Pink Elephant/Pink EL-EH-FANT/noun:   a sentence or phrase which says what is NOT happening – but by painting a vivid picture conjures up exactly the opposite of what was intended.

Example:  “There can be no whitewash at the White House.” US President Richard Nixon, April 1973 – before admitting that there was a whitewash at the White House

The Pink Elephant competition is back in a new format as ‘pink elephant of the season’.

We need you to spot the Pinkos in the media or anywhere you see them - then send them to Lindsey@broadcastingbusiness.co.uk

It’s well worth it as the best entry wins a bottle of pink champagne!

All we need is your name, company (or home) address, where you saw it, what it referred to and who said it.

We’ll then send out the top examples spotted by our clients and the eagle-eyed Broadcasting Business team:

The autumn has been busy with hordes of pink elephants!

Here’s a selection of some Pink Elephants our eagle eyed clients and The Broadcasting Business team have noticed…..

Alastair McGhee from Coatbridge College spotted this one when General Dannat announced his appointment as Defence adviser to the Tory Party - “It is not a long-term plot”.

This cracker from Richard Cole, a Pilot on the US plane which overshot its destination by 150 miles:“We were not asleep, we were not having an argument, we were not having a fight”.

Dan Greaves from Amadeus sent us this one from the Japanese government when talking about Japan Airlines- “We will not crush and liquidate (the airline). It’s just impossible”.

Ken Poole from Firstgroup spotted this from MP Alan Johnson Secretary of State for Health when the Sun changed political allegiance-“Its electors that decide elections not newspapers”.

William Hague said this at the Conservative party conference:“Not a shred of complacency in the conservative party”

The Winning Scotland Foundation’s Richard Orr sent us this from the BNP’s language and Concept’s Discipline Manual: “Rule#1: The BNP is not a ‘racist or ‘racial’ party”.

Cat Thurogood from the Aircraft Carrier Alliance has another on the same theme after Nick Griffin’s question time performance:“I am not a Nazi”

Gordon Strachan is new manager at Middlesborough FC and said ‘I don’t need to be here and I don’t have to be here.’

But the winner this season has to be Denise Robertson – formerly of Firstgroup, now at South Ayrshire Council. It’s from Gordon Brown on the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi

“There was no conspiracy, no cover up, no double-dealing, no deal on oil, no attempt to influence Scottish ministers”.

Well done Denise – a bottle of bubbly is winging it’s way to you!

Keep them coming for the winter edition of the newsletter – send them to Lindsey@broadcastingbusiness.co.uk