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“Woolworths has withdrawn bedroom furniture for young girls bearing the sexually charged name Lolita after a campaign waged by a mothers’ online chat room”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 9:57 am
Ian,
I think some professional qualifications should be required.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:55 am
Excellent idea!
Lets campaign for the rights of parents to leave their children alone in apartments whilst they go drinking.
Do you think we should campaign for this right for all parents or just those with a certain social standing or income?
Should Madeleine be castigated for failing in her duty as a babysitter? As the eldest child she did have reoposnsibilities as conferred on her by her parents. Should we campaign for babysitters to be held accountable for their charges? Im not sure how clear the law is on this point.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:55 am
It is beyond belief the comment made re Maddy being at the party and even a present from Maddy being given….it is as if she is not dead! They know what happened!
February 1st, 2008 at 9:54 am
85 lol
February 1st, 2008 at 9:54 am
one thing i have noticed.
it was only AFTER the portuguese kicked off about the home secretary stalling the investigation that the home office let it be known there was a problem with the letters.
if the portuguese hadn’t complained, you can bet the home office wouldn’t have bothered to mention this yet, and would still be sat on the info.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:52 am
78
just_me
+++++++++++
My God - how did you remember the facial details of my local flower delivery man!! It is so lifelike
February 1st, 2008 at 9:49 am
78
just_me
Very good!
February 1st, 2008 at 9:49 am
82 - lol thanks
February 1st, 2008 at 9:48 am
78, just_me,
just jumped from my chair, cause you picture is HILAROUS!
Happy birthday, Brandon Flours!
February 1st, 2008 at 9:48 am
77
firestar
Or a tin of sardines.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:47 am
79
February 1st, 2008 at 9:47 am
78
lol
February 1st, 2008 at 9:44 am
Happy Birthday Brandon Flours x http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj15/just_meme5/Brandon.jpg
February 1st, 2008 at 9:44 am
It seems that the letters were returned because they had not gone through the correct channels, in that case I would have thought they would be returned unopened, it wouldn’t look too good if they have been opened, read and then returned because of not being ‘properly served’
————
i’d have thought they’d have opened them just to see what was inside.
otherwise they may have returned a birthday card from the pj or something.
also, if the reports saying a vital bit was missing are correct, they must have looked in order to know it wasn’t there.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:40 am
51
an observer
If the child care arrangement was ‘legal’ and ‘responsible’, it must be right.
So gm should campaign for leaving 3 children on their own at night, with the property unlocked when he goes on Oprah.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:40 am
DCB,
Fair point. It all depends if K and G know the fate of Madeleine. If they don’t, expert advise may have told them to act as reported. IMO
February 1st, 2008 at 9:38 am
Rumours of big news are rife in the press offices.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:35 am
Who knows what advice the Mccanns have received regarding enabling the twins to adjust to being without Madeleine. I certainly am not competent to pass comment on whether what they are doing is right or wrong, nor am I inclined to guess and pass amateur judgment.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:35 am
72
noseycow
Just off down the DHSS / post office.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:32 am
with all this scare mongering about identity theft - i wonder why we now know:
the twins names
their date of birth
parents names / grandparents / aunts uncles etc etc
address
is this enough to claim child benefit???
February 1st, 2008 at 9:32 am
SO SORRY YOUR BIRTHDAY PRESENT FROM ANORAK SEEMS TO BE ‘DUMPING YOU IN THE SPAM FOLDER’
happy birthday brandon.
and its got to be better than a card from gerry.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:30 am
happy birthday brandon
30 at last eh?
February 1st, 2008 at 9:29 am
Brandon Flours
Happy Birthday! Same day as the twins, eh? Suspicious or what? Hope you’re not the next project for the super sleuths!
February 1st, 2008 at 9:27 am
Lileth/Peter Mac,
I hope the storys we are hearing about the twins with “find the monster” and birthday cards from M are not true. If they are true, these doctors should be struck off on these facts alone.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:22 am
42
Peter Mac
From SosMaddie
They play deranged games with the twins as well.
Sean Amélie and learn to cope with the loss of their sister Madeleine playing a game called “find the monster that has kidnapped,” says Ray Wyre criminal for whom the twins have an essential role to play in the way as his parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, can withstand the absence of their youngest daughter.
“I think that having other young children gave Kate Gerry and the strength to continue,” says the criminal, to whom Kate and Gerry described how the twins are accustomed to the lead in their play: “They are clearly a package of energy and fun.”
February 1st, 2008 at 9:22 am
56
Rockhopper Says:
February 1st, 2008 at 9:09 am
Better safe than sorry, the slightest hiccup in serving legal papers could ruin a case.
+++++++++++++++
Exactly - avoid loopholes at any cost irrelevant of delay.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:21 am
Brandon
Happy Birthday!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMiBSt_ODN0&feature=related
February 1st, 2008 at 9:20 am
Happy birthday Brandon. ¡Felicidades!
February 1st, 2008 at 9:19 am
42
PeterMac Says:
February 1st, 2008 at 8:22 am
****************++
….but they have “cleared” by uk cops AND social services!!!!! so said Clarrie…..
Lets see what the PJ is going to say very soon
What is happening to the twins is horrible.As you said they will grow up with a “mystery” and be damaged for the rest of their lives (they already are).
A birthday wish from Madeleine? what a sisnister joke.
Havent those people any decency?
WHY this publicity of the children”s birthday?
February 1st, 2008 at 9:14 am
Sledgehammer said there would be an announcement today. Didnt realise he was talking about Brandon´s birthday!