Above, Beijing t-shirt maker Plastered releases its 草泥马老板 ("Grass Mud Horse" Boss) shirt. 

China is the second largest economy in the world and every significant brand's future is impacted by its growth (or collapse)—but who's got the time?! Here's the week's reads that will make you look like a keen China observer in case you find yourself immersed in a cultural conversation.

This week: Beckham's Adidias/Nike problem... McDonald's closes iconic location... bashing Apple... Steve Jobs manga... what your brand of car says about your sex life... Walmart... Nongfu... more infant formula scandals... Jackie Chan... Vera Wang... bye bye black Audis... and much more.Continue reading...

President Obama has returned to e-commerce and haute couture with Runway to Win, a collaborative campaign merchandise fundraiser pegged to the kickoff of New York Fashion Week. As fashionistas rev up for the Fall 2012 collections, designers and Dem supporters have been rallying to raise money, chicly, for the president's re-election campaign.

The collection features patriotic clothing and accessories, moderately priced from $45 to $95, from top designers including Tory Burch, Rachel Roy, Derek Lam, Beyoncé and Tina Knowles, Marcus Wainwright and David Neville, Proenza Schouler's Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Diane von Furstenberg, Narciso Rodriguez, Vera Wang, Thakoon, Jason Wu, Grace Tsao-Wu and Laura Kofoid of Laudi Vindi, Marc Jacobs and Tracy Reese.Continue reading...

In a development that will be appreciated by male football fans everywhere, "The Diamond Store" Zales has a new holiday season ad campaign.

And… it's actually not that bad. But the campaign message is nearly the same as two years ago, what changed?Continue reading...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is suing 17 US and European banks and more than 130 individuals on charges of selling bonds backed by mortgages that should have never been packaged into securities. Institutions named including Bank of America, its Merrill Lynch unit, Barclays, Citigroup and Nomura.

Halliburton is suing BP for defamation and misrepresentation, while a key court ruling in the Gulf of Mexico litigation could encourage more lawsuits. Oil and gas production is curtailed in the Gulf, meanwhile, as New Orleans declares state of emergency ahead of storm.

Facebook tests comment translation button.

GM rehires Bob Lutz as an adviser.

Google acquires Zave Networks, a digital coupons platform, as it expands local deals offering.

Hugo Boss releases campaign featuring Orlando Bloom and Sienna Miller in support of African schools.Continue reading...

Even as she defends her opinion on the Casey Anthony verdict to her Twitter followers, Kim Kardashian has bigger things on her mind.

No, we don't mean her infamous posterior, although apparently she's trying to make it a little less prominent by the time she walks down the aisle in Vera Wang; we're talking about kashing in on her upcoming nuptials.

The Twitter-happy Kardashian, who's on the August cover of Cosmopolitan, is getting married this summer to New Jersey Nets play Kris Humphries.

While Kim’s mom, Kris Jenner, has made it clear that she isn’t a big fan of Kim shedding the family brand of her surname to become Kim Humphries, there is apparently another matter she didn’t caution her reality-show star daughter about: product placement at the nuptials.

PopBytes reports that Kardashian "needs everyone at her wedding to be chauffeured about in Rolls Royces" — provided (thoughtfully, as in free of charge) by Platinum Motorsport, a luxury automobile restyler.Continue reading...

June will be a big month for retailer Target, and today, one of the brand's bigger June days. It's the retailer's annual shareholders meeting and also the day after a pension fund trustee representing 1 million shares of Target stock wrote an open letter to New York City's comptroller asking him to "consider withholding votes from relevant Target Corp. directors, in the absence of a change in policy on political spending."

Elsewhere in New York, Target has become the national focus of the next chapter between corporations and organized labor. It's a union battle that Target loses, even if it wins.Continue reading...

Amazon has just entered the flash sales market with MyHabit, a members-only (but free to sign up) fashion destination offering up to 60% discounts on designer brands.

Featured sale items are posted at noon ET daily from high-end fashion labels including Doo.Ri, Elizabeth and James (one of the labels designed by the Olsen sisters, who are also exploring e-commerce with StyleMint), Halston and Vera Wang.

Competing with other portals' fashion-forward sales channels, along with celeb-heavy direct-to-consumer e-commerce fashion sites, MyHabit isn't just targeting women, although that's who will likely do most of the shopping.Continue reading...

A modern update of 1992's Single White Female, psychological thriller The Roommate emerged as the cinematic victor of Super Bowl weekend. The film, #1 in North America with $15.6 million at the North American box office, is packed with brands — but very few stand out.

But this being a Sony Pictures production, we did not want of Sony products. And in the end, the most interesting plot twist of The Roommate is the ironic anti-Facebook Facebook-like site created for the film.Continue reading...