11317: Vanessa K. Bush Leads Essence.

From The New York Times…

Essence Magazine Names New Top Editor

By Tanzina Vega

After being without an editor in chief since February, Essence magazine has announced a new leader, its fifth in 13 years. Vanessa K. Bush will assume the top job immediately.

Ms. Bush had been serving as acting managing editor for the magazine since Constance C. R. White, the previous editor in chief, was dismissed in February.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Martha Nelson, the editor in chief of Time Inc., which owns the magazine, said, “Vanessa’s more than 10 years of experience as an editorial leader at Essence will ensure continued success for the pre-eminent African-American women’s media brand.” Ms. Nelson added that Ms. Bush would “have the full support of Time Inc. to execute on her vision to honor this loyal and cherished audience.”

Ms. Bush was not available for comment on her appointment. In an interview on the Web site the Grio, she discussed her vision for Essence, including an increased focus on social media and the magazine’s tablet edition.

While Essence’s print circulation and readership is strong, the constant changes in its editorial leadership have prompted many readers, bloggers and media critics to question the magazine’s relevancy and identity. It has also faced increasing competition from other media outlets aimed at African-Americans.

11316: William ‘Bill’ Sharp (1930-2013).

From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution…

William ‘Bill’ Sharp, 83: Advertising trailblazer

By Michelle E. Shaw

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Bill Sharp always had ideas. A natural salesman, the Chicago native found a way to start a new career, and managed to make it to the top of his field in fairly short order.

“He was over 30 years old when he decided to get into advertising,” said Tom Burrell, a colleague who is also Sharp’s cousin, “but he made up for lost time once he got in there.”

In the ’60s, Sharp landed an entry-level job in Chicago, and by 1971, Sharp moved his wife and three children to Atlanta, where he’d accepted a job with Coca-Cola. Sharp spent 10 years with Coca-Cola as a company vice president and advertising manager.

“Bill’s story is an amazing story,” Burrell said. “It is a profile of someone who willed himself to a better place.”

William Sharp, called Bill by most, of Atlanta died July 23 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was 83.

A memorial service is scheduled for Aug. 10 in Chicago. H.M. Patterson & Son, Oglethorpe Hill, was in charge of cremation arrangements.

Born on the South Side of the Windy City, Sharp was originally a salesman, said his daughter, Dianne Sharp Parks of Fayetteville. He was also a naturally gifted writer who loved using his imagination. “He was a real idea guy, and he was an entrepreneur to his core,” she said.

Before Sharp moved to Atlanta, he noticed there weren’t many blacks in the advertising business, and he wanted to do something about that. As a group supervisor at J. Walter Thompson in Chicago, Sharp created an initiative called the Basic Advertising Course, designed to help African-Americans learn the business.

The course was co-sponsored by his employer and the American Association of Advertising Agencies. The course helped “pave the way for African-American advertising practitioners as well as the hundreds of individuals who have continued his legacy of breaking barriers,” 4A president and chief executive Nancy Hill wrote in a letter to Sharp’s family last week.

Lincoln Stephens, director and co-founder of the Marcus Graham Project, said Sharp’s work enabled countless blacks to break into advertising.

“His efforts were not only landmark, they were necessary,” he said, “and that work continues on now in what we do, and the work of other organizations.”

Sharp stayed at Coke until the early ‘80s, when Burrell’s Chicago-based company established an Atlanta presence. In his work with what was then Burrell Advertising Inc., Sharp continued to work with Coke, as it had been one of Burrell’s clients for a decade.

While working with Burrell, Sharp took a special interest in minorities in the advertising business, and how people of color were portrayed in commercials and by the media, his daughter said. In 1990, Bill Sharp started his own ad firm, Sharp Advertising Inc., which specialized in African-American marketing and advertising. That firm, which grew to be one of the largest minority-owned ad agencies in the South, closed in 1998, at which time he began teaching advertising at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.

During his more-than-40-year career, Sharp stayed fairly upbeat and optimistic about the state of affairs for minorities in advertising. But then again, he often managed to see the good in things, Burrell said.

“We were driving along Lakeshore Drive one day, and it was one of those overcast, cloudy Chicago-gray days,” Burrell said. “And he looked over and said, ‘Look at that bright shade of gray!’ And I thought, are you kidding? Bright shade of gray? But now I often refer to that when I’m thinking about things being bad. I stop and look for the good, or the bright shade of gray.”

In addition to his daughter Parks, Sharp is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Doris Sharp of Atlanta; and sons, Greg Sharp of Hamburg, Germany, and Michael Sharp of East Point.

11315: Publicis Omnicom Groupe Mess.

Wanted to add a few comments about Publicis Omnicom Groupe. Numerous sources have presented reports along the following lines:

Publicis chief Maurice Lévy and Omnicom CEO John Wren divulged little beyond what they said in a Paris press conference yesterday. But they told analysts that they decided to merge because of the exponential growth of new media giants like Google, the blurring roles of media and ad agencies, the explosion of big data, and changing consumer behavior as a result of technology.

This really shows that the merger will be a disaster. Trying to emulate technology companies and embrace digital is something Publicis and Omnicom have both failed to do—albeit in slightly different styles. Publicis has attempted to buy its way into the digital arena, acquiring enterprises like Digitas and Razorfish. Um, those are a couple of lousy digital shops that have not succeeded in coexisting with traditional advertising agencies within the network. Omnicom has tried blending digital with traditional, and the end results have been bad. Consider DDB and Tribal DDB or BBDO and Proximity BBDO. Omnicom ad agencies typically reject digital partners and ultimately seek to make digital an integrated medium—sans true understanding and expertise. To sum it up, two huge entities that are digitally clueless have combined forces to take on the digital frontier. In this case, one plus one equals poo.

For Publicis and Omnicom, digital is the new diversity. That is, there’s a lot of talk and feigned commitment, but nothing meaningful ever happens.

11314: Rethink The Casting On Jobs.

Whose idea was it to depict a genius of our generation with one of the dumbest actors ever?

11313: Kmart, Time To Fire Draftfcb.

Kmart executives should shit their pants and fire the big assholes and their mamas responsible for this back-to-school commercial.

11312: McBudget McBullshit.

From The Miami Herald…

‘McBudget’ an insult to those living in poverty

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

A few words about the McBudget.

Perhaps you’ve heard of it. As fast food workers around the country protest for higher wages, we learn that McDonald’s offers advice to help them live on the wages they make which, while not technically bupkes, do amount to a paycheck you can pretty much have the driver cash for you on the bus ride home. In December, for example, Bloomberg profiled a Chicago man who, after 20 years with the burger giant, earns $8.25 an hour — and doesn’t get 40 hours a week. This, as McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson pulled down, according to the Wall Street Journal, a compensation package worth $13.8 million last year.

