"We regularly review our overall media spend and make adjustments as needed. This happens as a regular course of business and it's not unusual for us to move our spending around various media outlets — especially with the growth of multiple social  and digital media outlets. In terms of Facebook specifically, while we currently do not plan to continue with advertising, we remain committed to an aggressive content strategy through all of our products and brands, as it continues to be a very effective tool for engaging with our customers."

The above statement was issued by General Motors today after a story by the Wall Street Journal was published online, in which GM chief marketing officer Joel Ewanick announced that the automaker will no longer advertise on Facebook — a bold announcement by one of the largest advertisers in the U.S.Continue reading...

While they suffer from even more ignominy under a new glare induced by the HBO documentary series The Weight of the Nation, the roundly condemned purveyors of "junk" salt, sugar and calories aren't exactly lying low and saying their mea culpas. McDonald's, Coca-Cola and 7-Eleven are each fighting back in their own way.

Coca-Cola has launched a test of its own new "mid-calorie" sodas to join PepsiCo in trying once again the concept of a "hybrid" diet/non-diet drink even though other attempts by both companies to mine a moderately-minded market have failed. Coke plans to test Sprite Select and Fanta Select products this summer — with only half the calories, 70 of regular drinks per 12-ounce can — in test markets in Atlanta, Detroit, Louisville and Memphis.

Interestingly, Coke's new toe in the mid-calorie water will depend on a blend of sugar: Cargill's Truvia brand of natural sweetener stevia plus erythritol, a "sugar alcohol" (unlike the ingredients in PepsiCo's new, nationally available mid-cal, Pepsi Next, which includes sucralose and high-fructose corn syrup). That gives Coke a leg up on an "more natural" claim it might want to make for select beverages against Next.Continue reading...

The tobacco industry has been looking for some kind of silver lining somewhere for the past few years as cities and countries across the globe have continued to attempt to make it more difficult and more expensive for the world population to sit back and light a few up. From banning smoking in restaurants to replacing brand names on packaging with horrendous images of what could happen to you if you (gasp) inhale, governments of all shapes and sizes have used many strategies to make life more difficult for Big Tobacco.

Now the tobacco industry finally has something it can feel good about. Its product actually has something positive to share. New research from the University of Louisville has it that tobacco “may hold the key to preventing Parkinson’s disease,” according to the Indianapolis Star.

The key component, the paper reports, is something called tobacco mosaic virus, or TMV, which attacks the plants and “may be protective against Parkinson’s,” said Dr. Robert Friedland, a clinical and research neurologist at U of L, the Star reports. The hope is that this discovery will lead to a vaccine against Parkinson’s.

The study was initiated after a number of studies showed that smokers have a lower risk of developing Parkinson’s. Indeed, Friedland warned that people shouldn’t use this new research as an excuse to smoke, since tobacco use has been tied to heart disease and lung cancer, which are much bigger killers annually than Parkinson’s.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation, the largest private funder of Parkinson's Disease research in the world, also cautioned consumers not to raise their hopes about tobacco as a treatment.Continue reading...

Avon's board has run out of time to accept a $10.7 billion takeover bid from makeup giant Coty, because the latter is withdrawing its offer and moving on.

Coty has made a few attempts in recent months to purchase Avon, but the struggling company kept telling umming and hawing. Coty, in the press release announcing it had rescinded its offer after Avon refused to call, commented, "While we are disappointed, we wish you success in pursuing your standalone turnaround strategy."

While the pair aren't likely to kiss and make-up, the news didn’t go over well with investors. The Wall Street Journal reports that Avon Products shares took a 9.8% fall Tuesday morning.

”Avon's annual profit has shrank in each of its last three years, and its first-quarter results contained further disappointment, as margins fell yet again and executives warned that results in the U.S. and Brazil will weaken further still,” the Journal adds.

The one positive thing Avon is hanging onto right now is that it has a new CEO, Sherilyn McCoy, who came over from Johnson & Johnson late last month to try and lead the company back to more stable ground.Continue reading...

In its latest social spending salvo, American Express has launched a mobile offer engine, a “spend graph”  for U.S. cardmembers that recommends and ranks local merchant offers real-time based on spending history and location.

“We developed our mobile offer engine with three key points of differentiation in mind: relevance, convenience and value,” stated Josh Silverman, president of the U.S. Consumer Services Group at American Express. 

Piloted via the "My Offers" feature on the American Express iPhone app, local offer recommendations will be concentrated in Los Angeles and New York City with an overlay of nationwide merchants such as Baskin-Robbins and Dunkin' Donuts.  

“My Offers” leverages the Smart Offer technology that powers the company's card sync programs with Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare connecting merchants and Cardmembers.

"In an increasingly crowded marketplace, where consumers are bombarded with daily deals, we saw an opportunity to help our Cardmembers save time as well as money by curating meaningful offers for them," added Silverman.

Users can download or update the iPhone app to see "Offers Available for You," along with a dashboard that shows offers added to their card, expiration dates, and savings delivered via a statement credit within three to five days. The brand has also enhanced its Go Social entry tool for SMB’s.Continue reading...

In his recent interview on 60 Minutes, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne mentioned only two future products: a new Maserati SUV (the China-oriented Kubang) that will be built in Detroit, and the upcoming Dodge Dart compact sedan, which is beginning to roll off a Chrysler assembly line in Belvedere, Ill. One of his main points to CBS correspondent Steve Kroft was that Dart will be "mechanically" sound.

Chrysler needs that to be the case. Amid all of the success and progress that the company has enjoyed since getting up off the mat in 2009 — big sales gains, positive Super Bowl buzz for its Clint Eastwood "Halftime in America" commercial, a raft of generally well received new products (including a key green car nod for the Chrysler 300) — the one bugaboo that the company hasn't been able to get past is its reputation for poor quality.

Even though it has improved markedly over the last several years, and under a succession of regimes, the company simply hasn't been able to keep pace with rising quality levels across the rest of the industry. Now, Chrysler executives are determined to banish the quality bogeyman once and for all.Continue reading...

American consumers have felt a crush of pressure in recent years to lay off consuming so many sugars and work on eating healthier. Smart businesspeople have been happy to jump on the new opportunity, of course. You can now add Kraft's Oscar Mayer to that list.

The 129-year-old deli-meat maker that taught a generation of North Americans how to spell "b-o-l-o-g-n-a" has introduced a new line of products that contain absolutely no artificial preservatives, flavor, or coloring.

"Listening to consumer needs and finding better ways is just the way we do business," stated Heather Buettner, Senior Director New Product Development at Oscar Mayer, in one of two press releases the company issued to promote the launch today. "Our goal is to have 20 percent of our portfolio made with no artificial preservatives by 2015.”Continue reading...

The state of Connecticut unveiled a new tourism platform around the tagline ‘Still Revolutionary’ this week. The new place branding campaign, which kicked off Monday, is described as a two-year, $27 million dollar initiative to bolster travel and the northeastern state's image and coffers.

Unveiled by Governor Dannel P. Malloy, Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) Commissioner Catherine Smith, and Deputy Commissioner Kip Bergstrom, ‘Still Revolutionary’ emerged from a crowdsourcing effort that asked more than 1,500 residents (and businesses, such as Stew Leonards), “What’s Your Connecticut Story?” The project gathered locals' thoughts on what they love most about living, working, and playing in Connecticut.Continue reading...