While Paul Potts certainly deserved his win on Sunday’s final of Britain’s Got Talent, one thing I did find odd — even on a a commercial channel such as ITV1 — were the number of occasions on which Paul’s ‘day job’, that of a salesman at Carphone Warehouse, got a mention.
Now, playing up the job that pays the wages for a contestant is nothing new — after all Connie Fisher was forever pitched as a “telesales girl”, and Daniel Boys as a “cement administrator”. But the number of times Paul’s employer was referred to by name did seem a bit excessive.
So, what’s this? The makers of Britain’s Got Talent, TalkbackThames and Syco, have just announced who will be sponsoring the next series of The X Factor (free registration required). The previous sponsor, Nokia, pulled out just days after Ofcom upheld a complaint of undue product placement in the show’s ITV2 sibling, The Xtra Factor.
So, who is to take Nokia’s place? Spookily, it’s Carphone Warehouse.
I’m sure the frequent mentions over the last week’s shows had absolutely nothing to do with the decision…
My my - what a strange co-incidence. Almost as strange as a man with Alzeihmers recovering (after being released from prison) & going on to found a major company !