn’t changed in years. They’re mean, mean, mean!” Karoline’s contention is that Tunnock’s success is largely down to having spent 10 shillings on design in 1953 and being too tight to spend it again (say “reckless expense” again and again in a cod Scots accent), thus accidentally establishing itself as a cult classic.

Talking of cults, Toyota’s ‘Go fun yourself’ campaign is a bit odd. Yes, we know it’s trying to be all edgy and modern and appeal to people who find a FCUK T-shirt too subtle, but most Toyota buyers are over 70 (I’ll add ‘citation needed’ myself at this point) and probably less interested in ‘funning’ than running costs. They’re probably the sort of people who’ll be buying Nisa‘s new ’Heritage Gourmet’ sausages. H and G are two words food and drink PR people try to use as often as possible to lend spurious class to a product. In this instance, though, the venerable old house of Nisa, with its long-standing history and tradition of premium meat products, has clearly been delving into its old recipe books. What fun.

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