Anthony Burrill’s Work Hard And Be Nice To People poster was a feature on the walls of CR Towers for a long time, providing valuable words to live by for all who labour here. An unfortunate Blu-Tac-related accident put paid to our copy so we were pleased to hear that its no-nonsense message will be reappearing on the cover of next month’s Wallpaper*

Are publishers the new record labels? Barely a week goes by without news reaching us of some new lavishly packaged re-releases, while there seems to be a spirit of innovation in book marketing that has been sadly lacking in the music business. Chuck “Fight Club” Palahniuk’s new book Snuff (out 20 May) is a case in point. Honest have been asked to direct three spoof porn movie trailers to help flog it, the first being The Wizard of Ass (above).

Tax disc holder by Sir Peter Blake. Yep – that’s right – a tax-disc holder

They’re a little bit tacky and verging on the ridiculous, but these tax disc holders add a sprinkling of creative spice to the dreary necessity – and otherwise creative blackhole – that is car tax. And among a new range from Pretty Taxing are some new designs by artists Sir Peter Blake, Mat Collishaw and Ian Munroe.

Hospital (Ground Zero), 2008, all images courtesy Hauser & Wirth Zurich/London and Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne, © Isa Genzken

Currently showing at Hauser & Wirth gallery in London is a series of sculptures by German artist Isa Genzken that are also architectural proposals for Ground Zero in New York. Leave any expectations that this notion may give you at the door, however, for Genzken’s sculptures are far removed from formal architectural models and instead are wild, glitzy forms incorporating materials ranging from everyday household items to flowers.

Still from the Ode To Ford ad written by Ogilvy London and directed
by Noam Murro. Now the victim of a rather funny YouTube-hosted spoof

In this day and age, it’s never been easier to doctor audio or visual material with tools on our computers. When we posted up the latest Cadbury’s ad from Fallon (that features a host of airport vehicles racing each other to the soundtrack of Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now) a few weeks ago - almost immediately people responded by posting links to spoof films or versions with soundtracks tweaked for maximum hilarity. On one hand spoofs are made to poke fun at an original piece of work – but on the other, they acknowledge the original as a valid cultural reference point. So you could say, you know you’ve made it when your work is spoofed or parodied…

Creative Review was one of several UK-based winners at the Art Directors Club awards in New York last week, picking up a silver for our Monograph series.