Friday 28 December 2007

News from Heinz

KETCHUP, UP AND UP
Heinz Tomato Ketchup hits record sales

IT’S A kitchen cupboard classic, and for many a mealtime essential, and this week Britain’s much-loved Heinz Tomato Ketchup makes history as it reaches the £100 million mark for the first time – lining up enough bottles of the iconic sauce to stretch all the way to Australia .

In the last 12 months alone Britons have consumed 933 million tomatoes via bottles of Heinz Tomato Ketchup, equating to 73 million bottles of the red sauce. That adds up to more than one bottle for every man, woman and child in the country and enough sauce to fill 13 Olympic-sized swimming pools .

This has been the most successful year since the sauce hit the UK’s shop shelves in 1876, with Brits dolloping enough ketchup on their plates to fill an extra 2.6 million bottles of Heinz Tomato Ketchup. Briton’s are passionate about their favourite sauce with 66% professing they ‘love’ the brand.

Dave Woodward, President, Heinz UK & Ireland, is proud of the condiment’s success, saying: “Other ketchups have come and gone but with well over half of all UK households now regularly buying Heinz Tomato Ketchup, the message in the bottle is clear: Heinz is the tomato ketchup.”

Heinz Tomato Ketchup – the facts

• 11 billion packets are sold around the World every year – that’s nearly two packets for every person on earth
• Heinz Tomato Ketchup has been exclusively approved by NASA for use on the International Space Station
• During the manufacturing process, if Heinz Tomato Ketchup pours unaided at more than 0.028mph it is rejected

News from SEGA

A FRIEND IN NEED IS A FRIEND INDEED
Lonely children create pretend pals as they lack real friends

A NUMBER of children grow up lonely and with no one to confide in, with this isolation pushing a quarter of them to create imaginary friends during their childhood. This has come to light following research released today to mark the launch of The Golden Compass video game.

These make-believe mates are conjured up as children lack real-life playmates with 28% saying they served as a real friend or sibling replacement. More than half of the 2,000 questioned said their imaginary friend was an outlet to tell secrets to, and one in five saw them as someone to go to school with, hinting that young children sometimes turn to their imagination for security and a sense of belonging.

This insight is timely as the nation is set to go fantasy mad with the release of The Golden Compass video game. The Golden Compass is the first instalment of the acclaimed ‘His Dark Materials’ book trilogy that follows the adventures of Lyra, a young girl who, like all humans in the make-believe world, is accompanied by a creature that protects and helps her – much like our own imaginary friends.

Child psychologist and founder of the influential parenting website ‘RaisingKids’, Pat Spungin says, “Having an imaginary friend can be very beneficial and enhance a child’s development, and it is encouraging to see that 70% of adults support their children creating imaginary friends. While imaginary friends are a good practice ground for young people to test boundaries and social skills it is still important for them to learn how to integrate and play alongside their peers.”

News from Discovery Real Time

TATTITUDES
Britain’s Teens are Underage Inkers


Many people choose to use their skin as the canvass for modern day artwork, with fantastic results. But with almost a quarter of Brits getting tattooed under the legal age of 18, young lawbreakers are rebelling against the system and getting inked illegally.

This worrying statistic comes to light after Discovery Real Rime commissioned The Ink Report, the most extensive survey to date on Brits’ attitudes towards tattooing.

Marking the launch of tattoo show LA Ink, which stars celebrity tattooist Kat Von D, the results also reveal that 36% of 16-24 year olds already regret their tattoo and a quarter of them think they’ll regret it when they’re older.

Louis Malloy, professional tattoo artist and personal tattooist to David Beckham, says, “I always ask the client for ID, if I’m not sure of their age - it’s imperative I don’t break the law. But equally important is that a person chooses a design which they will live with for life; it’s unlikely at 16 or 17 years old you’ll be able to make that decision.” Louis Malloy also adds’ “I would suggest that the legal age for getting a tattoo is raised to 21 years old. At that age, you’d expect them to be slightly more mature.”

LA Ink premieres on Discovery Real Time this Sunday 11th November at 9pm.

The Ink Report analyses the nation’s attitudes towards tattooing and discovers how the British public perceives tattoos, with some surprising results.

A tattoo is for life
• 1 in 3 people who have a tattoo regret it
• A 1/3 of people believe they will regret their tattoos when they are older
• 40% of people choose their tattoo on its design only – suggesting style over sentiment

Girl Power
• A sixth of women have tattoos compared to only 1 in 10 men
• 3 times as many women get a tattoo to commemorate their newfound freedom than men – women make a permanent mark of freedom with 1 in 8 inking important life moments
• Men are 5 times more likely than women to link lack of intelligence to tattoos

Law breakers, freedom fighters and self-harmers
• Over 1 in 5 aged between 45-54 years old commemorate newfound freedom with a tattoo
• A ¼ of people are law breakers - getting their first tattoo under the age of 18
• 16-24 year olds are four times more likely then 55+ year olds to view tattoos as art
• 1 in 10 55+ year olds think that tattoos are a form of self harm

