Sideswipe: Marketer's wet dream

Kathryn Mansell writes: 'On Friday people walking in Avondale, Auckland, might have noticed that their spider icon seems to have turned into a redback overnight.'

A reader from Epsom writes: "What I noticed most about TV3's Big Night In telethon was the rampant commercialism. Ad breaks aside (and there were heaps) the whole thing was a marketer's wet dream. I'm surprised it wasn't called 'The 2degrees Big Night In'. The interview segment was called Mazda Magic Moments. Not only were they filmed alongside an in-studio Mazda, the onscreen graphics included a permanent Mazda logo and a cartoon car zooming on with the titles. Then the Dare Stage, brought to you by Super Soft bread, the More FM Big Audition ... Then the Air New Zealand Challenge, with a bunch of people who were flown to the provinces by our national carrier to raise money. Cue gratuitous shots of its planes, and just in case you'd forgotten who was paying for this, the team were dressed head to toe in Air New Zealand gear and assigned the task of making, out of the coins collected, a giant koru. It wasn't about the viewers or the charity, it was all about the corporate sponsors."

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Stupid job interview questions:

1. "I was applying for a job a few years ago in the UK and was asked: 'Which sports do you enjoy?' I replied that I was never into football, rugby or any of the other sports we had to do, but preferred running. I was told, quite bluntly: 'No, they are games. Sports are hunting, shooting or fishing."'

2. "What will you do if you don't get this job?" (Thank you for caring.)

3. A large international software company flew me to the US, and I was asked: "How do you feel about ambiguity?"

4. "If terrorists broke in and killed every one in the office, what actor would play you in the movie and why?"

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Final word on the Cosmopolitan Club headscarf ban: A reader writes: "Surely we live in 2009 and not 1586? Are the club owners so blind to the date, not to mention the fact that they're in Auckland, which migrants like myself call home? Back when it was 'respectful' to take off your head covering, it was also respectful to stay away from a white-only bar if you weren't European. Surely if you can dye your hair blue and enter a bar, then you should be able to go in with a headscarf, whether it's for a religious reason or not."

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View today's Herald cartoon

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