While on my travels north last week, I was horrified to see that one of the truly great signs of the A1 had disappeared. I had grown quite fond of Morrisons' billboard by the side of the road ­ just as you hit the Midlands ­ in which the chain invites southerners to visit its Letchworth store and discover Why it's cheaper up north'. Now the sign has gone, replaced by a bland poster that fails to register (will the marketer responsible, please note). Startled, I rang Morrisons to find out what had happened. Was there a price hike and they refused to pay? Were they gazumped? "No, not all" said a spokeswoman. "We had the poster for a certain amount of time, and our time was up." What a pity. Still, the disappearance of this poster is nowhere near as startling as the sight of Dwight Yorke's happy face beaming out from a poster on the side of a bus in Shanghai. Dear old Dwight might have hit a bit of form in recent weeks (although there was little evidence of it in Munich this week), but who would have thought it would make him famous enough to promote Pepsi in China. But, as our deputy editor can testify, there he is on Chinese buses along with David Beckham, Rivaldo, Rui Costa and the like. He also features on Pepsi posters throughout the city. Now Becks I can understand. But Yorke? In China? Surely some mistake? I have no evidence of a strong Dwight Yorke fan club in Shanghai. Does Pepsi know something we don't? Still, better there than on a poster on the A1. {{COUNTERPOINT }}

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