One of the delights of the Rhodia pad as a product is it’s consistency – the iconic orange colour, the unchanging format and presentation, the year after year weekend newspaper reports “discovering” the writing pad manufactured for longer than most of us have been alive. So it’s alarming to see something different. What are these splashes of non-orange colour on my Rhodia pad?

It looks like Paul Smith has embellished a Rhodia Pad! Leave my Rhodia pad alone!

The Paul Smith version looks nice – no doubt – but brand managers should know that some of us just don’t want these classics tampered with.