Call it a loogo — the looted logo for the London 2012 Olympics making the rounds this week.

For the tech-savvy felon: iPad cases made from Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff's pants (for her, there's iChoo).

There's a movement afoot to stop the Rapunzel-like long receipt madness.Continue reading...

Old Spice Guy — aka footballer turned actor Isaiah Mustafa — is in a new ad. And this time, the brand he's promoting is Isaiah Mustafa. The most recognizable men's hygiene pitchman of his (and perhaps any) time has himself in an unauthorized trailer for a film that does not yet exist: Marvel Comics' action hero Luke Cage.

It's the actor's latest, and most elaborate, effort to lobby Marvel to give him a shot at becoming one of the most famous black superheroes of all time — in fact, the first black superhero, as Marvel introduced Cage in 1972. Continue reading...

Easter weekend saw kid-friendly Rio hold onto number one at the US box office, even as Morgan Spurlock's new doc blew up our Google News alert on "product placement."

This weekend's second-place finisher, Madea's Big Happy Family, also featured some interesting product placements. And while much has been made about differences in the mainstream audience and the Tyler Perry audience, one product placement in particular proves we are not all that different.Continue reading...

Old Spice Man, we hardly knew ye. The character, made famous by Isaiah Mustafa, has been replaced — but only outside in the US.

Above, check out the latest spot by W+K for the P&G brand, featuring a white tuxedo-clad actor touting the brand's Danger Zone collection in a spot that was filmed in New Zealand. The James Bond/Indiana Jones wannabe is no Mustafa-like smoothie, however, as he survives a near-miss with a truck — only to turn into a half-skeletal ghoul.

Mustafa, meanwhile, is keeping busy. He's costarring in Tyler Perry's upcoming Madea's Big Happy Family, which opens Friday, and recently shot a spot for Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore's DNA Foundation.

Czech out a non-English version of the new Old Spice campaign, below, and click here for the details on the spot's CGI effects.Continue reading...

Cadbury fights takeover, dismissing Kraft as a "low growth conglomerate." [FT]

NBC gears up for tonight's debut of The Jay Leno Show, working to promote the primetime talk show in a fragmented media landscape [NYT], and halving normal ad rates for the time slot [WSJ].

CBS Studios signs deal with UK's Chello Media, distributing hours of classic TV on Chello's to-be-renamed Zone channels. [FT]

Cereal giants like Kellogg's and Weetabix fear British government ad campaign warning of the dangers of salt. [Guardian]

UK government to approve broadcaster payments for TV product placements. [FT]

(More headlines: Improved viewer ratings, The Beatles brand, behavioral economics.)

Continue reading...