Anyway, Mickey D’s isn’t blind to the difficulties of french fry makers and drive-through order takers getting by on not quite bupkes. It partnered with Visa on a website — http://www.practicalmoneyskills.com/mcdonalds/budgetJournal/budgetJournal.php — which includes a sample budget showing how to live reasonably well on next to nothing.

The impossibility of doing so has been attested to by everyone from writer Barbara Ehrenreich in her book Nickel and Dimed to noted obstetrician Cliff Huxtable, in that episode of The Cosby Show where he uses Monopoly money to teach young Theo the value of a good income. It has also been attested to by the people trying to do it. But all that notwithstanding, the McBudget insists it can be done.

It envisions monthly take-home pay of $2,060 from working two (!) jobs. Out of that, you pay $600 for rent, $150 for a car note, $100 for insurance (home and auto), $100 for cable and phone, $90 for the electric bill, $20 for health insurance, etc. You save $100 a month and have $750 to play with — if, by “play,” you mean pay for clothing, child care and water. Also, gasoline, maintenance and repair for the 1997 junkmobile you’re able to buy for $150 a month. Oh, and food. Can’t forget food.

As you might expect, the McBudget is mildly controversial. Washington Post blogger Timothy B. Lee called the figures “realistic” and praised McDonald’s for “practical” advice. This seems to be a minority opinion. ThinkProgress, the left-leaning website, called the budget “laughably inaccurate.” Stephen Colbert skewered the company, saying a $20 health insurance premium will buy you “a tourniquet, a bottle of Night Train and a bite stick.” In the Wall Street Journal, columnist Al Lewis suggested that McDonald’s $13.8 million man show us how it’s done by volunteering to live on the McBudget.

The most vexing thing about that budget is its condescension. Take it from this welfare mother’s son: If there’s one thing poor people do not need, it is lessons in how to be poor. To the contrary, you will never meet anyone who can wring more value from a dollar.

We’re talking every trick of layaway and two-day-old bread, coupon clipping and off brand buying, Goodwill shopping, Peter robbing, Paul paying and plain old going without. You ever hear of a jam sandwich? That’s when you “jam” two pieces of bread together and call it lunch. Heck, if you handed the federal budget over to a couple welfare mothers, we’d be in surplus by December.

And McDonald’s has lessons for the poor?

Look, there are many reasons people wind up in poverty. Sometimes they make bad life choices — they drop out of school without salable skills, or they become teen parents. Often, it falls on them from the sky in the form of illness, injury, addiction or financial reversal.

However they got into poverty they all need — and deserve — the same things: a way to work their way out and to be accorded a little dignity while they do so. The former comes with paying a living wage, the latter by treating people with respect and not presuming to teach them what they could teach you. McDonald’s fails on both counts.

The McBudget is a McInsult.

11311: Publicis Omnicom Groupe Implications.

On Saturday, Advertising Age and Adweek reported that Publicis Groupe and Omnicom were indeed merging. Publicis Groupe held a press conference in Paris on Sunday afternoon (8:00 a.m. EDT), where Maurice Lévy and John Wren acted as if they were signing a special amendment to the constitutions of their respective countries. Ad Age later published a cheat sheet on the initial details and responses from assorted network honchos; plus, Adweek chipped in commentary as well. The official statement became available too. Meanwhile, New York Times Advertising Columnist Stuart Elliott didn’t bother to type anything, leaving the task to staff reporter Tanzina Vega. Elliott seemed to make the right choice, opting against wasting his weekend wondering about the event.

The merger makes sense from a marketing perspective. That is, marketing experts opine most categories have a number one brand and a number two brand—and everyone else is a challenger brand. Additionally, the top brands primarily duke it out with each other, while the challenger brands must establish niches. The theory applies to the advertising industry too. Despite the self-promotional hype, Publicis Groupe has fared poorly as a challenger brand, failing to find a distinct and successful niche. As the number two contender, Omnicom hasn’t done very well either, semi-ironically mirroring PepsiCo—a major Omnicom client—in a clumsy, disorganized fashion. To top it off, WPP has been a shitty leader. Regardless, the merger allows Omnicom to leapfrog over WPP and lets Publicis Groupe leave its challenger brand status. How the newlyweds ultimately handle their fresh position will be interesting to watch. Can’t help but think it’s essentially like Larry and Curly overtaking Moe.

What’s missing from all the media coverage—which focuses on egos, money, efficiencies, shareholders and clients—is any meaningful mention of agency workers. This omission points to the merger’s root problem. Wren and Lévy appear oblivious to the 130,000+ human beings poised to operate the enterprise. MultiCultClassics has noted the increased obsession with profits over people. Billable hours trump big ideas. The end result has been a commoditization of the industry—as agencies become interchangeable and generic.

The decreased emphasis on people means things could get worse for diversity. The “efficiencies”—coupled with client defections—will probably ignite downsizing. Fewer jobs equal fewer opportunities. Exclusivity is strengthened when executives are in self-preservation modes. Contrary to the contentions of Chief Diversity Officers and ADCOLOR® enthusiasts, building inclusive workplaces has never been on agencies’ to-do lists. The action item may completely vanish during the invention phase of Publicis Omnicom Groupe. Don’t expect any breakthrough efforts from Pioneer of Diversity Wren.

Multicultural marketing and minority agencies stand to lose too. Crumbs may go from plural to singular as battles for budgets escalate. The BDAs have already admitted to being ignorant when executing cross-cultural initiatives, so there’s no reason to believe enlightenment will suddenly invade the undiscovered country fabricated by this French-American union. Minority agencies within the networks were always small, insignificant fish in a big pond. They’ll now be small, insignificant fish in an ocean. Minority agencies outside the networks will become pond scum.

Finally, recruiting minorities into such a dismal environment won’t be easy. There are not enough minority youth outreach programs and sponsored high schools to attract candidates of color. Hell, the years ahead may actually see a downtick for non-White receptionists, mailroom attendants, security personnel, janitorial crewmembers and Chief Diversity Officers.

11310: Welcome Back, Webber.

Harry Webber is back. Actually, he never really left. Webber did, however, take a hiatus from blogging. According to Webber, his blog’s URL eventually lapsed and Earthlink scrubbed the content from its server. Now MadisonAveNew.com has returned to the Internet—on the same weekend that Omnicom and Publicis Groupe decided to disrupt the industry. Time will tell if Webber winds up creating more change than Messrs. John Wren and Maurice Lévy.

11309: My Black Is Outdated.

Why use images of Polaroids and ballpoint pens for an Internet-based promotion about the future?

11308: Omnicom + Publicis = Bullshit.

Advertising Age and Adweek reported on news that Omnicom and Publicis Groupe are in merger talks. If a marriage actually takes place, the results would include:

• Further commoditization of the industry

• Greater emphasis on digital—but only related to firewalls

• Chief Diversity Officers combine forces, yet continue to accomplish nothing

• An unprecedented spike in Corporate Cultural Collusion

• More places to shuttle Quaker Oats and Propel Zero

• Globalization of minority youth outreach programs

• Où sont tous les Noirs?

