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Marketplace
Murmurs is a daily collection of consumer-related
news, thoughts and missives that cross the minds
and desks of the CBC News: Marketplace staff...
2005
No blogging on Marketplace
Murmurs through July
June 30, 2005
Dear readers,
Marketplace Murmurs is taking a
hiatus. I'll be taking the month of July off
- I'll be back in August and the blogging will
resume then.
Have a great holiday weekend, and
a fabulous month of July!
Until August,
Tessa
posted 12:34 PM (ET) | Permalink
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Turning the tables on the
credit card co.
June 29, 2005
Here’s a brilliant
example of consumer heroism from the Houston
Chronicle. A columnist with the Chronicle
took his credit card company to task by dictating
new terms and conditions, outlining how
the creditor must act if they’re going
to continue to enjoy his business.
Among his terms:
“Effective May 1,
2005, any compromise of my data will result
in a $50 liability for you, the card issuer,
owed to me, the card holder.”
“Given the widespread
nature of the security problems, I am going
to share information with my fellow consumers.
If I determine you failed to secure their private
account information, I may be forced to enact
the terms specified in this agreement even
though you did not violate the agreement with
me. Call it universal default in reverse.”
Clever.
Related Marketplace story: Card
Tricks
Via Consumer
World
posted 12:13 PM (ET) | Permalink
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Secrets of the Bed & Breakfast
June 29, 2005
An oldie but a goodie for
those who might be on the lookout for a quaint
B&B for their holidays this summer: 10
Things Your Bed & Breakfast Won't Tell
You, from the folks at smartmoney.com. Among
the secrets revealed: Most B&B’s
pay to be listed in online travel directories – so
don’t expect to find independent reviews
on the websites. More
from smartmoney.com.
Via Consumer
World
posted 12:02 PM (ET) | Permalink
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Clean up nail salons: Paula
Abdul
June 29, 2005
Sir Bob Geldof isn’t
the only celebrity fighting for a cause these
days: “American Idol” judge and
singer/dancer Paula Abdul is fighting for cleaner
nail salons, AP reports.
This week Abdul appeared before
a California panel of legislators and urged them
force nail salons to clean up their act. She
testified that an unsanitary manicure at a salon
in April 2004 sent her in and out of hospital
for a year, and made her fodder for late-night
talk show jokes.
All kidding aside, the legislators
also heard testimony from experts who say customers
are vulnerable to bacterial infections if manicurists
do not properly sanitize their tools between jobs.
Via Fark.com
posted 11:25 AM (ET) | Permalink
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How to snag an upgrade
on your flight
June 29, 2005
The folks at MSNBC have
a top
ten list of tips that can help you get
a coveted upgrade to first class on your next
flight. Some of the suggestions seem pretty
obvious, but heck, doesn't hurt to try, does
it? Among the tips:
- Dress smartly or in business
attire.
- Travel alone.
- Be kind and courteous.
- Be early.
- Always ask about upgrades and
prices when you book your ticket.
- More from MSNBC...
Via Fark.com
posted 11:00 AM (ET) | Permalink
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Wired on identity
theft
June 29, 2005
Wired News has an interesting editorial on
identity theft, and how the U.S. Congress ought
to deal with it.
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce,
Science and Transportation is holding hearings
on the issue starting today, to decide whether
federal legislation would be able to protect
consumers from identity theft. Wired says yes – and
has several suggestions it hopes the committee
will consider:
- Require businesses to secure
data and levy fines against those who don't.
- Require companies to encrypt
all sensitive customer data.
- Keep the plan simple and provide
authority and funds to the FTC to ensure legislation
is enforced.
- Keep Social Security numbers
for Social Security.
- Force credit agencies to scrutinize
credit-card applications and verify the identity
of credit-card applicants.
- Extend fraud alerts beyond
90 days.
- Allow individuals to freeze
their credit records so that no one can access
the records without the individuals' approval.
- Require opt-in rather than
opt-out permission before companies can share
or sell data.
- Require companies to notify
consumers of any privacy breaches, without
preventing states from enacting even tougher
local laws.
More, from Wired.
