Suck On This.

Wal-Mart's practice of manufacturing in China brings us cheap prices ... and danger.

This week, Princess & the Frog necklaces -- for all of $5.00 -- were recalled because of high levels of cadmium. According to the U.S.Department of Labor, "Cadmium is an extremely toxic metal ..." Disney took the belated step of banning cadmium in any of its merchandise.

We've Come A Long Way

Not too long ago, it would have been unthinkable to introduce a car that had a Japanese name in the U.S. and Europe: Suzuki's Concept Kizashi has become a reality.

Kizashi is a Japanese word meaning “prelude” or “foretaste”. The name symbolizes the change within Suzuki. The Concept Kizashi represents Suzuki's passion for challenges (this is a major aspect of Suzuki's corporate culture), its future direction, and the competitive strengths that are unique to Suzuki.

To fulfill this mission, the design theme for the Concept Kizashi is “a dynamic athlete in motion”. ...summed up by the attributes of a great athlete: dedication to sporting challenges, physical strength that comes from hard daily training, a honed physique with no superfluous weight, and the presence and dignity of a champion.

KHON GIVES MUFI FREE ADVERTISING

In their new promos, "I love 2", in the center of a group of young people is a guy in a red shirt with "MUFI" on it in white letters.

This, to me, is a violation of some FCC rules.

Charles D'Jou Buys a Truck

Evidently he is hiring the strategist who helped Scott Brown beat Martha Coakley.

Now, he needs to put his kids on Hawaii Stars and his wife on KHON.

"Aulani, Are you In?"

Disney names its Ko Olina Resort after a nosy neighbor in a Times Warner commercial.

HELP U SELL Thinks IT'S MAC

New Help-U-Sell commercials are a rip off of the Mac vs PC ads featuring John Hogdman as the PC. Even the music background is pretty similar. Are these national ads? Is Apple going to do something about this?

Football Rules: Even in the days before "high tech"

After yesterday's Greek tragedy (will it be Favre's Last Pass?), it is worth it to remember why we love sports so much. It's the story. Corporations spend huge amounts of money to create their own stories --- but sports are about human drama, and they are compelling.

More than 40 years ago, the networks did not realize how much we loved football. Who remembers the Heidi Bowl? Because NBC was contractually obligated to the movie's sponsor, to broadcast Heidi from 7 pm to 9 pm that evening, the network had instructed Dick Cline, NBC's Broadcast Operations Supervisor, to cut to Heidi at exactly 7:00 pm, whether the football game between the Jets and the Raiders was over or not

As the game approached its exciting ending, however, NBC's executives changed their minds and decided to air the game to its conclusion and delay Heidi by several minutes if necessary. However, because so many football viewers were calling the network requesting the network not cut away from the game the NBC executives could not get through. NBC tried to contact the mobile unit in Oakland to call Broadcasting Operations, but Broadcasting Operations countered that they needed direct orders in order to rearrange scheduled programming.

With the game fed on telephone lines instead of satellites, Cline could not see what happened in the final minute. In an NBC Burbank studio where the TV feed was being controlled, Cline received no late instructions otherwise, and when the network came back from commercials, Heidi started on schedule at 7:00 pm. Cline later said that he was called directly by the president of NBC after the network ended its coverage, demanding that the game be put back on the air. However, the video link to the stadium had already been disconnected; reestablishing it would have required action by a multitude of telephone switching stations across the country.

While millions of stunned football fans east of Denver suddenly found themselves watching Heidi, the Raiders scored two touchdowns on three plays and won the game 43-32 in what has been voted by fans as one of the 10 most memorable games in American football history

At 8:40 pm, a crawl across the bottom of the screen announced the ending to the game (during a dramatic point in the movie when Heidi's paralyzed cousin Clara fell from her wheelchair and had to summon enough courage to try to walk).

The following evening, ABC News anchor Frank Reynolds was seen reading excerpts from Heidi (with the title of the book clearly visible), with cut-ins showing the two Raider touchdowns.

Import Strategy That Doesn't Work

NASCAR on FOX -- is promoting its February return with commercials that actually feature the military -- I definitely saw the Army and probably others were represented as well.

It is creepy of NASCAR (and FOX) to do this ... dishonors those who serve and does not add integrity to the NASCAR "cause".

Maybe this is a result of their research on ratings decline: A double-digit decline in ratings for NASCAR on FOX has officials researching why the audience is shrinking and what, if anything, can be done to reverse the trend.

Wal-Mart: buy Chinese. live smarter.

Wal-Mart's aspirational television commercials, showing people who are unlikely to shop at Wal-Mart, living in homes that are unlikely to be owned by Wal-Mart shoppers have actually attracted shoppers who are unlikely to shop at Wal-Mart.

According to te HomeScan division of AC Nielsen:
Who’s the fastest-growing Wal-Mart demographic? Shoppers making more than $70,000 a year, up 12 percent from 2007. “Brand aspirationals,” a younger demographic that cares about name brands and labels, were the focus of Wal-Mart’s promotional strategies through the beginning of 2008, but the company has shifted back to low-price messages.

However, "Forty-two percent of Wal-Mart sales are to customers making less than $40,000 a year."

Although AC Neilsen reports that Wal-Mart has shifted back to a low price message, they are no longer the ham-fisted company that was represented by a yellow-happy-faced-price-slasher. Now they are sending the message with upscale looking shoppers who delight in a good buy as a competitive, I-am-smarter-than-you-are move.

Wal-Mart buys $27 billion directly from China, and lots more indirectly through companies like Mattel. If Wal-Mart were a country, it would be China's 6th largest export country.

You Can Take The Bullets Out of Your Name

But you can't take the guns out of your lockers.

The Washington Wizards changed their name from the Washington Bullets because of concerns over violence.

Now, teammates Arenas and Crittendon are accused of pulling guns on one another over a gambling debt. (in the locker room where they kept their guns).

Conclusion: There is more to a brand than the name.