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World View
Marketing news and other sick stuff
McDonald's in France has placed "advertorials" in women's magazines. Written by an independent nutritionist, the copy advises readers not to eat too much McDonald's food or feed too much of it to their children because it does not constitute a balanced diet. The ads also feature McDonald's perspective on the healthier side of their menu, such as the inclusion of orange juice as an alternative to soda. Although McDonald's has always maintained that its food is part of a balanced diet, a spokeswoman denied any change in policy: "The key part of the message is that you shouldn't do anything too often."
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Meanwhile, McDonald's of Norway launched a new hamburger called the McAfrika: beef, cheese, tomatoes, and salad on pita bread, a combination supposedly based on a recipe from Africa. Norwegian groups working on aid for African countries immediately protested the new entrée; Linn Aas-Hansen of Norwegian Church Aid lambasted the introduction of the sandwich as "inappropriate and distasteful" when "large portions of southern Africa are on the verge of starvation." So far McDonald's of Norway has offered to put collection boxes and aid-to-Africa fund-raising posters in its restaurants but refuses to donate any of the McAfrika proceeds to aid groups, withdraw the hamburger, or change its name. (The Guardian, May 31, 2002 & August 24, 2002)
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According to a pre-Enron survey conducted by Excedrin, accountants get the most headaches; librarians are second. (Syracuse New Times, March 20--27, 2002)
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Hallmark is helping the Discover credit card company persuade customers to pay overdue bills. Instead of the typical warning letter, cardholders behind on payments will get hand-addressed, hand-signed greeting cards that are meant to look like a message from a friend who "is understanding your problem and encouraging you and giving you hope." The front of one such card shows a watercolor of a babbling brook; inside, the greeting reads, "I don't know about you, but I find that life often takes sudden turns--many times without warning." Then the subject switches from I to we: "Please know that at Discover Card, we understand life's unexpected detours and are dedicated to serving you in any way we can," followed by an 800 number to arrange for payment. (The Wall Street Journal, May 17, 2002)
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Throughout the 1980s and into the '90s, the tobacco industry aggressively pursued product placement in TV shows and movies. Early in the decade, RJ Reynolds, Philip Morris, Brown and Williamson, and the American Tobacco Company each hired product placement firms that put cigarettes and signs advertising cigarettes in "positive situations" on TV and in movies and "kept brands from being used in negative situations." RJ Reynolds went so far as to provide free cigarettes to actors on a monthly basis. After the Tobacco Control report came out, health advocates in California called for the movie industry to take cigarette use into account when assigning movie ratings.
Another recent study detailing tobacco's business tactics, in this case from The Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that Philip Morris used financial pressure in the 1980s to limit drug companies' marketing of nicotine gum and skin patches. For example, when Merrell Dow introduced Nicorette gum in 1980, Philip Morris demanded that Dow limit Nicorette marketing to people who need to quit for immediate health reasons, as opposed to smokers at large; it threatened to pull out of its $8-million-a-year deal with Dow's agricultural division, which made chemicals that help moisten tobacco. Although Dow tried to appease Philip Morris by canceling an antismoking newsletter for doctors, Philip Morris wasn't satisfied and killed the chemical account. According to an internal Philip Morris memo, "Dow was informed that the recent spate of activity can only be interpreted as a conscious corporate decision that Nicorette is more important than the Philip Morris (and other tobacco) business." The makers of quit-smoking products say that such ties between themselves and tobacco concerns no longer exist due to various mergers and reorganizations. (Tobacco Control, March 1, 2002; The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 14, 2002; The New York Times, August 14, 2002)
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Due to severe budget cuts by the state of North Carolina, Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte has found four local companies to sponsor courses. Explained college president Tony Zeiss, "We need to raise money for ourselves. We need to become far more entrepreneurial." (Charlotte Observer, June 10, 2002)
