Ellee Seymour

Is the Olympics 2012 logo really as  hideous as people make out? Some furious protesters have already launched an online petition against it.

And there are some really critical comments on Iain’s post about it, though I must admit that rabbits did not instantly spring to my mind!

I asked my teenage son what he thought, wondering if the objectors were simply not hip enough to appreciate modern branding. But he admitted he was confused by it too and read the jagged cubist numbers as 20R instead of 2012.

I had been invited to attend the launch of this controversial Olympic logo by Edelman PR, I doubt they expected such a negative reaction, but was unable to go as I had a prior engagement. I would have liked to have seen the reactions of everyone there, how surprised they were.

At the risk of being the only one out, I will admit it is growing on me, though my initial reaction was one of confusion too. But then we all derided the new Conservative scribbled oak tree logo when that was launched. Maybe this will also grow on us in time. And we do have a few years to get used to it.

So would you award it a gold, silver, bronze or the wooden spoon? And how does it really compare to the previous years’ logos?  My favourite is Greece, the logo is clear and classical with a beautiful blue backdrop, the colour of its deep, blue sea - which I shall be diving into next week!

 Update: Oh dear, my brilliant PR course leader Heather Yaxley has a feeling of Millennium Dome about this. I admit I am one of life’s optimists.

Update 2: An intelligent reflection on the logo by Magnus Linklater in The Times.

You need to be more than a celebrity with a pretty face and nice figure to get a serious message across. The government sponsored national Recycle Now Week, with Denise Van Outen as its leading lady, has been strongly criticised for failing to deliver a message that supports sustainable recycling.

The Waste and Resources Action Programme has been accused of wasting a real opportunity by not communicating the need for householders to keep their recycled materials clean. One campaign group, PaperChain, has withdrawn its support. At the same time, mountains of recyclables are reportedly dumped at landfill because they were contaminated, supporting these concerns.

And I wonder if Denise Van Outen has been a real asset for the recycling campaign; she is modelling this very eye-catching frock made from recycled cans, bottle tops, cardboard and plastic bags. For the skirt section, 42 pairs of Levi 501s were used (presumable, discarded and unfit for wearing).

This is what Van Outen said about the promotion:

“I’ve been a keen recycler for several years, and it’s great to see that it’s no longer a minority activity. In fact, with everyone from George Clooney and Cameron Diaz to Lily Cole championing environmental issues, going green has never been more fashionable.”

Would that statement encourage you to actively recycle? What have you learnt from it? “Going green” is not just about being “fashionable”, it’s about understanding why the actions are necessary and what you can do to make a difference.

I have worked with local authority recycling officers and they are very committed and dedicated to their work. They need to deliver clear, strong, sustainable messages for householders which educates and engages. As Van Outen must be aware, fashion trends regularly change, but recycling - and other green issues - must help persuade people’s attitudes and actions for the foreseeable future.

Shanks, a leading waste management company, said that WRAP’s Christmas campaign had lacked a well-considered strategy:

“The sad thing is that we went through this last Christmas, when WRAP promoted recycling for the sake of recycling without being specific on quality. The result of which was thousands of tonnes of Christmas paper, contaminated plastics and various other things that could not be recycled.”

I firmly believe campaigners should never under-estimate the intelligence of the British public, and I fear Denise’s statement does. I am naturally very delighted if Van Outen has  been recycling for several years, if that is the case, she must have started before it became “fashionable”, which is very commendable. What is your view of celebrity endorsement?

What does it feel like to give up the booze if you are addicted to it? Veronica Callanan, a recovered alcoholic, compares the early days of recovery as feeling like “flying to Barbados”:

Wake up!

Your life is happening right now, it’s not going to start when you find the right job, house, partner, lose 10 pounds. These precious seconds right now are your life – are you going to make them count or are you going to fall back into your numbed state and sleepwalk through your life.

