Big-tobacco companies have been losing battles for years as smokers have been run out of bars and restaurants across America as well as heavy taxes that help fund anti-smoking programs. The anti-tobacco marketing appear to have helped make smoking uncool, with less than 20% of American adults smoking last year, part of a "decades-long decline" as the Wall Street Journal puts it.

So tobacco companies cheered the recent blocking by a U.S. judge blocking the U.S. government's move forcing tobacco companies to put nasty imagery on its packaging to show smokers what might happen to them if they continue inhaling their nicotine.

Now the Associated Press reports that the tobacco companies have another reason to pass around cigars: “States have cut funding for tobacco prevention programs 12 percent this year, to the lowest level since 1999,” according to a new report by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Cancer Society and other groups.Continue reading...

Yes, William Shatner is nothing if not multifaceted and unpredictable. After the pinnacle accomplishment of his career — portraying Captain James Kirk on Star an unbelievable 40 years ago — when he could have become a footnote in the pop-culture past, who knew the Canadian-born actor would find a second career as a funnyman, and a spokesman, by appearing in commercials for a then up-and-coming dot-com, Priceline? 

But that Shat did, and Priceline's subsequent success became the stuff of endorsement history. And now that Shatner's most recent attempt at "serious" acting, in last year's CBS comedy $#*! My Dad Says, is defunct, he's got to do something else with that outsized ego comic persona, right?

Well, how about promoting awareness of turkey-fryer fires for State Farm Insurance? That's right, after personally suffering from a turkey-fryer accident, the bombastic actor and pitch man has graciously lent his comic timing and faux gravitas to the insurer's efforts to stamp out this underappreciated form of holiday danger.

His two-commercial campaign is being promoted on Twitter with a hashtag, #ShatnerFryersClub, which encourages folks to pay attention (and have a Happy Shatsgiving). It's no joking matter, and if it gets people to pay attention, so much the better. State Farm cites grim stats, such as how Texas leads for reporting the most grease- and cooking-related claims around Thanksgiving over the previous five years.Continue reading...

The U.S. government is always happy to make a few extra tax dollars but there is one source of tax cash that they are hoping to stop receiving — and are even willing to spend money to try and help make it end.

We’re talking, of course, about cigarettes, the cough-inducing habit that our culture is working hard to stamp out with its collective heel. That stamping often comes in the form of so-called sin taxes so high that it can cost close to $15 to buy a pack of smokes in New York City. And, of course, there are the nasty packages slated for Sept. 2012 that will inform consumers of just what tobacco can do to you or your unborn child that cigarette manufacturers will soon have to put their product in.

Uncle Sam is now planning to augment the graphic shock packaging with the dreaded E word: education.Continue reading...

France is the latest nation to impose a so-called fat tax on sugary beverages (except for zero-calorie diet drinks), while American campaigns to curb the consumption of non-diet sugary beverages continues.

Los Angeles county just launched a public awareness campaign, its first aimed at 'sugar-loaded' beverages.

LA's move follows a high-profile campaign earlier this year by New York City targeting soda consumption, citing statistics such as few sugary drinks a day adds up to 93 packets of sugar and leads to serious health issues and disease.

Sugary drinks are the number one source of calories in the average American diet and health advocates are still reeling from the recent rejection by the U.S. Department of Agriculture of a pilot proposal banning soda from New York food stamp purchases proposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Despite such efforts, more than 50% of Americans still drink too much soda with the highest consumption among minorities, the poor and the young, according to a recent study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.Continue reading...

New York City aimed to disgust New Yorkers on the notion of imbibing sugary beverages with a graphic campaign that launched last fall (all that was missing were street signs warning, "Don't even think about drinking that soda.")

Now it's Boston's turn to crack down on sweetened soda brands. Beantown officials have launched a public health media blitz including spots that state: "Don’t get smacked by fat. Calories from sugary beverages like soda, sweet tea, and sports drinks can cause obesity and type 2 diabetes."

As you'll see below, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is on a mission to rid the streets of the public health scourges.Continue reading...

AT&T won a Silver Integrated Lion at the Cannes advertising festival this year, well-deserved international recognition for this 10-minute PSA about the deadly results of texting while driving, showing real-life examples of the last text that was composed while driving — often cut-off mid-text as the driver veered into a fatal accident.

When the hard-hitting documentary was released in late December, its "No text is worth dying over" tagline a tough warning to New Year’s Eve imbibers, it became an instant viral hit and has been seen millions of times on YouTube.

Now the agency responsible for the award-winning effort, BBDO New York, has just released a video case study documenting the continuing impact of the documentary, including a planned smartphone app to keep the effort alive.Continue reading...

In the new trailer for the upcoming fourth season of Jersey Shore, a pack of Marlboros cozies up to The Situation. Yet when we contacted Philip Morris to ask about the product placement of the pack of Marlboros, particularly when the series has blurred other brands in the past, we were told by the cigarette maker, "It's not our product."Continue reading...

As the world's largest online marketplace, eBay has to constantly defend its brand against vendors selling knock-off branded goods on its site.

To make clear its commitment to thwarting counterfeiters, eBay has partnered with the US Council of Fashion Designers of America on "You Can't Fake Fashion," a campaign to raise awareness against counterfeit goods and celebrate original design.Continue reading...