Yoko Ono has always been full of surprises. Whether it’s spending a week in an Amsterdam hotel bed with John Lennon to promote world peace, coming onstage in Tokyo and having audience members cut her garments off until she was naked, and directing a film that consists pretty much entirely of people’s buttocks as they walk on a treadmill. It's all in a day's work for the avant garde artist/musician.

Well, Ono has added another interesting twist to her long and fascinating career. She has launched a limited edition menswear collection, Fashions For Men 1969-2012, for New York-based indie fashion retailer Opening Ceremony based on sketches that she gave Lennon in 1969 before they were married. “The designs were intended to emphasize his 'very sexy bod,'” according to the Daily Mail.

Thankfully we may never know if Lennon donned any of the 18 designs for jock straps, light-up bras and hoodies emblazoned with butt prints, but the 79-year-old Ono is hoping that men across the globe will. But you have to get them while they’re hot. There are only 52 of each product except for the sweatshirts and posters that will likely be desired by a much larger audience. Prices range from $75 to $750.

Ono, of course, is still keeping her personal brand in the news while also keeping Lennon's brand alive and well heading into 2013. Still, she argues, it's a labor of love: “I made this whole series with love for his hot bod and gave it to him as a wedding present,” Ono stated about the collection. “You can imagine how he went wild and fell in love with me even more.”Continue reading...

Super Bowl ads start to rev up as Audi sets the stage, CareerBuilder returns with monkey theme, PepsiCo boosts spots to seven, Skechers taps Kim Kardashian, and CarMax signs up for first national Super Bowl TV spot.

Adobe boosts privacy in Flash.

Borders closes in on refinancing.

Chrysler bailout is criticized by federal watchdog panel.

Delta takes “bumping” online.

Groupon discusses an IPO.Continue reading...

The Beatles, of course, are a brand – and that brand has influenced nearly every aspect of American culture, from music to fashion.

Now, Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles recorded many of their iconic songs, is at risk of being sold – and fans are utilizing modern social platforms, Twitter and Facebook, not surprisingly, to voice their feelings and wield influence. Abbey Road was immortalized when the Beatles named an album after the storied recording studio, which to many symbolizes the band’s rock ‘n roll soul.

On a radio show, Paul McCartney encouraged fans to mobilize and save Abbey Road. As a result, The National Trust, a non-profit organization that owns the Liverpool childhood homes of Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney, started soliciting the public's opinion.Continue reading...

They may once have sung "All You Need Is Love." But in case that's not enough, the Beatles unveiled on Monday a high fashion bag collection, in collaboration with Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons.

The collection of bags and shirts come simply spattered with apples and polka dots, the former en homage to Apple Corps, the company controlling the rock stars' legacy. The latter is merely a favorite pattern of the Japanese designer.

“I want to develop the ‘Beatles by CDG’ collection in a strong conceptual way,” said Ms. Kawakubo through an interpreter. “Instead of making many unnecessary items that may come to resemble a Beatles souvenir shop, I think it is better to concentrate on one strong idea.”

The 10 bags are sure to be a hit with the vegan crowd; all are non-leather (consistent with the passion of Paul McCartney's late wife Linda and their daughter, designer Stella McCartney), and are made of embossed polyurethane and printed PVC material. Kawakubo explained the graphic patterns as “deliberately undesigned” and “prototypical shapes.”Continue reading...

Bob Marley could never have dreamed that his song, “Get Up, Stand Up” would one day befit the global trademark wars being waged by his family.

The call-to-arms anthem from the Wailers’ 1973 Burnin’ album implored the downtrodden to “stand up for your rights,” but it also describes what his heirs, including children Ziggy, Stephen, Damian, Cedella and Sharon, all musicians, and Rohan, a former star linebacker for the University of Miami, are doing to protect their father’s image, legacy and brand.

Nearly thirty years after his death from cancer, Marley’s international presence is as strong as ever. It’s particularly powerful in his home country of Jamaica where visitors can’t walk past a market without seeing row upon row of t-shirts, posters and trinkets bearing his picture or hearing his iconic music playing on sound systems or sometimes from just a single speaker perched on a window ledge.

But the problem is there are too many people involved with the brand. Without proper oversight, it will become even more diluted than it is today.Continue reading...