Madeleine McCann: Britney Spears, Lolita And Birthday Cards
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY MAIL: “Woolworths forced to withdraw LOLITA bedroom furniture range for girls”
The Lolita Midsleeper Combi, a wooden bed with pull-out desk and cupboard designed for girls aged around six, retails on the Woolworths website for £349.99
The name has “sexual connotations”. A “mother” sees it and writes: “Am I being particularly sensitive, or does anyone else out there think it’s bad taste for Woolies to have a kiddy bed range named ‘Lolita’?”
Well, you don’t have to buy it…
A spokesman for the company says: “What seems to have happened is the staff who run the website had never heard of Lolita, and to be honest no one else here had either. We had to look it up on Wikipedia. But we certainly know who she is now”
Trusting Wikipedia for information has its own dangers. (And look out for an article on the state of British education.) But no danger is bigger than a bed named, perhaps, in honour of a charcter in a novel by Vladimir Nabokov
Or Lolita Fatjo, pre-production coordinator for Star Trek
Or many other women called Lolita
“On-line parent power has been growing in recent years. In 2006 Tesco stopped selling a pole-dancing kit on its website over accusations it was destroying children’s innocence. And last summer an on-line campaign by Mumsnet resulted in a cinema advert about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann stopped from being screened before the children’s film Shrek the Third”
THE TIMES: “Staff at Woolworths baffled by fuss over the little girl’s bed called Lolita”
“Woolworths has withdrawn bedroom furniture for young girls bearing the sexually charged name Lolita after a campaign waged by a mothers’ online chat room”
An internal company e-mail seen by The Times goes: “As discussed, we’ve got the product below on our website. Can it be hidden as soon as is possible? Then I really need to find out how it came about being on our site and who bought it. Lolita is a word that means sexually active young teenagers, so a young girls’ range of bedroom products is in very poor taste. We’ve had an approach from a website who are clearly a little disturbed by this”
THE SUN: “Gift from Maddie for twins”
No, not furniture
“Twins Sean and Amelie McCann will get a special present from their missing sister Maddie today on their third birthday. Parents Kate and Gerry got the gift for the pair who, at three, are the same age as Maddie when she vanished last May”
Sad. But is it relevant to the case? Is it news?
Grandmother Eileen McCann tells us: “Of course Madeleine being there would be our dream but we’ll do our best to make sure the twins have a lovely day”
DAILY TELEGRAPH: “Card from Madeleine at McCann twins party”
The twins are getting a gift in the Sun…
“Gerry and Kate McCann will throw a birthday party for their twins tomorrow - complete with a card from their missing four-year-old daughter, Madeleine”
DAILY STAR: “MISSING MADDIE’S SPECIAL PREZZIE”
“Little Sean and Amelie McCann will open a special present from their big sister as they celebrate their third birthday today”
With a card?
Says Eileen McCann: “There will be presents galore, lots of fun and games, lots of food and a big cake. Of course, Madeleine being home would make it complete and we continue to pray for that blessing”
SUR (Spain): “Marbella suffer their first loss of the year against Linares”
A football match: “Wearing T-shirts to raise awareness of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and Mari Luz Cortés, the children playing in the tournament accompanied the players onto the pitch as mascots at the beginning of the game”
RADAR: “Theater of Cruelty, Carnival of Souls”
“British rags hardly pretend to be providing straightforward news. What they are doing is what used to be the job of popular fiction; namely, processing myth out of characters sucked in from real life. Right now the cast list includes such durable regulars as Kate Moss—with or without Pete Doherty—Princes Harry and Wills, Posh and Becks, and Kate and Gerry McCann, whose daughter Madeleine’s kidnapping/disappearance in Portugal made them last year’s headliners”
ALISTAIR CAMPBELL (TIMES): Britney Spears: person or news commodity? She’s a great singer but obviously ill: we in the media have to decide to leave her alone”
Britney Spears and Madeleine McCann..?