• Maurice Lévy named a Pioneer of Diversity

• Fewer crumbs for minority agencies

• Havas remains the least interesting network

• The biggest clan of culturally clueless White adpeople ever

11307: You Could Win Cancer!

Did Pat Sajak and Vanna White approve this?

11306: Name Your Stereotype, Progressive.

Progressive is anything but progressive with this Name Your Price Tool commercial featuring a sassy sistah girl facing off with Flo.

11305: Free Wi-Fi With Fries.

Did the U.S. Census report on Internet usage by Blacks lead Mickey D’s to decide free Wi-Fi would have targeted appeal?

11304: John Wren—Pioneer Of Diversity…?

The 2013 AAF Diversity Achievement and Mosaic Awards & Forum named Omnicom President-CEO John Wren a Pioneer of Diversity. It’s not clear what criteria was used to justify the honor. Wren has consistently delegated diversity via stereotypical solutions like launching a Diversity Development Advisory Committee, hiring a Chief Diversity Officer, sponsoring ADCOLOR® and approving obligatory contributions to minority scholarships, minority internships and minority youth outreach programs. Additionally, Omnicom originally balked at dealing with the New York City Commission on Human Rights back in 2006. Wren later ordered his agencies to come into compliance with the diversity agreements by the end of 2008. Didn’t happen. Of course, Wren has mastered the fine art of Corporate Cultural Collusion—and he even created a minority advertising agency in order to win multicultural business from Nissan.

Yep, the guy’s a bona fide pioneer.

11303: Brand Disloyalty Towards Blacks.

Adweek reported on a study measuring the feelings that Black consumers have towards brands and marketing. Not sure about the value of these types of surveys. Has positive data ever resulted in increased spending to target Black consumers? To get the true story, simply follow the trail of crumbs. Perhaps the figures would change if Black consumers realized how even the brands they love undervalue them in regards to advertising—and discriminate against them via partnering with predominately White advertising agencies.

Adidas Makes Gains Among Black Consumers, L’Oréal Lags

Brand study reveals the demo’s feelings toward marketing

By Christopher Heine

Adidas, E*Trade, Geico and Land Rover are a few of the brands that have made the biggest gains in terms of positive awareness among black teenagers and adults during the last year, per NewMediaMetrics (NMM).

NMM, which surveyed 3,400 African Americans ages 13 to 64 about brand-related “emotional attachment,” found that Land Rover was the most popular brand across product categories while Lexus, Nike and Mercedes-Benz trailed closely behind as the luxury car niche showed well.

Honda and Toyota were the most popular economy car brands, while Hennessy (beer/alcohol), Walmart (retail), Starbucks (beverages), Clorox (households), Kelloggs (edible consumer-packaged goods), Aflac (insurance), Visa (credit cards), Charles Schwab (financial) and Joe’s Crab Shack (restaurants) led their respective categories.

Overall, 35 brands improved their demo-focused NMM index scores by 15 points or more compared to last year, said Gary Reisman, CEO of the New York-based marketing and research firm. He said Kohls, Verizon, Oscar Mayer Lunchables, Hotels.com and Expedia are other examples.

While nonanalysts might be surprised that Converse beats more prolific shoe sellers like Reebok and New Balance when it comes to favorable awareness with African Americans, Reisman said that result jibed with what he’s seen in the space. “Converse has done some fantastic product integrations and nontraditional marketing and advertising,” he explained.

Brands losing their emotional connection to black consumers during the last 12 months, per NMM, include L’Oréal, Prudential, Farmers, Travelers, Nationwide, Droid and Vonage.

11302: C’MON WHITE MAN! Episode 29.

(MultiCultClassics credits ESPN’s C’MON MAN! for sparking this semi-regular blog series.)

John Winsor’s professional titles include CEO of Victors & Spoils and Chief Innovation Officer at Havas. Um, Chief Innovation Officer at Havas is an oxymoron. And based on his recent editorials, Winsor is an ordinary moron.

Winsor managed to turn the Harvard Business Review into AgencySpy, inspiring caustic comments for The Dinosaurs of Cannes. He later added idiocy at Digiday with Time to Lose ‘Creative’ as an Agency Job Title—which has so far garnered a single robot response.

What makes pseudo thought leaders like Winsor so annoying is their delusional belief that they are revolutionaries. Realizing the advertising industry needs a better business model is a no-brainer. Thinking the solution involves crowdsourcing is brainless.

Victors & Spoils has yet to produce anything beyond mediocre—they really should remove the word “creative” from the company’s vocabulary. Over the past few years, the place has seemingly degraded into nothing more than an understaffed agency relying on freelance support (a pretty standard operating procedure for small to mid-sized firms today).

Despite Winsor’s cries for change, the officers listed on the agency website are regular veterans with regular titles. And the mystical crowd is probably comprised of cronies. In other words, V&S is virtually perpetuating the exclusivity that has fueled the industry for generations. Plus, asking people to work on spec during recessionary times—while privileged Caucasian leaders enjoy salaried positions—is 21st century corporate evil.

To top things off, V&S is now part of Havas, the least interesting network of all. Condemning the status quo and then joining it displays hypocrisy of the highest order—a common trait of old school Mad Men. In short, Winsor has succeeded in building just another typical White agency with a few obscene twists. The fool rightly deserves a title that’s been around from the start: Huckster.

C’MON WHITE MAN!

11301: Mondelez Mumbo-Jumbo.

Advertising Age spotlighted Mondelez Agency Scout Debra Giampoli, who offered dos and don’ts for shops seeking to work with the food giant. Hey, given the company’s commitment to diversity, one might think Mondelez would hire lots of minority firms—and frown upon White agencies that continue to perpetuate cultures of exclusivity. Instead, the advertiser appears to prefer Premium Crackers.

How a Small Agency Can Land a Big Client Like Mondelez

Agency Scout Debra Giampoli Offers Up Her Dos and Don’ts

By Maureen Morrison

Landing a big client can seem impossible when you’re a small agency. But companies like Mondelez International are always on the lookout for up-and-comers.

At Ad Age’s Small Agency Conference in Portland, Ore., Debra Giampoli, the agency scout for Mondelez, shared tips on how to get her attention. Here are some of her dos and don’ts:

Do have a story to tell. Make sure your shop has a compelling story about who you are and what you do. If you want to punch above your weight, have more than a capabilities deck to show.

Do know how to articulate your strategy and talk about your work. “The bar is just as high for small agencies as it is for big ones,” Ms. Giampoli said. Great work is every agency’s best calling card, she added.

Do invite prospective clients to your office. Ms. Giampoli said she likely wouldn’t work with an agency whose space she hasn’t visited.

Do make yourself visible. Approach marketing executives through mutual connections, conferences or writing white papers on interesting topics. “If you’re really good at what you do, I will find you… When you do get found, have a great story to tell” about who you are and what you do.

