Any Other Business – 09/08
■ You either love it, or hate it. And it seems that viewers of veggie spread Marmite’s new advert are in the latter camp after 278 complaints were made about it to the Advertising Standards Authority. The offending television clip showed jars of Marmite being rescued from neglectful homes. Readers will be pleased to know that the repentant firm, tail between its legs, has made amends by donating £18,000 to animal rescue charity the RSPCA.”
■ Shopaholics prepare to rejoice, for online payments company PayPal announced yesterday that shoppers in leafy Richmond would be the first in the UK to use a mobile app that makes queuing at tills a chore of the past. The app lets customers make payments with a mobile phone, and a parade of shops on Richmond High Street – including the local fish and chippy – have signed up to the cash-less technology. The app works by showing which nearby stores accept PayPal, so that the app-owner can select one and check in. Once logged on, the cashier charges their mobile patron with a simple click of their photograph. One shop owner praised the app for making staff more social with customers: “It lets them know the customers’ first names.”