“In some sections of the media, Madeleine McCann and her family are there. As I said in the Cudlipp Lecture on Tuesday, her disappearance was an interesting and important story, the stuff of every parent’s nightmare. But it quickly became a commodity in which most of the media got close to hysteria, and some have remained there. Let us not pretend the coverage was driven by concern for the child - there are many missing children - or compassion for the parents - certainly not once the mood shifted - or regard for the truth. It has been the worst example of recent times, on a par with Diana, of some newspapers thinking that the word “Madeleine” sells, and finding literally any old nonsense to keep her name in that selling position on the front”
THE GUARDIAN: “Mechanics of the McCann campaign - Professional media management may have generated coverage of Maddy’s disappearance, but it hasn’t helped with public sympathy for the family”
“Try as they might neither Clarence Mitchell nor Justine McGuinness could quite shake off the sense that the way they’ve managed this case might have contributed to some negative public sentiment towards the family. In place initially as what Mitchell described as “a buffer” between the shocked and distraught parents and the world’s media, hungry for news about Madeleine, it’s clear that what developed was a professional media management operation. With city PR firm Bell Pottinger on hand - primarily, we can assume, to defend the interests of their clients Mark Warner Holidays - as well as Justine and, latterly, Clarence with all their experience of Westminster spin, the McCanns could not have wanted for more professional advice. But as time went on media management itself - and once you’ve started feeding stories to the press to get control of the agenda, you really can’t stop - began generating negative reaction from other parties”
Madeleine McCann: Making news and sensation from grief
Posted: 1st, February 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,022) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
February 1st, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Shoperoo
I disagree. This site isn’t heavily moderated so it allows people to veer off topic and inject some humour into the overall McCann case. Sledgehammer is now in the “infamous” category and as such we’re publicly hanging him with the rope he made for himself. With such a sad tale as the Madeleine story, a bit of humour and banter helps….and now it’s at Mr S Hammer’s expense.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Deb/Stevo posts regarding Woolfall are interesting! He is the one to whom the McCanns granted access into their “digital camera” (read: digital photo collection). Woolfall made the selections of the very few recent photos that would be shown. And he was the one who de-emphasized the abductor/predator/paedophile aspect when everyone else was emphasizing it. So I agree with Stevo that he is eligible for T10 status!
Could it be Woolfall was staying at the resort, and was not called there by Ocean Club/Mark Warner? Certainly, there was a preponderance of PR and media type people staying there. Jill Renwick springs to mind; she was also reported to be “on holiday with the McCanns”.
Could it be that the COMARE connection is an oblique one? That is, that there were indeed some high-level nuclear-related people there, and thus the UK intelligence services (MI5) initially moved to ensure nothing was amiss with them. If so, then after the national security risk factors are evaluated as “safe”, the UK government would back off or step aside. It could be they are only interested in delaying justice, not in obstructing it. If this reading is right, Clarence Mitchell is an “agent” of MI5. Far-fetched? Does anyone really think that he is working for Brian Kennedy the double-glazing tycoon? That is even more far-fetched!
Supposedly Clarence resigned from his government job to handle the McCanns. Just as likely he was assigned this task by MI5. Sorry to break your cover, Clarrie me boy!
February 1st, 2008 at 12:34 pm
302
shoperoo Says:
February 1st, 2008 at 12:33 pm
++++++++++++++++++
agreed
February 1st, 2008 at 12:34 pm
302…shoperoo
Bollox Seldgie.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:33 pm
276 Rockhopper Says:
Looks like a case of tiny weener syndrome, how innefectual and unwanted must a person feel to pull a stunt like that to gain attention?
______________________________
Yes, agreed.
Like Shoperoo said, maybe he was conducting a social experiment. Although I’m sure WE could all write a thesis on that nutcase.
What annoyed me most about him was that he never answered a single question…ever. I take that back…he answered me one time when I asked him if he was ex-military and then he said he went into detail about it. I guess that’s the only true thing we know about him. But the Scottish connection probably puts him close to the McCann family.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Given the level of attention Sledgehammer has/is getting this morning-I’d say its game ,set and match to him.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:33 pm
279
Chloe Spain Says:
February 1st, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Doesn’t anyone think we’re giving him too much space by discussing him?
