I sent an email back to Michelle saying I hoped she had a nice holiday and saying I was looking forward to hearing back from her.
It was nearly another week before she replied. I assume this must be because she was so busy catching up on all of her work following her time off. I forgot to ask her where she’d been. I hope she doesn’t think I’m rude.
Hi James
I hope you had a good weekend – and are looking forward to this one!Sorry again for not being able to get back to you sooner – we finished our Blu-Tack yellow Marie Curie link up this week that you will see in the press if you look.
Regarding Blu-Tack® and its 1000s of uses. We originally changed our packaging to show this in 2005 and since then have been often asked about it from our customers since.
We are an open and honest brand and company and would certainly not put on a claim we weren’t 100% happy with.
The uses for the product are so random and varying and often unique to an individual that its hard to just identify them all. There are more obvious uses such as using it for modelling, holding wires in place, using for speakers to stop vibration, holding a screw on a screwdriver, using it to remove another piece of Blu-Tack® off a wall. However, to give you a flavour of more random uses – here are some below that we have been sent more recently:
– The University of Cambridge contacted us asking about the softness because they hold insects feet down with it,
– another one (see quote below) about using in the aerospace industry.
– We also had an enquiry from a professor of ear surgery at Leicester hospital saying he told children to use it as earplugs after surgery because it was the most effective method – and subsequently similar by a doctor in Wythenshaw hospital. I also saw it recently in the press about using it in actual ear operations. So just for ears alone it tends to be multifunctional.
– We have worked with the police (they approached us) about promoting the use for using Blu-Tack® for holding Sat Navs in place so there are no marks on windscreens for thieves to see.
– We are also asked many times about different colours than blue and someone asked us for flesh coloured tack because she used it in her first aid course to hold objects on their dummy in class.We also have a website http://www.blu-tack.co.uk which gives loads of information on Blu-Tack® and also has a section for people to upload all their uses for the product – so hopefully we will have eventually the couple of thousand listed – but check it out!
Finally, a graphic design student sent us in some advert posters this week which I thought showed a funny use on front – and also shows a list of many uses – so here it is attached.
I hope that you are satisfied with our response and will continue to use our famous Blu-Tack brand.
Kind Regards
MichelleAerospace enquiry
“The reason for the question is that we use it as a cleaning aid and we then clean off any residues from any remaining Blu-Tack. Our parts are used for sensors within the aerospace industry and any contamination may lead to an issue and we are therefore particular in these matters”
Hmmm.
I’m not entirely sure if I should post the artwork Michelle attached as it’s uncredited and looks like it was done as some sort of design project. Anyway, here it is (if it’s yours and you want it taken down, just let me know. I am nothing if not reasonable):
Now, do you see the crucial detail in this artwork which Michelle appears to have missed? The artwork states that Blu-Tack is a “multi-purpose re-usable adhesive”. I have no problem with that claim. It’s true, it’s definitely true. Blu-Tack is a very versatile product and it can be used in a wide number of situations. I’m not denying that, only a lunatic would deny that. My objection is to the specific claim that Blu-Tack has “1000s of uses”. I am still no closer to identifying what these “1000s of uses” are.
I don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere with this. I just keep getting told Blu-Tack has lots of uses; that it would be impossible to list them all because the list would be endless; that it’s hard to identify them all.
I don’t want to identify them all. I’m not asking for an exhaustive list of every single possible use. I just want some indication that it is true to say that Blu-Tack has “1000s of uses”. Not “lots”, not “many”. “1000s”. They say on the packaging it has “1000s of uses”, show me it has “1000s of uses”.
But how much further can I push this? Michelle seems like a nice person. If she’d been rude and patronising, this would be so much easier. But she seems quite nice.
I went to a course at work this week. At the start, there was one of those “ice-breaker” activities where you have to tell everyone your name, explain your role and responsibilities and share one interesting fact about yourself. I hate these things. There are very few interesting facts about me. Under pressure, I said that the interesting fact about me is that I’m currently embroiled in a dispute with Bostik over the accuracy of their claim that Blu-Tack has “1000s of uses”. When I said this, everyone laughed, but I’ll be honest with you; I think they might have been laughing at me rather than with me.
Am I losing my nerve?
But then, shouldn’t this story give me hope?
Disney is offering refunds to millions of parents in the US who bought its ‘Baby Einstein’ learning DVDs, after being threatened with legal action over its claims that the DVDs provided educational benefits.
I need to be stronger.