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Botox injections are now being used by businesspeople and lawyers to eliminate wrinkles that can indicate anger, anxiety, or any other emotion that could interfere with closing a deal. Stanley Jacobs, a plastic surgeon in Santa Rosa, California, said that many of his Botox patients are salespeople who have to show one emotion while feeling another. A principal at a New York City real estate investment firm believes that Botox increased the value of his closed sales by 10 to 30 percent: "When you look strong and tough and not afraid, people respect you more. Showing less expression really makes a statement." David Aaron, a cosmetic dermatologist in Beverly Hills, injects Botox into the brows and palms of stockbrokers and trial lawyers to paralyze their pores and prevent sweat, nervous or otherwise. (The Wall Street Journal, July 31, 2002)
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When groom Alan Cogan of Cork, Ireland, heard his best man Mike Foley's toast, he began "wondering how [Foley] had suddenly become so verbose and humorous." The answer: the best man had bought a ghostwritten, customized toast for $105 on SpeechForYou.com, which sells about 140 speeches a month. Several other sites are now in the same business. AtInstantWeddingToasts.com, about 15 people a day buy speech templates for $17.95 that allow the user to "create a memorable heartfelt wedding speech just by filling in a few blanks." A recent sale on UltimateSpeeches.com offered "30 percent off all prewritten Best Man speeches" featuring such lines as "A case of love, pure and simple. [Bride's name] is pure and [groom's name] is simple." (The Wall Street Journal, June 19, 2002)
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Campgrounds have entered the luxury market. An estimated 850 tent sites nationwide now offer such services as deep-tissue massages, wine tastings, rides to your campsite in a golf cart, internet access, espresso at the campground store, and maid service. (The Wall Street Journal, July 19, 2002)
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Part of a line of Bible-based health foods made by House of David, the Bible Bar is an "appetite regulator" made of ingredients mentioned in the Book of Deuteronomy: figs, pomegranates, barley, and olive oil, among others. The bars are organic, containing only the naturally-occurring substances "placed in them by God himself." According to the company's website, many people overlook the Bible's references to diet, thereby missing an opportunity to keep their bodies healthy and pure: "Our motto is to bring you nutrition truly as God intended."
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Pregnant women who aren't satisfied with their ultrasound from the doctor's office can now go to the mall for more. Before the Stork, one of the companies in the fetal-portrait business, sells a $325 "watch my development" package that includes six ultrasounds (with video) and a stuffed animal. (The Wall Street Journal, September 5, 2002)
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For the first time, the U.S. Army has designed games solely for propaganda purposes, in this case, recruitment: the Windows game "America's Army: Operations" and its companion, "America's Army: Soldiers," which together will cost about $7 million for design and server support. Players of "AA: O" begin with basic training, then "graduate" to compete against other players online in bullet-filled but bloodless missions, all the while being reminded to click on the link to the army's website. "In World War II, we had newsreels," said Lieutenant Colonel Casey Wardynski, director of the army's internal consulting team. "Then came TV ads. More recently we've had banners. This is just the next step." (wired.com, July 4, 2002)
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The United States, among other countries, exports anywhere from 50 to 80 percent of its electronics waste--computers, televisions, circuit boards, and the like---to Asian nations where it is "recycled" for parts and precious metals. According to a report released by a coalition of five environmental groups, this process causes major health and environmental hazards. The drinking water in Guiyu, in Guangdong province in China, became so polluted that the region has had to have water trucked in from 20 miles away. Meanwhile, Guiyu's workforce (including young children) engages in such dangerous tasks as burning plastics and wires in the open air, cracking and dumping cathode ray tubes full of lead, and breaking apart toner cartridges by hand to retrieve leftover ink, inhaling the ink dust in the process. The workers are given very little or no protective gear and usually are not taught safety procedures. (The New York Times, February 25, 2002)
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If you're single, seeing a therapist, and willing to spend $2,000, you may be eligible for TheraDate, a New York City matchmaking service in which psychiatrists, psychologists, and other counselors compare notes on their eligible patients and arrange dates for those whose emotional troubles and concerns are most alike. Explained TheraDate's founder, Dr. Frederick B. Levenson, "Similarity throughout the literature promotes compatibility. Opposites attracting is a statistical myth." Once hooked up, patients are supposed to discuss their new relationships in therapy. So far, 20 therapists have offered to be matchmakers. (The New York Observer, April 15, 2002)