Way too much space!!! Let’s forget it and him.
Please ignore the timewaster when he comes back. He’s probably
reading these and splitting his sides at all us anti folks!
February 1st, 2008 at 12:32 pm
No
February 1st, 2008 at 12:32 pm
290
Lone Pigeon
I thought it was really funny. It didnt have any credability for having any truth in it.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:31 pm
#
279
Chloe Spain Says:
February 1st, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Doesn’t anyone think we’re giving him too much space by discussing him?
+++++++++++++
Chloe - I slipped up by just replying “yes”.
I should have said “yes - but it will still be discussed anyway”
February 1st, 2008 at 12:30 pm
roll on the floor laughing (appropriate you think?
) - must dash…..
February 1st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
287
noseycow
rotfl?
February 1st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Brandon
Where are you? i wanna give you your birthday present!
February 1st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
290…Lone Pigeon
Yes….REPORTER….just another crap pretend journo.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Stevo
Yep, nothing worse than pressing that send button too soon…..
Stevo, when you get achance can you return to base and look at my posting on daily thread 30 th Jan. thanks.. over and out
February 1st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
awww NOSEY
February 1st, 2008 at 12:28 pm
At least Sledgehammer has now shot himself firmly in both feet with a 12 bore shotgun.
Add him to this list:
1. Smell of Death (it’s worse than you think)
2. Scarlett (I can’t say any more/it has to do with a ukelele etc.)
3. Soothsayer (all bollox)
4. Sledgehammer (there were no PJ letters ever/listen out for big news on Friday at 11:30am)
February 1st, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I think you’re all missing the point re. sledgehammer. He’s already been here as REPORTER. It’s obvious that he makes a point of breaking news then some poster turns up out of the blue with a statement about who’s going to make the decisions. It was pathetic.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:27 pm
279
Chloe Spain
Probably, but it will make it harder to make false claims in the future. Anyway, I think old Sledge is out fishing without a care in the world.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:24 pm
253 dcb
I’m not on my main PC this morning - I’m using a laptop and don’t have access to my McDatabase (yep…I have a giant Access database with the names etc. of the characters in this). I remember the name “Woolfall” but couldn’t remember his exact role. As you say, his computer(s) will be interesting.
As for delayed email sending, if you’re on dial-up and using something like Outlook, you can write your email and it would only send when you connected to the Internet. But this isn’t a likely reason for the 12:01am time. Reason - because the Telegraph is a newspaper running 24/7. They aren’t likely to route an email at 12:01am directly to the outside world IMO.
To send a story to a paper, the paper will look at it and see if it merits inclusion. They don’t post every story do they? Someone at the Telegraph must have vetted this and well before midnight. Just imagine - they could have received a story from Mr S Hammer and posted it before checking to see if it had validity!
As they don’t have an email address I’ll phone the paper later this morning here.
As for sledgehammer, the world is still rotating on its axis so I think his crystal ball needs an MOT.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:24 pm
rotfl
off now - busy busy busy…. important meetings and all that stuff
February 1st, 2008 at 12:24 pm
No matter how you, me, we, us think about Sledgie, he did prove something ……
I’ll get me coat, walk the puppy, gone, fishing… NO WAY!
February 1st, 2008 at 12:23 pm
280
sc46
Yes, but it has other conertations!
February 1st, 2008 at 12:21 pm
yes SteveT be told!
February 1st, 2008 at 12:21 pm
behave this is a public forum - you might offend someone
February 1st, 2008 at 12:20 pm
276
Rockhopper
I think it was just a wind up.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:20 pm
279
Chloe Spain Says:
February 1st, 2008 at 12:19 pm
++++++++++++++
Yes
February 1st, 2008 at 12:20 pm
helmet would be better
February 1st, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Doesn’t anyone think we’re giving him too much space by discussing him?
February 1st, 2008 at 12:19 pm
LOL…
we have incoming…