Here I am again, back with the latest instalment of the beast that is, Good and Bad PR. It has been hard to look past a certain MasterChef UK presenter for Bad PR, but let’s move on from that, and look to the wider media landscape.

The Beckham’s get posh

Never has a global brand had a more topsy turvy time in the media than Team Beckham. Over the years they have been celebrated and ridiculed in equal measure. I have always liked them and always felt that they were there to support the country whenever they were called upon.

I am one of the many lookers-on who have been surprised that Beckham has never been knighted. In many media circles it has become a long-standing joke. That looks like it might be about to change though. The Beckhams were invited to attend their first ever state banquet by the Royals.

This has led to speculation rising that a knighthood for the pair of them could be on the cards. Not a moment too soon in my opinion and the wider media love this week shows that I am not on my own.

Jag ad sparks turnaround

Another brand that has had a tough time very recently is Jaguar. The new branding went down like a fart in a lift. They came out firing this week though.

The initial reaction to its new concept EV has been staggeringly well received. The media titles that rubbished the brand less than one week ago are now celebrating its triumphant return to glory. Maybe the person who is credited for designing the concept car should have done the new logo as well. Or have we all been set up?

Either way it's Good PR for the car giant. More analysis below from our data and insight expert, Gareth Owens at Carma:

Tickets, please!

One of the reasons that the Jaguar rebrand caused so much outcry, in my opinion, was that it moved too far away from its traditional British roots. As we all know, the muggles love some tradition. This week came the news that some of the rail franchises are not being continued and part of the train industry is effectively being renationalised.

The muggles rejoiced. Having worked in the sector, I think they don’t really understand what will happen or may actually change. The reality is that there will be little difference other than a change of uniform for the drivers and wider workers and a new branding popping up.

The general public seems to have this romantic notion that we will go back to friendly ticket inspectors, Thomas the Tank Engine-esque controllers waving trains away and probably crust-less cucumber sandwiches being sold in beautiful buffet carts. Nope, it will still be the same disengaged staff, unhappy because they understand the crumbling nature of the rail infrastructure in the UK.

Until real and significant investment is put into the UK rail network, you could have Victoria Beckham driving the train and David inspecting the tickets, and even they would not be able to make the journey any better. Who is this Bad PR for? I am not really sure, maybe the muggles for expecting too much.

Tomato exploits

Talking of expecting too much and we head over to the glamourous world of authentic Italian tomato puree. It turns out that a large chunk of the tomatoes that go into these glam brands actually come from forced labour in China.

The BBC deserves a nod of Good PR for investigating this story, not least as it looks like significant lengths were gone to by the manufacturers involved to try and keep this quiet. Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencer were named as two of the retail giants not using the China-Toms, apart from them, nearly every other brand was given a prod.

The story reached the ultimate accolade of receiving UK Government attention. Labour were no doubt keen to see the story grow, so it could take the heat off the Treasury and the bodged budget, for a few days at least.

Tinkering with tech

Apart from the obvious story mentioned at the outset, the BBC has, overall, had a strong week. The second story to hit the headlines from one of their investigations was around wearable tech.

It turns out that medical professionals are wary of muggle over-reliance on the data that comes out of wearable technology. One of the reasons for this is that it varies from device to device.

The other reason is that it is helping to develop a new breed of hypochondriacs that get in touch with their GP because of something flagged in their device that is not really an issue. Obviously, the manufacturers have case studies coming out of their (wax analysed) ears to show the times where a device has saved a life. Long-suffering GPs rightly highlight that this is more often the exception rather than the norm.

Has wearable tech given us the chance to better understand our bodies, undoubtedly yes. In the long term could this help the NHS, probably. Until the device data is standardised though, it still feels very gimmicky.

As my alarmingly un-pc yet much loved boxing coach once said to me as I unveiled another ridiculously expensive tech app, “stand in front of a mirror with no clothes on, if you jiggle, you are fat, that’s all you need”. Wise words.

Sew your oats… after 9am

Let’s end on porridge. An unlikely recipient of Bad PR. After all those years of being brought up to believe that it was good for us, a government department has had enough and banned it from being advertised pre-9pm.

It is now being lumped in with junk-foods and some of the more lethal breakfast cereals because of the high sugar content that is in some of the brands on the shelf. Before the Scots could say “it is nowhere near as bad as Irn Bru (a drink I also love), it was whisked out of the ad plans of the big ad agencies.

We all know this is a crazy move. We all know that the traditional bags of porridge oats on the shelf have to be good for you (as they taste so generally bland). We all surely understand that the fancy gimmicky porridge brands, laced with sugar, have to be bad for you too. Or not, maybe we didn’t know after all.

No doubt a Photoshopped billboard, pretending to be real, will be quickly knocked up by a GenZ ad creative to reassure us that their brand is not as evil as is being made out. Or, maybe I am just old and cranky? You can decide.