Ink Nation
Across the country attitudes towards tattoos vary greatly:
• The Welsh are Britain’s most tattooed - 1 in 5 have a tattoo
• The Irish are the least likely to have a tattoo, with only 1in10 having one – and when they do get a tattoo the Irish regret it the most (50%)
• People from the Midlands love their tattoos with 83% loving their body art
• 10% of Scots think tattoos are a form of self harm

Employment
• 34% of people who work in human resources have a tattoo
• People working in human resources and retail love their tattoos the most, 83%
• Sales, media and marketing is the only industry that get a tattoo done in the style of a celebrity – maybe this is why they (72%) regret them so much?!
• Almost half of people in the legal profession think that tattoos look common – only 7% have a tattoo

Monday 17 December 2007

News from Brylcreem

Gary Barlow’s barnet is the best - Take That Robbie!
Brylcreem Best Male Celebrity Hairstyle 2007

Gary Barlow has the Best Male Celebrity Hair of 2007, a survey by Brylcreem, the UK’s number one men’s styling brand*, has revealed. In the year that Take That has conquered the charts, had sell-out stadium shows and landed lucrative advertising deals, Gary Barlow proves to be the ultimate come back king. His neat short back and sides were voted top look with 65% of the votes, while his rival Robbie Williams limped in with 4.2% of votes.

The research, carried out to celebrate the 6th annual Brylcreem National Men’s Hair Week**, questioned people from across the UK to find out which male celebrities score best and worst in the hairstyle stakes in music, sport, TV and film.

Top of the flops in the music chart is notorious Babyshambles front man Pete Doherty, whose dirty and dishevelled styling failed to impress and is awarded Worst Celebrity Hair of 2007, followed closely by Oasis front man Liam Gallagher, who is still stuck in the 90s.

In the sporting field, Beckham’s style is still streaks ahead, with 32% choosing the LA Galaxy scorer as the winning sports-star hairstyle, leaving previous 2006 winner Jonny Wilkinson trailing behind with 19% of the votes. Heading up the worst sporting hairstyles is flamboyant Ryder Cup winning golfer Ian Poulter, respondents deemed his bizarre red and blond style as unforgivably awful.

From the small screen, war is declared at Top Gear with Richard ‘The Hamster’ Hammond coming up in pole position to be crowned with Best TV Personality Hairstyle (45% of the votes) whilst fellow petrol-head presenter James May slides off track coming in last place.

Meanwhile, for once has Sienna Miller made the wrong style decision? Having started the year with Jude Law, who wins Best Film Personality Hairstyle, her new beau and known scruff Rhys Ifans tops the list of worst film stars’ haircuts.

Previous winners of the prestigious accolade for best celebrity hairstyle include Welsh rugby union star Gavin Henson, Blue’s Duncan James and England’s drop kick rugby hero Jonny Wilkinson.

Louis Byrne, Men’s Hairdresser of the Year and Brylcreem Style Director comments:

‘Gary Barlow has experienced a truly fantastic year and to be the overall winner of Brylcreem Best Male Celebrity Hair of 2007 is the crowning glory. Gary’s gone from being the brunt of boy band jokes to the king of the charts and in the process has seen a huge style transformation. He sports a classic, groomed look, easy to achieve with a product such as Brylcreem’s Shaping Wax which creates a style that is impressive yet effortless. This year, it is timeless styling that has inspired British men, rather than the non descript rock and roll look of his old band mate Robbie’

Monday 10 December 2007

News From Watch It Do It

JADE’S BACK!

Jade Goody has stepped back into the spotlight by teaming up with a step-by-step cooking guide to give Brits more confidence in the kitchen. Self-confessed ‘kitchen-phobe’ Jade is encouraging Brits to use Watch it…Do it - the new cookbook that makes great cooking foolproof – to ensure Christmas goes off with a bang.

Mother of two Jade, 26, is a reluctant cook and the thought of preparing the Christmas dinner had previously filled her with fear. Watch it…Do it, with its DVD and step-by-step book, has helped Jade overcome her apprehension and she now hopes to encourage thousands of other people who like her, fear cooking over the Christmas period.

The publishers behind the books understand the pressures that people face in the kitchen over Christmas and have therefore created an exclusive Watch it…Do it guide to cooking the perfect Christmas dinner. Available to download free from www.watchitdoit.com, cooking at Christmas, the Watch it…Do it way, has never been simpler.

Jade said, “I was pretty useless in the kitchen but Watch it…Do it has given my confidence a huge boost and I’m actually looking forward to cooking the turkey this year! Recipe books tend to scare me as I don’t really know the basics but with Watch it…Do it, I know that all the steps are there to follow from peeling and slicing to actually cooking. If I can follow the recipes to make a delicious Christmas dinner…anyone can!”

The Watch it…Do it guides are currently available from Amazon.co.uk at the special price of just £7.99 (save £12,00) for a limited time and at all good bookstores. The perfect Christmas present for any ‘Can’t Cook’ or those who need a bit of confidence in the kitchen, the series includes Cooking For Kids Made Easy, Italian Food Made Easy and 50 Favourite Dishes Made Easy.
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