As well as promoting positive images of blind people, the RNIB also dabbles in giving advice on how to regain your sight, plus medical research and how to keep from going blind. Hang on a minute, aren't they supposed to be showing us all in a good and positive light? Can promoting sight and 'sightedness' be a good thing for blind people? OK now I know that this whole disability thing is a confusing minefield at times, but where does this place the majority of blind people who will not be able to prevent sight loss or gain sight?

It's hardly surprising that blind people still have such a bad reputation, 80% unemployment etc when the biggest UK blindness charity spend much of their time confusing the pro-blindness message, employing a largely sighted staff (roughly 90%) and promoting a cure so you can get the hell out of your depressing dark hole. And what about those seeking support through the RNIB because they have suddenly gone blind who get sent leaflets on how to prevent blindness or be more careful with their eyes? It's not what you want to hear at the start of your new life journey from the organisation everyone sees as being the voice and main supporter of blind people is it?

Get your notepad out mister Sony, this is marketing gold dust. Get ready to steal this amazing approach to product promotion Ms Kellogg, you're gonna be blown away by this revolutionary rethink on how to sell!

Can we take RNIB seriously, or rather can we take the inseparable blindness/RNIB partnership seriously, if RNIB holds and believes two apparently contradictory truths in a wholly unironic real life Orwellian parody? Should RNIB maybe be concentrating more on promoting blind people and handing over the blindness prevention mantle to another body? Isn't it just too confusing for them to be pedalling two opposing messages in this way?

"Blind is OK, employ blind people, accept blind people, but here's how to stop going blind 'cos despite the other stuff we've been saying Jesus stay away from the white cane and guide dog thing, it's shit."

If Nescafé were to employ the same inspired marketing tactics, we might see a glossy sexy young couple on TV sharing a delicious mug of coffee. There would be licking of lips and enticing close up shots of attractive cups with steam rising from them. Rich Coffee beans, hints of a delicious aroma filling the room, evocative cut-aways of coffee grinders, big jars of strategically placed Nescafé and a stylish kitchen to die for!

The woman would turn to the man with sex glinting in her eyes, she'd take a sip from her mug then open her perfectly formed lips with a moistened hint of vagina pink about them and say:

"actually I'd really prefer a nice cup of tea to be honest".

The caption "Please buy Nescafé anyway" would then appear apologetically at the bottom of the screen.

Similarly, if the Orange mobile phone network were to run an advert saying "we're a bit more expensive than BT Cell Net our coverage isn't quite as good, but we're worth buying honest we are!" how do you think their sales curve might look after the campaign?

This is the RNIB way! It's how they promote blind people.

Remember the eclipse paranoia campaign of 1999? If you don't, let me remind you. Britain had a total eclipse of the sun in August that year and the RNIB helped to whip up an incredible level of paranoia and media coverage relating to eye health. "If you view the sun with the naked eye or through binoculars you could go blind", the RNIB shouted from the rooftops. Bizarrely, rather than wishing to encourage an increase in their core customer base, this apparently intelligent blindness charity were urging people to view the diminishing sun through a pinhole camera and NOT a high powered electro-telescope!

OK RNIB, so you got your name bandied around a lot, brand awareness blah blah blah, potentially more cash rolling in as a result, big gold star there, well done PR team, but after the eclipse you were left with yet more people believing that the RNIB think blindness is terrible.

The reality is that blind people are not strictly a product to be bought and sold, in fact they're not even the commodity in question half the time, it's not as easy as that. If the RNIB manage to place a blind person in a job or promote positive feelings about blind people it's not going to do them much good in terms of their bottom line. RNIB are able to take their eye off the ball and neglect promoting blind people because it ain't gonna show up in their annual income figures ... and this is why such a glaring contradiction goes unnoticed and unchecked. Of course, if too many positive images of blind people were around then it would be difficult to shake those tins and keep asking for more - that's another story in itself though.

Blind people are the ones you exist to serve. It's why RNIB was born and why all those sighted employees of the charity have got jobs (oh and the minority of blind people there too).