PEOPLE who couldn't get enough of the 1970s were thrilled last week to discover that the Honey Monster cereal spokesmuppet may be set for a return to screens with PepsiCo's 40m sale of the Sugar Puffs cereal brand to Britain's Big Bear Group.

Seems the Gen-Y marketers at Pepsi's New York headquarters thought "Honey, Mummy" might be a middle-aged version of Girls Gone Wild. Either way, they didn't get it.

In the meantime, all those over-45 men who reportedly are the biggest consumers of the sweet brekkie food will know it's here to stay.

WHY MEN SKIP THE ADS AND WOMEN DON'T

ITcame as something of a surprise, at least in Casa de Publius, that recent research has found that men are more likely than women to skip adverts, according to a survey of 1,000 US adults by Roper Reports.

Of the 24% who owned a Digital Video Recorder, some 65% of men said they use it to skip the ads and watch the show in less time. Some 56% of women skip the ads. A similar survey a year ago by Roper Reports found that 11% had a DVR and just 21% of men and 10% of women skipped.

Brad Adgate (apparently his real name) of Horizon Media told a US trade mag: "I don't think it's that surprising. Considering men control the remote at home, why wouldn't they control the fast-forwarding mechanism as well?"

DVRs are still a nascent phenomenon on this side of the water, but the likes of Sky+ are making inroads. The numbers should worry AdLand as DVRs catch on here. That learning curve in using the technology to avoid ads is steep.

It should provide some urgency to agencies using viral techniques to achieve cut-through. Publius would choose to spend time watching a couple of the YouTube-distributed yokes put out lately by Thinkhouse, or the Ameriquest "I'm her. . . Daddy" ad currently clogging up many a server. (Email Publius at the address below to request a copy. It's very disconcerting. )

DESMOND A SPORTING MAN?

DERMOT DESMOND has been linked in British press reports with a possible bid for The Sportsman, a London daily sports betting paper that went into administration two weeks ago after just four months on the street. It had a daily circulation target of 40,000 but it's thought the paper was selling just half that.

"At this stage, there are lots of rumours going around ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, " a spokesman for owners Sports Betting Media was quoted as saying, without indicating which end of that range he thought Dermot came in at.

/10M SAFEFOOD PITCH . . . IN ULSTER SCOTS

IN keeping with this insanely busier than usual summer, we see that the all-Ireland food safety promotion board, Safefood, last week called for expressions of interest in its four-year advertising and PR contract worth, according to the notice, between 6m and 10m over four years.

The pitching is restricted to the bigs, however, with a minimum turnover of 5m for the past three years a requirement.

Ogilvy and WHPR won the Safefood account in 2003.

Our favourite little detail: an agency can, if it chooses, submit its tender in Ulster Scots. Who said the Good Friday agreement didn't have comedy value?

'FAT CAT' BROADCASTER BACKLASH

WE begin to understand why RTE was so reluctant for so long to release the salary "gures of its top presenters. A poll by British trade bible PR Week found that 76% of people had a worse opinion of BBC top brass after learning their salaries, while 63% thought that celebrity presenters like Jonathan Ross weren't worth their dosh. Some 61% were opposed to the licence fee, and a majority said it wasn't value for money.

KNOWING WHAT MATTERS

GUINNESS debuted the latest execution of the 'Knowing What Matters' campaign directed by Lynn Fox of Irish International BBDO, shot apparently on CGI-penguin-friendly locations Illuslisat, Greenland and Mar del Plata, Argentina. We'll admit it. We got a bit misty watching it.

RABBITTE RUNS POLITICAL PODCAST

PAT RABBITTE fans will be delighted to learn that the Labour party leader's thoughts on life, the universe and everything are now available on a podcast at www. irishelection. com, a collaborative effort of Bloglaigh na hEireann to cover the upcoming general election.

While we think it unlikely that the Irish blogosphere will have anything like the in"uence on next year's election that its American counterparts like the Daily Kos are already exercising for 2008, we'll be keeping a watch on it. We'll "nd out how many people downloaded the podcast and get back to you.

TIPS, BRIBES, ABUSE to rdelevan@tribune. ie