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The New England Journal of Medicine has relaxed its conflict-of-interest rules for authors because it is having trouble finding writers without financial ties to drug companies. Previously, people with a financial stake in either a drug to be discussed in an article or in its competitors were precluded from authoring an editorial or review; now the Journal only forbids writers who receive more than $10,000 a year from a drug company or who have stock options or patent interests in a drug. (The Associated Press, June 13, 2002)
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Instead of waiting for drug companies to show them a finished product, ad agencies are now getting involved in the earliest stages of drug development, recruiting patients for clinical trials, and in some cases, sponsoring independent tests of experimental drugs. Such efforts help the drug companies get their products approved sooner by the FDA and help the ad agencies land accounts for the approved drugs. Thomas Harrison, CEO of Omnicom, the most aggressive of the ad firms involved in drug development, dismissed the idea that his company's clinical work might be biased, saying, "All we want to do is speed up the process. What we want to try to do is look at the molecule in the test tube as a brand. A lot of people don't think a brand is a brand until it has the FDA approval. But we are asking, what is the maximum commercial potential of this molecule? What will it be when it grows up? What is the message?" (The Wall Street Journal, March 13, 2002)
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NBC is promoting its fall TV lineup at Baskin-Robbins with such ice cream flavors as Will & Grace's Rocky Road to Romance, Fear Factor Sundae, Good Morning Miami Mint, and Pralines 'n' American Dreams. (The Washington Times, July 23, 2002)
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For the debut album by the Planets, British composer and producer Mike Batt wrote variations on several classical standards. One track, "A One Minute Silence," featured sixty seconds of silence. Batt credited himself and John Cage as its composers as a tribute to Cage's silent 4'33". After the CD was released, Cage's publisher sent Batt a letter demanding royalties for the track. Explained Gene Caprioglio, a representative for C.F. Peters, Cage's U.S. publisher: "If Mr. Batt wants to produce a minute of silence under his own name, we would obviously have no right to royalties." (andante.com, June 25, 2002)
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Island Def Jam Music Group is negotiating a deal with Hewlett-Packard to mention HP products in hip-hop lyrics. (Advertising Age, September 9, 2002)
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The auto industry has created a level beyond the luxury car: it's the "ultraluxury car."
(The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 22, 2002)
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For almost a decade in North Texas, Coca-Cola has been repackaging soda with expired "sell by" dates and selling it as new to stores in black neighborhoods. William D. Wright, a Coke deliveryman for 14 years, says he took expired soda cans out of their cases and put them into fresh boxes with new dates stamped on them. Every time he mentioned it to his supervisors, he'd hear, "I'm the boss. You do what I say." None of the dozens of witnesses to these practices suggest that Coke put customers' health at risk, since soda can be old enough to grow mold before making anyone sick; rather, they consider it an issue of fair- ness because soda that is past its date goes flat and loses its taste. (The New York Times, May 19, 2002)
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Bangkok gas deliverymen have been told to stop wearing Spider-Man outfits but that it's OK for them to dress as monkeys. Lawyers for Marvel Comics threatened to sue the owner of the Bangkok store for infringing on its Spider-Man copyright but did not discourage the use of monkey suits. As licensing manager Sirigan Phipitrangsee explained, monkey costumes are permitted "because monkeys don't have intellectual property rights." (ananova.com, August 14, 2002)
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Stay Free! circulated the news story above on our email list and received the following response from a reader:
When I was young, my dad and I always thought it was really weird that on Christmas Eve there would be an aisle full of Christmas Coke cans, and the day after Christmas they would all mysteriously disappear. Years later we finally figured it out. We were on a family vacation in Mexico and stopped at a small rural convenience store. Even though it was the middle of March, their soda section was stocked with the previous year's Christmas Cokes. --Sam Liberto
Several news stories in World View were submitted by Stay Free! readers. Thank you, thank you, thank you, and please keep them coming!