: 
: 
: 
: 
: 
: 
: 
: 
: 
: 
: 
JAMES WARD: I LIKE BORING THINGS 
Thanks to Michelle for giving me the great idea of using it as an adhesive for my Sat Nav. I’m forever struggling to keep it attached to my window so this hopefully will provide a solution to my frustration.
Also, the idea of using it as ear plugs is a good one. I don’t think I’ll be doing it but it’s a good idea for other people.
That is all.
I am glad someone is benefitting from this at least.
I hope I never have to go to one of those doctors about a urinary infection
They use pipecleaners for that.
Thanks for battling on with this important issue.
I’m curious… how do you manage to earn a living whilst devoting so much time to dealing with stiff like this?
I want to make clear, in case my employers stumble across this, that the majority of this post was written last night at home, with a few finishing touches added during my lunch break just now.
Anyone reading this is going to get confused with you commenting on my posts.
Dear James Ward the Lesser, Stiff like what?
THE LESSER???
It was a typo.
stiff = stuff
Their use of the apostrophe with plural numbers is inconsistent. The packaging says “1000’s”, Michelle uses “1000s”. You might want to bring that up.
I think it’s best to concentrate on the main issue for now, rather than getting distracted by less important things.
I was about to leave an abusive comment asking you why the hell you waste your life worrying about the uses of Blu-Tack, but quickly realised that would make me a total hypocrite, so I haven’t.
That’s a shame, because then I could have replied by saying that anyone who leaves smug, supercilious comments on blogs is a complete fucking imbecile, and it would have been funny. Especially because anyone not familiar with the Private Eye story would just assume I was being really abusive and hostile towards you for no reason.
I now receive an email every time someone comments on this post. I hope that not many more comments are left on this post.
You’re part of my happy little family now, Rhodri.
Dear James Ward the Greater, I do not know WHERE to start with that image of blu-tack between the pedicured toes. I may have to take some time off to work on a new vocabularly in order to deal with my pain effectively.
Kindest regards, Hemmo.
It is quite an unlikely example of what happens when two blogs collide.
To a physicist a 1kg bag of sugar does not weigh 1kg. It has a mass of 1kg. Weight is a force. The weight of a 1kg mass on earth is ~9.8 Newtons. The weight of a 1kg mass on the moon is ~1.62 Newtons.
In everyday parlance the term ‘weight’ is generally used interchangeablly with the term ‘mass’, and the concept of a bag of sugar having a weight of 1kg is considered acceptable.
In a similar way it may be argued that the designation “1000s” can be used as a commonplace adjective meaning “many” without necessarily implying a specific arithmetic quantity.
Notwithstanding such an argument, I am just as unhappy with the debasement of arithmetic accuracy as I am with the debasement of the fundamental principles of mechanics, and I support your quest for precision.
P.S.
Hello, Rhodri.
You make an interesting point, but I won’t mention this to Michelle.
Well, I’m laughing with you.
Sticking down insects feet? Surely that’s illegal.
I’m not sure what it can do to help further mankind’s understanding of science either. Maybe it’s to measure how angry you can make an earwig.
Dear James Ward the Greater,
Can I suggest a collective blog is started?
It shall be titled “Are there really 1001 uses of Blu-Tac?” and it will list with photographic evidence submitted by individuals from all over the world blu-tac in actual use in real world situations. Curated by you, over time, a more definite answer to the question of how many uses blu-tac actually has could be established and you could then move on to other pressing matters regarding modern life.
Oh and Zootvole *applause*
Well, the point is, it’s not for me as an individual to compile this list. It’s something Bostik should do (should, in fact, have already done).
I use Blu Tack to keep the “blackout blind” in my bedroom flush to the window frame on the bed side.
Rather than a collective blog, something more like a non-charitable-giving version of a Justgiving page is required, complete with a little thermometer and “Target: 2000 uses”.
I meant “infographic representation of a thermometer”, not an actual thermometer, obviously.
Like the totaliser on Blue Peter, you mean.
Like that, yes.
They could have a huge chart at Bostik and fill the thermometer (thing) with bits of Blu Tack, then that would count as one of the (2000+) uses.
This internet site is actually quite good, but for some reason it does not display properly when trying to view on my Nintendo Wii. If it helps, the console uses the Opera web browser and am impelled to using the console for accessing the Internet whilst my PC is away being restored.
Ask Michelle why Blu Tack is not available in Italy. We still use sellotape and pins to stick things to the wall.