I often tell clients that early recovery – those first few painful months when you ‘wake up’ to who you are and what you have become, is like the experience of when you have to wake up at 3am to catch a flight to Barbados because your going on your dream 2-week holiday that you’ve been looking forward to for ages. For those few seconds when the alarm goes off in the middle of the night, in the pitch black when you are in the deepest of sleeps, dreaming about a wonderful fantasy, you grope around trying to still that intrusive bleeping, your mind begins an argument with itself where for a few seconds you consider just closing your eyes just for a couple of minutes to experience that warm, comfortable, seducing lure of sleep again.

Despite knowing you don’t have long to get to the airport, there is that voice calling you to just shut your eyes and go back to sleep and everything will be ok. The pull is intoxicating, nothing matters other than the bliss of sleep, of unawareness. But, of course, you force your tired eyes awake and stand blearily in the shower with the excitement in your belly and the adrenalin beginning to pump through your veins because you know that very soon your going to be on a plane to Barbados and what a wonderful place that will be.

The first few months of recovery for an alcoholic are like the first few seconds of being awoken by the alarm clock. Even though you know where you are going to is the most wonderful place you’ll ever visit, even though you know that this will be the best experience you have ever had and you have been waiting for so long for the time to come around, even though you know you would be devastated if you gave in and shut your eyes and woke up to realise you’d missed the plane, even tough you know all of this, there is still a strong temptation to go back to sleep and block out all of those possibilities and experiences for the sake of a few hours of nothingness.

This is what the alcoholic experiences in early recovery, for so long they lived half asleep, half aware, missing their lives and now finally the opportunity has arrived for them to be fully awake, fully conscious to their experience its very tempting to go back to sleep, this is because recovery is hard and painful at times, especially the beginning. Even though Barbados will be great, the getting there can sometimes be uncomfortable, painful, irritating and inconvenient. The driving to the airport, carrying bags, queuing at security, airline food, cramped seats, all of those things we would rather do without but we put up with them because of the destination.

The destination is our truth, our real, authentic selves, living out loud to the fullest being who we really are.

And becoming the best version of ourselves we are capable of being.

Who wouldn’t want to visit that place?

 I understand my daily ”missing” posts were mentioned (read comments from link)) on 18 Doughty Street the other night, how every other post I write is on this subject.  And yes, jailhouse lawyer is right, it’s true, my traffic has slightly gone down since I started writing them. But I do, nevertheless, feel it is important to continue, and this is the reason why.

Ross Miller, from the National Missing Persons Helpline, has described how crucial publicity is in helping find all missing people in the latest edition of PR Week. He stated that the charity uses the Daily Mirror and the Metro as media partners with much success. Of the people pictured in the appeal slots, 70 per cent of those in the Metro and 65 per cent in the Daily Mirror have been found.  That is quite astounding.

I want to continue because I strongly feel that highlighting these desperately sad stories is important for the families who have inexplicably lost someone they love. I believe I am doing the right thing for these families and their tortured souls. And I can tell you that these posts get many hits from all over the world, that for some reason, people are tracking these stories and want to read about these missing young people. Who knows if one day, one of my posts will help make a significant impact in any way in helping assist with the discovery of one of those lost, but not forgotten, young people. That is what I desire most of all.

Thunderdragon also finds my “missing” posts too frequent and says:

“There are hundreds, if not thousands, of missing children out there [as is being ably demonstrated by Ellee Seymour at the moment*] and so to put one (Madeleine McCann) on a pedestal like this is just wrong.
* Although I personally hope she doesn’t keep doing it for too much longer, as I find her politics posts far more interesting.”

But I do take Iain and Thunderdragon’s point on board and will try to ensure I write a couple of daily posts too on news and politics (I have managed on some days, it’s nice to know they have been missed).  I’m only too sorry that my work, family commitments and studies do not allow more free time to write two or three other posts a day. I’m never short of ideas, just time.

*Thanks to Welshcakes Limoncello for translating the text from this missing poster about Mellisa Rondan, now 17, who has not been seen since she vanished in Milan in July 2006. The poster states: “The little girl was on a bus with her mother, who got off to do some errands while the girl stayed on to go to her aunt’s.  However, she never arrived.”

In memory of those who are still missing.