Don’t cold call potential clients without doing your homework. Ms. Giampoli said she won’t work with an agency that hasn’t researched her role and what she values in agencies. If you are going to cold call, she said, the only chance you have is if you’ve done your homework.

Don’t send out LinkedIn invites if you haven’t met. Ms. Giampoli said she guards her LinkedIn connections closely and only accepts requests from people she knows personally.

Don’t bother with newsletters. Ms. Giampoli said she rarely reads agency newsletters, even from shops she loves.

Don’t expect a meeting to lead to an immediate assignment. “I don’t believe in love at first sight,” said Ms. Giampoli, likening her process to dating in that she usually doesn’t have a project in mind when contacting an agency. “I might meet you and like you a lot, but that doesn’t mean that something’s going to happen quickly.”

Don’t be a general agency with a mediocre offering. Ms. Giampoli said it’s far better to be a shop with a smaller, more specialized offering than a jack-of-all-trades without anything compelling.

But even if Ms. Giampoli – or other executives like her—doesn’t know much about your agency, don’t feel like being small is too big a hurdle to working with a large client. “I get emails from small agencies all the time apologizing for being small…Don’t apologize for being small.”

11300: Cook Burned By Paula Deen.

From The New York Times…

Paula Deen’s Cook Tells of Slights, Steeped in History

By KIM SEVERSON

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Dora Charles and Paula Deen were soul sisters. That’s what Ms. Deen called the black cook from the start, even before the books and the television shows and the millions of dollars.

For 22 years, Mrs. Charles was the queen of the Deen kitchens. She helped open the Lady & Sons, the restaurant here that made Ms. Deen’s career. She developed recipes, trained other cooks and made sure everything down to the collard greens tasted right.

“If it’s a Southern dish,” Ms. Deen once said, “you better not put it out unless it passes this woman’s tongue.”

The money was not great. Mrs. Charles spent years making less than $10 an hour, even after Ms. Deen became a Food Network star. And there were tough moments. She said Ms. Deen used racial slurs. Once she wanted Mrs. Charles to ring a dinner bell in front of the restaurant, hollering for people to come and get it.

“I said, ‘I’m not ringing no bell,’” Mrs. Charles said. “That’s a symbol to me of what we used to do back in the day.”

For a black woman in Savannah with a ninth-grade education, though, it was good steady work. And Ms. Deen, she said, held out the promise that together, they might get rich one day.

Now, Ms. Deen, 66, is fighting empire-crushing accusations of racism, and Mrs. Charles, 59 and nursing a bad shoulder, lives in an aging trailer home on the outskirts of Savannah.

“It’s just time that everybody knows that Paula Deen don’t treat me the way they think she treat me,” she said.

The relationship between Mrs. Charles and Ms. Deen is a complex one, laced with history and deep affection, whose roots can be traced back to the antebellum South. Depending on whether Mrs. Charles or Ms. Deen tells the story, it illustrates lives of racial inequity or benevolence.

Jessica B. Harris, a culinary scholar whose books have explored the role of Africans in the Southern kitchen, said Ms. Deen and Mrs. Charles are characters in a story that has been played out since slaves started cooking for whites. “Peering through the window of someone else’s success when you have been instrumental in creating that success is not a good feeling,” Ms. Harris said. “Think about who made money from the blues.”

Ms. Deen ran a restaurant in a Best Western hotel when Mrs. Charles, newly divorced and tired of fast-food kitchens, walked in and auditioned by cooking her version of Southern food. Ms. Deen hired her immediately.

Their birthdays are a day apart, so they celebrated together. When Ms. Deen catered parties to survive until they could open the Lady & Sons, Mrs. Charles hustled right beside her.

“If I lost Dora, I would have been devastated,” Ms. Deen wrote in her 2007 memoir, “It Ain’t All About the Cooking.”

Early on, Mrs. Charles claims, Ms. Deen made her a deal: “Stick with me, Dora, and I promise you one day if I get rich you’ll get rich.”

Now, Mrs. Charles said, she wished she had gotten that in writing. “I didn’t think I had to ’cause we were real close back then,” she said.

Read the full story here.

11299: Editorial Evolution At Essence.

From The New York Times…

Awaiting Another Top Editor, Essence Faces Identity Questions

By Tanzina Vega

Essence Communications, which has been without an editor in chief for its flagship publication since February, is said to be in the final stages of choosing a new leader for the magazine, the fifth such appointment in 13 years.

The new editor will be part of a healthy franchise that includes the Essence Festival, the brand’s annual entertainment event, but running the magazine — once seen as a lifestyle and beauty beacon for African-American women — may prove challenging.

While the festival has repeatedly drawn hundreds of thousands of people and attracted A-list performers like Beyoncé, Essence, the magazine, has faced increasing competition from Web sites aimed at African-Americans. The magazine, which is 43 years old, has been buffeted by the frequent leadership changes, including the completion of its purchase by Time Inc. in 2005. That acquisition may now be contributing to one of Essence’s latest challenges: a growing sense among some readers, bloggers and media analysts that the magazine has lost its editorial direction.

“They’ve lost some of the specific focus, who their audience is and what they want to say to them,” said Noliwe M. Rooks, an associate professor of Africana studies at Cornell University and author of “Ladies’ Pages: African American Women’s Magazines and the Culture That Made Them.” “They keep doing more of the same as opposed to actually innovating.”

In February, after a wave of layoffs at Time Inc., the magazine fired three members of its newsroom staff, the editor in chief, Constance C. R. White, the beauty editor and the creative director. Articles about Ms. White’s departure were filled with comments from Essence readers, many of whom said they had stopped reading the magazine. Others lamented the absence of Susan L. Taylor, who led the magazine from 1981 through 2000, and some objected to the fact that Time Inc. was a media company largely owned and managed by whites.

That complaint is not new. In 2010, when Essence appointed Ellianna Placas as the magazine’s first white fashion director, Michaela Angela Davis, a former fashion editor at Essence, wrote on her Facebook page that she felt as if a girlfriend had died. In an interview, Ms. Davis said that for black fashion editors, the fashion editor role at Essence was “a gateway to working at other magazines. The only place that was reserved for us, was taken away by us.” (Ms. Placas is no longer with the magazine.)

Michelle Ebanks, the president of Essence Communications, said she understood the concern among some readers that Time Inc. had hurt the publication. “What we know is that African-Americans historically, and it is still true today, believe that media in general does an O.K. to poor job of reflecting their lives accurately,” Ms. Ebanks said.

But, she added, “I can tell you that journalistic independence is something Essence enjoys here at Time Inc., along with every other title.”

Ms. Ebanks highlighted the magazine’s success with its audience. According to data provided by the company, based on industry research from GfK MRI, 75 percent of the women who read Essence consider it very good or one of their favorite magazines and 62 percent say they read three out of every four issues.