Related Murmur: Identity
theft tops FTC’s list of consumer complaints
Via Wired
posted 10:40 AM (ET) | Permalink
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Pediatricians call for
mandatory car booster seats for children
June 24, 2005
All provinces and territories
should make car booster seats mandatory to
protect children in car accidents, the head
of the Canadian Pediatric Society said yesterday.
The seats are currently required
in B.C. for babies and toddlers, but not for
children, CBC Health and Science News reports.
As of September 2005, Ontario will
be the only province in Canada with a law requiring
booster seats for children weighing more than
18 kilograms.
Related Marketplace stories: Child
booster seats, Installing
kids' car seats
Via CBC
Health & Science News
posted 10:35 AM (ET) | Permalink
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Air Canada hikes fares
to pay for fuel
June 21, 2005
As the price of crude oil touched
a new high, Canada's dominant airline says it's
raising domestic fares by $8 to $15 each way
to offset what it called record prices of aviation
fuel, CBC Business News reports.
Air Canada's price hikes — which
start with tickets issued on Thursday — apply
to all fares "including published, web
and other special fares" for flights
within Canada, the airline said yesterday.
The increases also apply on regional
carrier Air Canada Jazz and on so-called "codeshare
flights" marketed jointly with other
airlines. The cost of fuel is the second
largest airline operating expense, after
labour, Air Canada says.
Related Marketplace
stories: Air Travel
Complaints, Testing
the Skies, Airport
Safety, Fair
Flying
Via CBC
Business News
posted 9:48 AM
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Mentors model healthy
living for overweight kids
June 17, 2005
Children with weight problems
in Montreal are being paired with mentors who
help them to get out and be active, CBC Health
and Science News reports.
In a new program, the Big Brothers
and Big Sisters Association is trying to encourage
kids to get fit, since children who are obese
are at greater risk of developing Type-2 diabetes
and heart disease.
Carrie Markin, who designed the
Mentors in Motion program as part of her master's
thesis in nutrition, said the goal is to improve
feelings of self-esteem and self-worth through
physical activity.
Kids participating in the program
stay active where they live, such as visiting
the local swimming pool with their mentor.
Related Murmurs:
Related Marketplace stories: Fat Grade, Cafeteria
Confidential, Sugar
Surprise, Junk
Food Addiction, Fast
Food
Via CBC
Health & Science News
posted 10:20 AM (ET) | Permalink
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Marketers try high-tech
tool to push brain's 'buy button'
June 14, 2005
Marketers are trying to
use brain scans to convince consumers to buy
their product, although scientists say the
approach may not be ready to be applied.
Peering into someone's brain seems
like it may have its benefits for marketers,
who aim to find out whether consumers will like
a product, CBC Health and Science News reports.
"If you knew exactly
how they were hearing your messages, clearly
you can choose the best way of making that
message to them," said Barry Welford,
president of Strategic
Marketing Montreal.
Brain scan technology, such as
functional MRIs, shows which parts of the brain
are activated by impulses. Some marketers theorize
that since the scans suggest positive or negative
reactions, the technology can help them to fine-tune
their message.
Marketers may be jumping ahead
of science, said Alain Dagher, a neurologist
at the Montreal
Neurological Institute.
"I think it has potential," said
Dagher. "But certainly to think that nowadays
you can do a brain scan, and tell which brand
of soap someone is going to buy – I think
that's science fiction right now."
Some ethicists also warn that
better marketing of products such as cigarettes
or alcohol could be very damaging to society. The
technology could also be applied as an effective
tool for propaganda.
Related Murmurs: Neuromarketing:
Tapping into the inner you, Navigating
the supermarket: Study maps shoppers’ paths
Related Marketplace stories: The
Science of Shopping, Paco Underhill:
Shopping Scientist
Via CBC
Health & Science News
posted 10:36 AM (ET) | Permalink
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Procter & Gamble drops
campaign for deodorant aimed at 7-year-old girls
June 13, 2005
Procter & Gamble has
quashed its Secret
Sparkle Body Spray ad campaign that targeted
preteen girls with a deodorant body spray.
The move comes after the Children’s
Advertising Review Unit complained that
P&G was ignoring its guidelines for
advertising to children. The CARU rules say
that “products inappropriate for children
should not be advertised to children. This
is especially true for products labelled ‘Keep
out of reach of children.’”
The offending deodorant spray
line carried a ‘Keep out of reach of children’ label,
but nonetheless P&G’s advertising for
the product was directly aimed at preteen girls
as young as seven.
