Tony Banks and his platoon of 25 Labour MPs and one undercover Lib-Dem
successfully hijacked the 30th anniversary celebrations of Action Man.
Four out of eight articles in the national press led on Banks’s early
day motion condemning war toys, while the balance led on Action Man’s
birthday celebrations. As the anniversary coverage was orchestrated by
Mark Borkowski PR, there can be some speculation as to who was jumping
onto whose bandwagon.
The Daily Telegraph and Daily Mirror lined up on the MPs’ side, opposed
by the Daily Mail and Daily Star. The Evening Standard took a neutral
position, with more concern voiced by Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker about Action
Man’s lack of genitalia than his warrior attributes.
The Sunday Telegraph’s follow-up was a nicely judged editorial
suggesting that Action Man might soon become New Labour Man: ‘a clean-
cut figure with images that can be changed in a minute, a nice smile and
a head that can be turned in any direction.’
Evaluation and analysis by Carma International. Cuttings supplied by The
Broadcast Monitoring Company. ‘What The Papers Say’ can also be found
at: http//www.carma.com/carma
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