In an interview in April, Ms. Ebanks said, “The percentage of African-American women who read Essence is nearly 40 percent.” That penetration, she said, is reflected in the close relationship the magazine has with its readers.

“Over the decades, Essence has had a great deal of feedback in letters, e-mails, a lot of conversation in blogs,” Ms. Ebanks said. “This is not a liability. This is an asset. Our editors, now and as they always have, take that dialogue very seriously. It’s precious.”

Read the full story here.

11298: Ignorant Annie The Chicken Queen.

Advertising Age reported Popeyes has launched Chicken Waffle Tenders. The introductory commercial features Annie the Chicken Queen proclaiming, “You know what’s hot in the food world? Waffles and Southern fried chicken on the same plate.” Huh? Will Smith praised Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles when he was still playing the Fresh Prince—but the Queen is only hearing about it now?

Popeyes Launches Chicken and Waffles Tenders

Limited-time Offer Is a Departure From the Brand’s Louisiana Roots

By Maureen Morrison

One of Popeyes’ biggest product launches this year drew its inspiration from the West Coast—a departure for the chain that likes to tout its Louisiana roots.

The limited-time Chicken Waffle Tenders—boneless chicken strips with a waffle batter, served with a honey maple dipping sauce—were inspired by the dietary habits of jazz musicians in Los Angeles during 1940s and 50s.

Dick Lynch, chief global brand officer at Popeyes, explained that players finished so late that if they wanted a meal, restaurants and diners would still have fried chicken available while prepping waffle batter. The combination of chicken and waffles has tough-to-trace origins, but this part of its history resonated with Popeyes. And the pairing is apparently experiencing a revival.

“Chicken and waffles is an incredibly trendy, popular and kind of unexpected [product] right now,” Mr. Lynch said.

A campaign supporting the product launches July 29 and will include TV work by Popeyes’ agency GSD&M, as well as a digital effort by Campbell Mithun that includes video of the chain’s food truck offering the new product, and customer reactions. Mr. Lynch said food trucks, which are trendy in their own right, are common places to find chicken and waffles.

The new item is off-brand for Popeyes because its origins are not traced back to New Orleans or Louisiana. But Mr. Lynch said it isn’t straying that far from its tradition. “Jazz is so embedded in the culture of New Orleans that we didn’t have to look too hard to find” a connection. “We’re looking to real culinary trends, no matter where they came from. The odder the better, frankly.”

The product is the first in what will be a series of limited-time “flavor proliferations” of the chicken tenders the chain introduced last year. Mr. Lynch declined to name future offshoots, but said the success of the chicken tender waffles will help determine how many there will be.

The product gives Popeyes something that no other large chain is offering. “It just adds variety to Popeyes menu, and it’s unique, which gives them a story to tell above and beyond what everyone else does,” said restaurant marketing consultant Joel Cohen. “Whenever you have an opportunity to be the only one, it makes your message rise above the clutter.”

Business has been good for Popeyes in recent years. The chain’s U.S. sales increased 14.4% in 2012 to just over $2 billion, according to Technomic. It’s the third-largest chicken chain in the U.S. with 10.9% market share, trailing only KFC and Chick-Fil-A.

Popeyes spent about $54.9 million on U.S. measured media in 2012, according to Kantar Media.

11297: JET Refuels.

From The New York Times…

Jet Magazine Stays Compact, but With a New Design

By Tanzina Vega

Jet magazine is getting a makeover.

On Friday, the magazine’s owner, Johnson Publishing, announced a complete redesign for Jet in print and online — the first in the 62 years of the publication, long a staple in the black community. The new look for Jet includes brighter colors against a white background, more informational graphics, larger photos and new fonts.

Almost a year and a half ago, its sister publication, Ebony, unveiled an online redesign of its own, which was preceded by a print redesign. Since then, traffic to Ebony.com has increased substantially to more than 600,000 visitors in July from less than 100,000 visitors a year ago, said Desiree Rogers, the chief executive of Johnson Publishing, who is hoping for a similar bounce at Jet.

“People really did feel that it was time for a little bit of a makeover here,” said Desirée Rogers, the chief executive of Johnson Publishing. “These brands have been around for almost 70 years. You’ve got to change with the times.”

As part of the redesign, the Web sites Ebony.com and Jetmag.com will each link to the other’s Web site.

The Ebony redesign may also have helped the magazine’s advertising. The number of ad pages increased 4.2 percent from the second quarter in 2012 to the second quarter in 2013. Revenue from advertising also increased to $13.6 million in the second quarter of 2013 from $11.7 million in that quarter a year ago.

Ad revenue for Jet magazine increased a slight 2 percent in the second quarter in 2013, to $2.7 million, up from $2.62 million a year earlier, while the number of ad pages dipped 7.8 percent in the same time period.

While the redesigned Jet will keep some of its franchises — including its “Beauty of the Week” feature — it will also include condensed sections that focus on celebrity, news, entertainment and lifestyle.

The changes will also be felt in the editorial content, with Jet writers doing more original reporting and less aggregation, said Mitzi Miller, the magazine’s editor in chief. “Magazines in general are trying to figure out how we stay relevant,” Ms. Miller said. “We have a clearly defined voice again so when people come here they say ‘O.K. this is a Jet position.’”

The Aug. 12 issue — which reflects the new design — has on the cover Octavia Spencer and Michael B. Jordan, the stars of the film “Fruitvale Station,” which is based on a 2009 incident when a black man was shot and killed by a police officer in an Oakland subway station. The film has gotten particular attention because its release coincided with the verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

Ms. Miller said the magazine would also offer more service journalism for its readers. “It’s also about how can you get Beyoncé's look for less,” she said. “When you have her clothes, here are the top five detergents you need to get the stain out of that blouse.”

It will also offer short videos for users’ mobile phones. In the August issue, Ms. Miller added such a video to her editor’s letter.

One thing that won’t change, however, is the magazine’s unusual size — 5⅛ inches by 7⅜ inches. Ms. Rogers said the magazine enlisted the opinions of focus groups around the country for ideas on the makeover. “The one thing we kept hearing was, ‘Don’t change my size,'” she said.

11296: E*Trade “Pitch” Is Insider Trading.

AgencySpy posted a memo from Ogilvy NY COO Lou Aversano that celebrated the agency’s “win” of the E*Trade account. Aversano’s missive added texture to the stories from Adweek and Advertising Age—but it’s still tough to determine the truth. Piecing together the various perspectives seems to indicate that E*Trade launched a review involving up to five agencies, at least three of which were WPP siblings (not counting ex-incumbent Grey). After the first “round” of competition, E*Trade CMO Liza Landsman ended the pitch and awarded her business to Ogilvy. Of course, Landsman has worked with Ogilvy executives in the past, making the decision a clear case of Corporate Cultural Collusion. It’s insider trading of White advertising agencies.

11295: Subway Ex-Employee Is A Dick.

