The creative industry (PR, marketing, advertising, design etc) has many cynics and critics, from Jeremy Clarkson’s endless jibes at marketing men wearing designer shades while driving their BMWs through to Absolutely Fabulous, and the lesser known Absolute Power.

All poke fun at an industry that generates annual revenues of around £112.5 billion, accounts for over five per cent of GDP and employs around 1.3 million people, and its end products are unavoidable even though we may not realise it.

In the past week there has been two stories of note that have had created major talking points, cough medicine Benylin and pub group JD Wetherspoon.

Benylin hit the headlines because of a campaign that suggested people should “take a Benylin Day” when they have a cold, and this was backed up by a snazzy TV ad campaign and highly interactive website.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said the campaign could encourage thousands of people to call in sick, costing businesses money, (although according to research from the TUC, Britain has the lowest rate of sickness absenteeism in Europe).

(There’s also the argument that it’s better to have a day off to avoid spreading germs, and that 24-hours at home will ensure you return invigorated.)

On the back of what the FSB said the media picked up on it, from the BBC through the national dailies and even the Cumberland News.

A few days before that, pub group JD Wetherspoon announced that it was going to be selling pints of Green King IPA at 99p. This really got many people’s backs up. From rival landlords saying they would be driven out of business, through to health campaigners claiming that it would encourage binge drinking on an unprecedented scale.

Bear in mind, though, that the average Wetherspoon pub has probably eight hand pumps, regularly has promotions that even includes food (although I haven’t heard of them being blamed for obesity yet, but it’s probably not far off) and that, in my opinion, IPA served in the north is unpalatable.

The company is also a long way off being the first to offer a 99p a pint deal; there’s even one on my doorstep.

What the media has managed to do is to ensure that two companies, with very big marketing budgets, have been able to get a hell of a lot of free publicity by playing the moral upper-hand.

That kind of publicity you just can’t buy – or predict.