Boobs ... he he he he

CWX says it "knows boobs." It also knows that boob jokes can be pretty funny.

So the company is launching a cute and clever interactive Web banner campaign to draw attention to its new sports bra technology, which "keeps breast motion to a minimum, leaving women happy, and those who would ogle them, well, crestfallen." It also is designed to eliminate the "monoboob" syndrome.

CWX provided a preview of the upcoming campaign for industry insiders like you. It's worth a look.

And, yes, we are asking you to actually click on a Web banner ad.

Check it out here

Are you ready to haggle?

A little blurb from BIG Research's latest American Pulse survey of 4,055 adults regarding concerns over the economny:

"One way consumers appear to be coping with pressures on the family budget is by learning a new shopping skill – haggling for price. According to the survey, half of Americans (50.3%) report having negotiated for better prices on products other than a home or vehicle in light of the current economic situation. Americans say they haggle the most for better costs on tires/batteries/auto repair (38.6%), followed by appliances (37.3%) and electronics (37.2%)."

Can't imagine many retailers would like to see this develop as a trend.

Sport Sandals for the Rich & Famous

It looks like someone forgot to tell the folks at PêcheBlu about the rising prices of fuel and food and the economic pressures many consumers say they are facing. Today the athletic sandal company unveiled its new line of luxury crocodile flip flops, “which will be the most expensive production flip flops in world,” boasts PêcheBlu.

Hold onto your Teva’s, because the new “world’s most expensive flip flops” will retail for a whopping $400 a pair.

Now, I understand that crocodile skin is a very exotic and expensive material to work with, but considering the size of a flip flop strap, things break down to about $50 per square inch of crocodile skin.

I also understand that there are plenty of people who are willing to pay $400 for flip flops and who can easily afford them. I guess I just wish I was one of them.

Green Land Grab

Marketers have “bombarded the Patent and Trademark Office” during the last year for green-themed marks, according to a report released by the law firm Dechert, leading the way to a 10 percent spike over 2006 in overall trademark filings.

Buoyed by the interest in environmentalism, filings for new trademarks last year topped 300,000. The previous record was 289,000 filings, set in 2000 during the Internet boom.

The enviro-mania has lead to a "green gridlock, with multiple companies filing for almost-identical marks at nearly the same time," says Glenn Gundersen, chair of Dechert's trademark practice, in the report. “Many of these me-too filings will either not merit legal protection or will be very weak trademarks."

"Green," of course, was the most popular word among marketers, with applications more than doubling from 1,100 in 2006 to 2,400 in 2007. That follows a 23 percent increase in applications in 2005 and a 37 percent increase in 2006.

Trademarks requests with the prefix "eco" also more than doubled in 2007, with nearly 900 new applications, says the report. Quips Gundersen: "if all the new eco-branded products filed in 2007 actually came to market, an EcoCitizen could buy an EcoHouse in EcoTown from an EcoRealtor."

Word Most Used in Trademarks
within Green Branding Space in 2007
(Numbers are approximate)
Term.....................Occurrences
Green..........................2,400
Energy........................1,200
Clean ..........................900
Earth..........................900
Eco..............................900
Organic ......................700
Environment...............450
Planet..........................400
Friendly......................180

More on BPA

Irked by recent coverage of bisphenol-A on one of the morning network news shows, the American Chemistry Society sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach requesting the FDA to update its review of the safety of bisphenol-A in food contact applications.

The ACS believes reports and allegations that BPA is unsafe are unfounded and lack scientific credibility. And while the ACS obviously has an agenda (its members are the folks that don't make the stuff we use but make the stuff that makes the stuff we use better), it's always good to hear all sides of a situation before pulling products and passing judgement onto trusting consumers.

So here's a link to the recent ACS statement with a dial-in number to a recorded press conference on the matter. All in the interest of science ...

Where your taxes go

This seemed appropriate data for the day ... defense spending many oppose, Social Security many supposedly won't get and health programs most can't even use.

More fast facts:

50 million students in public elementary and secondary schools = education gets 2% of budget
42 million people enrolled in Medicaid = public healthcare gets 21% of budget

Hilldog Said What?

It's hard not to scoff at Hillary Clinton's recent call for President Bush to boycott this summer's Olympic Games, in the wake of all the protests over China's actions in Tibet. Now, the way our history books read, it was President Bill Clinton in 2000 who opened Chinese businesses to the U.S. when he signed a bill extending permanent, normal trade status to China. And those same history books show signs of oppression and human rights violation taking place in Tibet and China since well before Bill helped Arkansas-based Wal-Mart captilize mightily on cheap Chinese labor. Nothing's new really.

Surely China's history is not unknown to Hillary. So why didn't she have the same type of advice for her partner Bill all those years ago?

By Hillary's logic, it would seem, it's okay to openly engage in all sorts of economic activities with Chinese companies and its government, we just shouldn't play sports with them at the country's coming out party to the world.