From The New York Daily News…

Subway fires employee who put penis on sandwich bread and posted picture to Instagram

Two employees at a Columbus, Ohio, Subway restaurant were fired after posting pictures to Instagram that are anything but good public relations for the fast food chain.

By David Knowles / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

On second thought, cancel that foot-long sub.

An employee at a Subway fast food chain in Columbus, Ohio, posted a picture of himself resting his penis on the restaurant’s sandwich bread to Instagram, the Huffington Post reported.

“My name is @ianjett and I will be your sandwich artist today,” read a caption that accompanied the not-suitable-for-work picture that appeared on Jett’s feed.

When confronted about the picture, Jett tried to clarify his reason for sharing the image of him draping his penis over the foot-long roll.

“I would never do that at work—it was at home,” Jett told the Huffington Post. “This isn’t something I’d ever do at Subway. It was totally a joke.”

As if seeing a man’s penis resting atop the restaurant’s sandwich bread isn’t enough bad PR for a single news cycle, a second employee at the same Subway also posted a picture of what he purported to be his own frozen urine.

“Today at I work I froze my pee,” Cameron Boggs wrote beneath the picture of a frosted-over water bottle half-filled with a yellowish substance.

Predictably, the photos did not sit well with Subway, which fired both Boggs and Jett.

“This isolated incident is not representative of Subway Sandwich Artists,” the company said in a statement to the Daily News. “These actions are not tolerated and the franchisee took immediate action to terminate the two employees involved.”

The two men might still have their jobs preparing sandwiches if not for anonymous tipster who spotted the photos and alerted the media.

“I saw the frozen piss picture and thought, ‘What is this guy doing?’” the tipster told Huffpost Weird News. “Then came the penis picture. They’re stupid enough for doing this in the first place, but then to post it to the world? It was a dumb move.”

11294: No Más Kid’s Meals At Taco Bell.

Advertising Age reported Taco Bell has decided to dump its kid’s meals. Um, Taco Bell’s adult food is made from Doritos and Fritos—what the hell was in the kiddie cuisine?

Taco Bell Axes Kids Meals

Kids’ Fare Represents Only Sliver of Sales; Chain Says It’s Focused on Millennials

By Maureen Morrison

Say goodbye to kids meals at Taco Bell.

Taco Bell said Monday that it’s eliminating kids’ meals—often a target of nutrition activists—from its menu. Taco Bell is touting itself as the first national fast-food chain to do so, noting that the move will be completed by January.

The chain said it’s ditching kids’ meals because they aren’t relevant to its core customer—millennials, generally in their late teens and early-to-mid ‘20s. “As we continue our journey of being a better, more relevant Taco Bell, kid’s meals and toys simply no longer make sense for us to put resources behind,” said Greg Creed, CEO of Taco Bell, in a statement. “What does make sense is concentrating on expanding choices that meet and exceed the diverse needs of consumers of all ages, without losing focus on what makes us great today.”

While consumer-advocacy groups may applaud the chain for cutting kids’ menus, Taco Bell’s kids’ meals accounted for only a small sliver a sliver of overall sales. Kids’ meals represent 0.5% of its sales, according to the company. Taco Bell posted an estimated $7.5 billion in U.S. system-wide sales in 2012, according to Technomic. Kantar Media does not show any media spending on kids’-meal marketing at Taco Bell in 2012.

Compare that to McDonald’s, where Happy Meals account for about 10% of U.S. sales. Considering McDonald’s had $35.6 billion in U.S. system-wide sales in 2012, according to Ad Age’s DataCenter, that’s more than $3.5 billion in Happy Meal sales last year alone.

And though Taco Bell may be the first national chain, Jack in the Box two years ago announced it would eliminate its kids meals. At the time, consumer-advocacy groups used the news as leverage to convince other chains to consider ditching kids’ meals. Center for Science in the Public Interest even called on Taco Bell in it’s press release: “We hope that McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, and Taco Bell are paying attention to Jack in the Box, which has decided to stop using toys to market fast-food meals to children.”

CSPI did not offer comment on Taco Bell’s move by press time.

Though the kids’ meals will be gone, some of the items, such as the Crunchy Taco, Soft Taco, Bean Burrito and Cheese Roll-up, will still be available on the regular menu.

11293: Profits & Losses.

Publicis claimed its revenue surged. Omnicom boasted modest gains. IPG admitted net income declined, but countered with rising revenue. Haven’t heard from WPP yet; however, the inevitable release is sure to present a view through rose-colored glasses that emphasizes the silver linings. Can’t help but think these earnings reports may display the holding companies’ most creative communications. It’s only a matter of time before Cannes introduces special Lions for cutting-edge cooking the books accounting.

When did revenue and net income become more important than the work—or newsworthy at all? When Maurice Levy, John Wren, Michael Roth and Sir Martin Sorrell discuss the industry, does anyone who isn’t a financial wonk really care what the alleged leaders have to say? When the topic turns to profits, the industry ultimately experiences losses.

11292: Exclusive Competition.

Campaign asked if agencies have lost their competitive edge. The question, of course, was posed exclusively to four men—three of whom are White. Brilliant.

11291: Fast Feeders Fight First Lady.

From The Los Angeles Times…

Michelle Obama’s nutrition campaign comes with political pitfalls

The first lady has pledged to fight junk-food ads aimed at children. But some say her desire to work with businesses kept her quiet when she was needed most.

By Matea Gold and Kathleen Hennessey

WASHINGTON — Shortly after she launched her signature anti-obesity initiative more than three years ago, Michelle Obama signaled she would take on a contentious issue: advertising for snacks, soft drinks, sugary cereals and fast food aimed at children.

She denounced ads that use cartoon characters to push junk food. She bluntly told executives “to step it up” to improve the foods they market to children.

And she promoted a White House “action plan” on obesity that praised a federal effort to come up with voluntary marketing guidelines — the most significant attempt in decades to limit ads targeting children.

But when food and media companies — including many that supported her anti-obesity campaign — mounted a fierce lobbying battle against the guidelines in 2011, the first lady went silent.

It wasn’t until earlier this year, after the guidelines had been blocked, that Obama resumed her call for more responsible food marketing.

Nutrition advocates disagree over how to rein in food and beverage company practices that they believe contribute to obesity, including the roughly $1.8 billion spent each year on marketing to kids: Will companies respond to voluntary efforts or only to government pressure?

Obama has come down on the side of persuasion. She has used her celebrity to reward corporations that join her campaign to encourage children to eat better and exercise more. And she has largely avoided public policy fights that could pit her against the companies, arguing that obesity cannot be eradicated “by passing a bunch of laws in Washington.”

Administration officials say she has notched some notable successes, and they blame Congress for killing the marketing guidelines.

But some who see themselves as Obama’s allies in the fight against obesity believe her desire to create partnerships with industry kept her quiet when her voice would have counted most. Fourteen companies that back Obama’s anti-obesity campaign helped kill the voluntary advertising guidelines, lobbying reports and other records show.

