Carlos Ghosn, Renault Group's Chairman and CEO, has presented His Holiness Benedict XVI (better known as "the Pope") with the keys of a 100% electric vehicle "based on the Kangoo Maxi Z.E. and a second electric vehicle for use by the Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City for the Pope's security." A reminder to the Pontiff, whose digital corps at the Vatican just launched an Android app for Vatican Radio: don't tweet and drive.

If the battle between New York and Big Soda were a sumo wrestling match, it might shake the entire Eastern Seaboard. The two giants have only begun squaring off in a titanic battle for the gullets and obeisance of Manhattan residents and the moral high ground too, after Mayor Bloomberg's proposed ban on selling carbonated soft drinks above 16 ounces in regulated outlets in Gotham.

The American soft-drink industry is ramping up its campaign to fight New York's proposed restrictions on large sugary drinks. Now the city is in the midst of a public-comment period on the proposal ahead of a scheduled July 24th public hearing, and PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and allies aren't sugar-coating their words in letting it be known exactly what they think of Bloomberg's idea.Continue reading...

In an historic and formidable alliance formed by America's Cable Advertising Bureau, a consortium of TV networks, print, radio, digital and media brands and individuals are joining forces to educate marketers about the buying power and "the new realities" of the Black consumer market.

The CAB has pulled together a who's who of black media for its 23 charter members: BET Networks, HuffPost BlackVoices, Black Enterprise, Burrell Communications, Essence Communications, GlobalHue, Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, KJLH Radio, Johnson Publishing Company, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, Nielsen, North Star Group, National Newspaper Publishers Association, One Solution, Radio One, TV One, Interactive One, Reach Media, Steve Harvey Radio, TheGrio, The Root, The Africa Channel, UniWorld Group, Vibe Media plus Walton Isaacson to create America's first black media and marketing consortium, #INTHEBLACK.

Using a Twitter hashtag as its name is a catchier hook than the group's more SEO-friendly alternative name (Reaching Black Consumers). The initiative launched Monday with a microsite and an ad in the business section of the New York Times and trade magazines such as Adweek and Broadcasting & Cable, as well as ads across of the consortium's media member outlets. The goal, they stated, is "to encourage increased investments in the African American consumer marketplace while helping companies reach the African American audience more effectively."Continue reading...

Not surprisingly, the American news media have begun to move on from the outcry over Rush Limbaugh and the crumbling of his radio empire in the wake of the radio host's Sandra Fluke comments.

Chalk it up to subsequent breaking news, such as the Trayvon Martin case in Florida, nudging the right-wing radio commentator off the front pages of newspapers and websites in the past month. Or is it that, almost a month after Limbaugh's March 5th apology to Fluke, things are turning out differently than many on the left had hoped and imagined?Continue reading...

For nearly 30 minutes on Monday, a full sixth of his show, Rush Limbaugh raved about the new iPad.

Limbaugh's plug of the new iPad is just his newest Apple infomercial. "El Rushbo" has in the past raved about other Apple products, including the iPod. In 2008 he declared that his "life has changed" thanks to Apple's iPhone.

So, we put it directly to Rush: Are you on Apple's payroll?Continue reading...

Recognizing the outsized role that use of social media by his critics has played in peeling advertisers away from his radio show, Rush Limbaugh has gone on the offensive. And not in the usual way, through his monologues. He finally decided to take Twitter seriously by launching and authoriing a @RushLimbaugh account.

"I'm activating my account and using it for strategic purposes," he declared on Thursday before letting loose a series of tweets that has included, for example, calling out a "good story" on the Daily Caller website about the contretemps and another one on the site LegalInsurrection.com about the role that the liberal media watchdog group, Media Matters for America, has played in inflaming marketers' passions against the Rush Limbaugh Program.

"Thare are a [few] things I want to get out there and not waste valuable broadcast time to do it," Limbaugh stated by way of partially explaining his newfound fondness for Twitter. "And you [listeners] can re-tweet it, so it ends up saturating the Twitterverse."Continue reading...

Even if Rush Limbaugh's personal brand survives the uproar over his sexist remarks — which is looking perilous as even Republicans back away from him — advertisers are continuing to pull out and boycott his radio show, with AOL becoming the ninth sponsor to withdraw its advertising today.

For those just catching up, the polarizing conservative pundit's attack last week on a law student named Sandra Fluke over the red-hot contraception issue has caused a political, consumer and advertising firestorm, even after Limbaugh issued a formal apology to his listeners and advertisers.

Commenting today that his apology was "sincere," Limbaugh also said on-air today that the advertisers who dropped out made a "business decision" and will be replaced, so his listeners shouldn't "worry."

"They decided they don't want you or your business," Limbaugh stated about the advertiser protests. "This show is about you, not advertisers."Continue reading...

Horizon Dairy is betting on the Disney Channel as a “smart move” in its foray into national television advertising, as seen in the above video.

The product being advertised is Horizon's Organic Milk Plus DHA Omega-3, and the spot conforms to Disney Channel's strict sponsorship policy, which limits ads to two per hour, 15 seconds in length, restricts overt product claims, and requires a voice-over sign-off that the product is a “proud sponsor of Disney Channel.”

The campaign, however, reaches across the Disney family of media brands.Continue reading...