Good and Bad PR: Mike Ashley, Shein vs. Temu, TikTok's counterfeit plan, and Scottish golf heritage

Hello PR fans. Here we go again. To give you insight into the asylum that is my mind, I usually have around 10 stories that I want to write about in this column, and then I shortlist it down to five or six. 

This week, via the amazing story spotting of Alan S. Morrison, and keeping my own beady eyes on the weekly media goings-on, I have 22 stories that I really want to write about. 

It has taken some trimming...

Let’s go!

Mike Ashley admits to business skullduggery – and no one is surprised

When JD Sport CEO Peter Cowgill was ousted for sneakily meeting with the CEO of a company his brand was trying to acquire, many suspected that the snitch was Frasers Group main guy, Mike Ashley. Shock, horror – it has now been revealed that he was behind the covert footage that was filmed, in that he hired the private investigator. Is anyone surprised? No. Will it affect Sports Direct/Frasers sales? One hundred percent: no. 

For a long time now, I have had the opinion that Frasers Group and Mike Cashley are negative-PR-bomb proof. Sports Direct, in particular, is a brand that people use out of necessity rather than having an amazing retail experience. Whenever I have dashed in there to replace a lost gum shield, shin pad or split rugby boot, it is packed with parents experiencing a similar situation.

It is also the kind of retailer where you know what you are getting – incredibly affordable sports and lifestyle clothing at worryingly low prices. With the exception of my mate Karen from the Gloucester store, the staff are by-in-large indifferent and incredibly unhappy to help.

Cashley probably considers himself to be an old-school business person and those who call him out for his antics, including me, as the woke-rati. There is no question about his success. He will go down as one of Britain’s most phenomenal, positive business stories. That doesn’t make his antics tolerable.

Allegations of throwing money in a fire to rage-bait someone, and the TV news footage of him emptying bundles of cash out of his pockets when he dabbled with a live broadcast of his own warehouse (a rare positive PR attempt that backfired) – he comes across as a bit of a... character? 

I have a follow-on story about the hugely publicised raid by the Serious Fraud Office, of his offices, that I won’t be able to sneak past the PRmoment legal team, but the next time we have a pint, ask me about it.

Bad PR for the Cashley crew.

Shein vs. Temu – a battle of the baddies

Has there ever been a greater opportunity to use the phrase “pot, kettle and black” than when the news broke this week that Shein is taking legal action against Temu for "industrial-scale" copyright infringement.

You read that right. Shein, who admitted to British MPs in 2023 and 2024 that they had found cases of child-labour in its supply chain, is complaining about the ethics of a fellow Chinese brand.

Shein, which was sued by Ralph Lauren, H&M and Dr. Martens for IP infringement (it settled with the global brands out of court), are now worried about their own IP being stolen.

I find it very odd that two China-founded brands, which benefit greatly from state-backed industrial policies, are now fighting each other in a hugely expensive court case. I fully suspect it will never reach court! 

Bad PR for both brands.

TikTok launches counterfeit protection plan

TikTok is growing up! It is doing more across the board to try and protect its users, not just on the wellbeing front, but also on the pocket-saving side as well. This week it launched TikTok Real and the global media loved it.

It is an AI based programme that is designed to help deliver advanced methods of removing counterfeit products from being listed in its TikTok Shop ecosystem. The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) reported that the shonky goods industry is now worth circa $467bn globally. Wow!

The short-form video industry leader says that in the first half of 2025 it removed 143m videos that it felt breached “marketing, trading or counterfeit goods” guidelines. 

Some rare Good PR for TikTok.

German legal system redeems itself after SunloungerGate 

Last week, I criticised a Hanover court for finding in favour of a German family who successfully argued that their holiday was partially ruined by not being able to plonk their towels on a sun lounger.

A court in Hamburg has successfully restored the reputation of the German legal system by winning a consumer protection case against Mondelez, who stood accused of shrinkflation. Its Milka bars were reduced from 100g to 90g. They became a millimetre thinner, and yet, the price rose from £1.29 to £1.72! The Hamburg consumer protection office outed the brand for keeping the packaging the same and not clearly informing consumers. Mondelez didn’t agree. Mondelez lost the case. 

What did not help its case was that German consumers voted the Milka Alpenmilch bar the “rip-off packaging of the year 2025”. Bad PR for Mondelez and its Milka brand. Great restorative work by the German legal system.

Lumo Trains tries to kill Scottish golf heritage

When corporate brands make decisions like the following story, you must question if anyone consulted the comms team on how it may be received by the muggles. 

Lumo Trains runs services from London to Scotland. Scotland, being the birthplace and spiritual home of golf, means that its services are often frequented by the Pringle-sweater brigade, complete with their clubs. 

That is all about to become more tricky after the train company announced that it was going to refuse to take clubs on its services.

Apparently, golf clubs are too bulky – and take up too much space. Lumo Trains positions itself as a budget rail operator, so it may be trying to copy the Ryanair style of: “we don’t care what people think”, but the difference is that Ryanair has a charismatic leader who will take on any media challenge. Lumo is owned by FirstGroup (disclaimer, I used to work in-house for them), whose CEO is the slightly more corporate than a white corporate PR man, educated at Eton, who's father served in the navy! 

I am not sure what the OG FirstGroup hero Sir Moir Lockhead would say about this blow to Scottish heritage, but I would have liked being a fly on the wall when he heard the news.

On behalf of golf fans everywhere, and the Scottish tourism board, Bad PR for Lumo.

Attenborough receives unusual accolade of having a sloth named after him

Let’s end off on a nice one. Personally, I have loved seeing the plaudits and accolades that came in for Sir David Attenborough when he hit his 100^th birthday.

One of the more left-field celebrations came from Edinburgh Zoo, which named the first-ever baby sloth born there, Atty. This came after Attenborough told BBC news back in 2017 that if he had to be an animal for a day, it would be a sloth.

His wish has been granted. I am not sure if he has been up to see his namesake yet, but Atty is apparently the jewel in the crown of the zoo attractions right now.

Fantastic newsjacking by Edinburgh Zoo. They win the final Good PR from me for this week.

In case you are interested, the stories that I didn’t include because of time and space reasons:

O2 becoming the most complained about mobile provider according to Ofcom. Greggs opening its first overseas airport outlet in Tenerife, and Angela Rayner being cleared by HMRC over tax dodging, paving the way for her to mount a leadership bid. It should make for an interesting seven days.

Ps. Want to see me in action, live and in 4k? I am taking part in PRmoment's PR Masterclass, AI in PR, in July. You can grab your tickets here. Heckling encouraged.