“The White House got cold feet,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who had championed the guidelines. “It sort of undermines everything that the first lady was doing.”

::

Since Obama launched “Let’s Move!” in February 2010, White House officials have insisted that working with industry is the only way to achieve the first lady’s goal of ending the epidemic of childhood obesity in a generation.

“Business and business leaders are a vital component of the solution,” said Sam Kass, the executive director of Let’s Move! and the first lady’s senior policy advisor on nutrition. Obama declined a request for an interview.

The administration did secure industry backing for a requirement that restaurant menus list calorie information. And the first lady rallied support for a 2010 law that expanded the free school lunch program and set nutritional standards for food sold in schools.

But many public health advocates believe a more forceful approach is needed to limit food marketing.

“The industry has proven itself untrustworthy,” said Kelly D. Brownell of Duke University, a leading expert on obesity who has sometimes advised Obama’s program. “Somebody needs to lean on these companies more strongly.”

Obama has worked through the Partnership for a Healthier America; she is honorary chairwoman of the nonprofit group, which was set up to negotiate pledges from food providers to fight childhood obesity.

Wal-Mart has agreed to promote more healthful foods and build grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods. Darden, owner of the Olive Garden and other restaurants, promised to improve its children’s menus. And 16 food and beverage manufacturers, including Kraft, General Mills and Nestle, pledged to cut calories from their products.

The organization, however, has secured only a few pledges to change the way companies market food.

Read the full story here.

11290: Seeking Navy’s First Black Pilot.

From The New York Daily News…

Retired veteran heads to North Korea to find remains of Navy’s first black pilot, Jesse Brown

Thomas Hudner is heading to North Korea’s Jangjin Reservoir with hopes of finding the spot where the Navy’s first black pilot, Ensign Jesse Brown, died during the Korean War.

The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea — Two years after he made history by becoming the Navy’s first black pilot, Ensign Jesse Brown lay trapped in his downed fighter plane in subfreezing North Korea, his leg broken and bleeding. His wingman crash-landed to try to save him, and even burned his hands trying to put out the flames.

A chopper hovered nearby. Lt. j.g. Thomas Hudner could save himself, but not his friend. With the light fading, the threat of enemy fire all around him and Brown losing consciousness, the white son of a New England grocery-store magnate made a promise to the black son of a sharecropper.

“We’ll come back for you.”

More than 60 years have passed. Hudner is now 88. But he did not forget. He is coming back.

:::

Hudner, now a retired Navy captain, heads to Pyongyang on Saturday with hopes of traveling in the coming week to the region known in North Korea as the Jangjin Reservoir, accompanied by soldiers from the Korean People’s Army, to the spot where Brown died in December 1950.

The reservoir was the site of one of the Korean War’s deadliest battles for Americans, who knew the place by its Japanese name, Chosin. The snowy mountain region was nicknamed the “Frozen Chosin,” and survivors are known in U.S. history books as the “Chosin Few.”

The Battle of the Chosin Reservoir lasted for 17 brutal days. Some 6,000 Americans were killed in combat, and thousands more succumbed to the cold. Brown and many others who died there are among more than 7,910 Americans still missing in action from the war.

Though the fighting ended with an armistice signed 60 years ago July 27, North Korea and the U.S. remain technically at war. Efforts to recover remains have come in fits and starts, with little recent progress.

Next week’s mission is to pick up where search teams have left off by locating the exact spot of Brown’s crash. Armed with maps and coordinates, they hope to work with North Korean soldiers to excavate the remote area, a sealed site controlled by the North Korean military.

Approval for the unusual journey comes as North Korea prepares for festivities marking the upcoming armistice anniversary. Pyongyang is expected to use the milestone to draw international attention to the division of the Korean Peninsula as well as to build unity among North Koreans for new leader Kim Jong Un.

Hudner does not plan to stay for a massive military parade expected on July 27. But he said he hopes his visit will help to foster peace and reconciliation on the tense Korean Peninsula.

Read the full story here.

11289: E*Trade Trades White Agencies.

Adweek reported E*Trade awarded its account to Ogilvy after canceling a formal review. Oh, and Grey (the former incumbent agency) and Ogilvy (the new agency) are both part of WPP. Can baby say, “Corporate Cultural Collusion?”

Ogilvy Wins E*Trade

Review never happened

By Noreen O'Leary

Ogilvy & Mather has won E*Trade less than a month after Grey resigned the account, sources said. The move to a fellow WPP Group shop comes after an agency review was called but never progressed.

E*Trade spent $112 million in measured media in 2012, according to Nielsen.

The agency search was launched by new E*Trade CMO Liza Landsman, who joined the discount broker in May. She had previously been global head of digital at investment company BlackRock which has been working with OgilvyOne in relationship marketing for investment products like U.S. iShares exchange-traded funds. Earlier in her career, Landsman worked at Ogilvy client IBM.

E*Trade was set to send out non-disclosure agreements on June 27 and RFPs the following week, sources said. A search consultant was also reportedly lined up but the review never went beyond some “polite conversations,” said a source.

E*Trade did not respond to inquiries.

In late June, Landsman released a statement about beginning an agency search.

“We recently began a search to identify the best-suited agency to help drive our branding and advertising through the next phase of our evolution,” she said. “Grey N.Y., our agency of record for the past six years, has decided not to participate in this process. They are a terrific partner and we are deeply appreciative of their wonderful contributions. As we look to the future, we are excited about the ongoing opportunities for our business and the great platform and assets we can leverage as we write our next chapter with new partners.”

Grey had worked closely with Landsman’s predecessor, Nick Utton, the CMO behind the agency’s popular talking babies campaign.

11288: Serious Shit.

Thanks to the pure fiber in Adelgazul, you’ll take shits the size of volleyballs.

From Ads of the World.

11287: Blacks Happier Than Ever.

From The Los Angeles Times…

More U.S. blacks satisfied with how society treats them, poll finds

About half of African Americans are satisfied with society’s treatment of blacks, according to the Gallup poll, which was conducted before the George Zimmerman verdict.

By Emily Alpert

A new poll shows that black Americans have grown more upbeat about their treatment in society after the reelection of President Obama.

Earlier this summer, a record 47% said they were satisfied with how blacks were treated in the country — more than at any other time since Gallup started asking the question in 2001.

However, Gallup cautioned that the question was asked before George Zimmerman was acquitted in the killing of Trayvon Martin — an event that could dim that rising optimism. Civil rights leaders have called the controversial verdict a wake-up call to those who thought the election of a black president heralded a post-racial era.

The Zimmerman case “could prove to be a watershed event in how not just blacks, but all Americans, perceive society’s treatment of blacks today,” Gallup senior editor Lydia Saad wrote in a summary of the results. The research group surveyed more than 4,300 adults, including more than 1,000 black Americans, in June and early July.

Researchers and activists say the election of Obama buoyed hopes among African Americans, who saw his political rise as a sign of new possibilities for black advancement and acceptance. Some fear it also distracted attention from disadvantages blacks still face.

If the Gallup poll were done again this week, “I think sentiment would have been radically different,” said Shana Redmond, assistant professor of American studies and ethnicity at USC. She said the Zimmerman case, which centered on the killing of an unarmed black teenager, has made black Americans feel newly vulnerable.

Even before the Zimmerman verdict, more than half of black Americans remained dissatisfied with the treatment of black people, the Gallup poll showed. They were much more downbeat than whites and Latinos, a majority of whom said they were satisfied with how blacks were treated.

“It’s not as if when you’re in discussions with groups of African Americans, anybody is saying, ‘Isn’t it great how much better we’re treated now than in the past?’” said Marqueece Harris-Dawson, president and chief executive of Community Coalition in South Los Angeles.

Gallup found that black women were less satisfied than black men, with the sharpest differences surfacing among young people. Sixty-three percent of black women ages 18 to 34 were dissatisfied with the treatment of blacks in the United States, compared with 46% of black men in the same age range — a finding that surprised some scholars. b “The conventional wisdom would be that young black males are targeted and harassed and therefore should be the least satisfied,” said Franklin D. Gilliam Jr., dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. b Others pointed to the added burdens of sexism for black women. “Stereotypes they face are oftentimes accepted by members of even their own communities,” said Kimberle W. Crenshaw, a professor at the UCLA School of Law.

11286: Cheerios Is Shamelessly Pitiful.

Cheerios goes from interracial families to dead grandmas. Yo, if Nana had eaten more Cheerios, she might not have croaked. Nana Nana Hey Hey Goodbye!

11285: Only Hiring The Best.

Campaign asked, “Should one only hire the best graduates?” The question, of course, was posed exclusively to four White men. Brilliant.

11284: When White Is Not Right.

From The Huffington Post…

What’s In Your Egg-White Breakfast Sandwich Might Scare You

The Huffington Post | By Meredith Melnick

When McDonald’s released their Egg White Delight in the spring, the new menu item was heralded as a sign that the fast food giant was continuing to expand its healthier offerings. And it was hardly the first chain restaurant to offer an egg-white based breakfast sandwich. Starbucks has long featured their popular Spinach & Feta Breakfast Wrap, with what they call “cage-free egg white.” Au Bon Pain, Subway and many other restaurants also offer an egg-white breakfast sandwich.

A consumer might reasonably assume that when a restaurant offers a dish with egg whites, those “whites” will be made entirely of the albumin contained in an egg’s shell. That reasonable consumer would be surprised: Some of the food marketed as “egg whites” have ingredient lists 15 items long. To repeat: An egg white patty—not the entire sandwich, just the patty—can have upwards of 15 ingredients alone.

Breakfast in the fast food sector is booming. According to industry research, it’s the only growth area for big restaurant chains. Meanwhile healthy options are another area of focus among fast food companies. Restaurants are eager to meet customer demand with a broad offering of healthful options. But when it comes to a healthy breakfast, couldn’t we do a little better than this?

See video here.

11283: Shit From Draftfcb In Brazil.

This campaign from Brazil shows Draftfcb sucks worldwide.

From Ads of the World.

11282: Kidding Around With Cheerios.

Fine Brothers Productions created a video showing kids reacting to the “controversial” Cheerios commercial featuring interracial parents and their biracial daughter. Whatever. In the end, it’s another example of liberals spanking the bigoted haters. Perhaps the Fine Brothers should interview kids responding to the historical racism and discrimination at Saatchi & Saatchi (the advertising agency behind the Cheerios spot)—as well as the global industry it represents.

11281: Now Asiana Airlines Says, “Wi No Su.”

From The New York Daily News…

Asiana Airlines drops plans to file suit against local TV station as 83 crash survivors pursue own legal action

In the weeks following the July 6 crash, survivors have banned together to sue Asiana Airlines and Boeing as the airline contemplated a suit of its own.

By Nina Golgowski / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

In the wake of the deadly Asiana plane crash, the legal finger-pointing is rampant.

Even as Asiana Airlines is dropping its planned lawsuit against a local TV station it accused of damaging its reputation over a racially offensive report, 83 passengers nearly killed in this month’s crash have announced their own suit against the airline and Boeing.

Asiana announced Wednesday that it has accepted San Francisco station KTVU’s on-air apology delivered immediately after their bogus reporting on their pilot’s names and will no longer pursue legal action.

Company spokeswoman Lee Hyomin had said Monday the report seriously damaged Asiana’s reputation.

A Chicago law firm also began taking steps Monday to sue aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co. on behalf of 83 people who were aboard the Asiana Airlines flight that crash-landed in San Francisco on July 6. There were 307 passengers and crew on board.

The court filing claims the crash might have been caused by a mechanical malfunction of the Boeing 777’s auto throttle, causing it to land too low. Emergency slides and seat belts also malfunctioned, the claim states, further injuring and briefly trapping some passengers and crew in their first moments of terror.

The National Transportation Safety Board has not yet released its report.

Ribbeck Law Chartered on Monday filed a petition for discovery — a move meant to preserve evidence — in Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago, where Boeing is headquartered.

The law firm said in a news release that additional pleadings will be filed against Asiana Airlines and several component parts manufacturers in coming days.

Three people were killed when the airplane, flying from South Korea to San Francisco International Airport, approached the runway too low and slow. It clipped a seawall at the end of a runway, tearing off the tail and sending the plane spinning down the runway. The impact caused the plane to catch fire.

Ribbeck said that in addition to potential problems with the auto throttle, some emergency slides reportedly opened inside the plane, injuring passengers and blocking their exit, and some passengers had to be cut out of their seatbelts with a knife.

“We must find the causes of the crash and demand that the problems with the airline and the aircraft are immediately resolved to avoid future tragedies,” attorney Monica R. Kelly, head of Ribbeck’s aviation department, said in a written statement.

Boeing spokesman John Dern said the company had no comment.

The petition asks a judge to order Boeing to identify the designer and manufacturer of the airplane’s auto throttle and its emergency evacuation slides. It also seeks information on the systems that indicate the airplane’s glide slope and that warn how close it is to the ground.

Kelly said the firm wants to protect the wreckage “from destructive testing” and to obtain maintenance records, internal memos and other evidence.

The pilots of Asiana Flight 214 have told investigators they were relying on automated cockpit equipment to control their speed. Inspectors found that the auto throttle had been “armed,” or made ready for activation, but investigators are still determining whether it had been engaged, the National Transportation Safety Board has said.

Two of the plane’s eight slides malfunctioned, opening inside the cabin and pinning two flight attendants underneath them.

With News Wire Services

11280: Stomach-Turning Contextual Ad.

Another example of why advertising should not appear on the World Wide Web. A commercial for TUMS precedes a story on 22 children dying after eating a school lunch in India.