Related Murmurs: New
deodorant aimed at 7-year-old girls
Via CBC
Health & Science News
posted 11:22 AM (ET) | Permalink
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New research underlines
painkiller heart risk
June 13, 2005
Anti-inflammatory medications
including COX-2 inhibitors and drugs like ibuprofen
may be linked to an increased risk of heart
attack, new research suggests.
The authors of the study say no
one should stop taking the drugs based on their
results, which need to be confirmed by further
research, CBC Health and Science News reports.
In a four-year study,
researchers found a higher danger of heart attack
among more than 9,200 people aged 25 to 100 who
were taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatories.
Related Murmurs: Return
COX-2s to market: arthritis patients to Health
Canada panel, Ottawa
holds 'landmark' forum on arthritis pills
Related
Marketplace story: Celebrex: Is
there truth to the hype?
Via CBC
Health & Science News
posted 10:17 AM (ET) | Permalink
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Cash, charge or fingerprint?
June 10, 2005
A number of stores in the United
States are beginning to rollout a payment process
that has you use your fingerprint to pay your
bill. Some say the technology is on the cusp
of becoming commonplace. The Washington Post has
an interesting article on
how the system works, and which retailers are
getting on board.
Related Murmurs: Washing
machine aims to mollify battle of the sexes, Shoppers
pay with fingerprints in Germany
Via The
Washington Post
posted 11:21 AM (ET) | Permalink
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Return COX-2s to market:
arthritis patients to Health Canada panel
June 10, 2005
Patients and doctors had
a chance to share their views yesterday on
whether Canadians should be able to take a
controversial class of arthritis drugs, CBC
Health and Science News reports.
Two of the best-selling drugs,
Vioxx and Bextra, were pulled from the market
last year over cardiovascular risks. Celebrex
is the only similar drug
still available in Canada.
Now, Health Canada has convened
an expert panel to evaluate whether the benefits of
the drugs, known as COX-2 inhibitors, outweigh
their risks.
Related
Murmur: Ottawa holds 'landmark' forum
on arthritis pills
Related Marketplace story: Celebrex:
Is there truth to the hype?
Via CBC Health & Science
News
posted 10:17 AM (ET) | Permalink
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Raisins can help fight
cavities: study
June 9, 2005
Raisins may help fight tooth
decay and protect your oral or dental health,
a new
study has found.
Researchers have identified five
compounds in seedless raisins: oleanolic acid,
oleanolic aldehyde, betulin, betulinic acid,
and 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furfural. They found
that oleanolic acid suppressed the growth of
two species of oral bacteria: Streptococcus mutans
(which causes cavities) and Porphyromonas gingivalis
(which causes periodontal disease).
The study was presented
yesterday at the 105th General
Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in
Atlanta.
Via foodconsumer.org
posted 9:31 AM (ET) | Permalink
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Study shows heat
and smog are killers
June 7, 2005
Smog is responsible for more than
800 deaths a year in Toronto, and extreme heat
makes the problem even worse, a new government study has
found.
The issue appears to be just as
bad, in relative terms, in three smaller cities – Montreal,
Ottawa and Windsor, Ont. – that were studied
by a team of scientists from Toronto's public
health department, the federal government and
McMaster University in Hamilton.
Data from the study were
released in Toronto on Monday, which happened
also to be the first day this year that that
city announced a heat alert, advising residents
to:
- Keep cool.
- Take rests.
- Drink lots of water, whether
they are thirsty or not.
- Check on elderly or frail neighbours,
relatives and friends who live alone.
- Take advantage of air conditioning
in public places such as malls, community centres
and libraries.
Via CBC
Health & Science News
posted 9:03 AM (ET) | Permalink
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Gillette slapped
for hair-raising claims
June 6, 2005
Razor-maker Schick-Wilkinson
Sword has won the first round in a battle against
its chief competitor, Gillette Co. A judge
has ruled in Schick’s favour in the company’s
case against Gillette, which argued their M3Power
razor doesn’t make hair stand up straight,
making it easier to remove.
The judge in the case called
Gillette’s claims "greatly exaggerated" and "literally
false," AP reports.
She ordered the company to pull its television
and print ads, change packaging for the product
and remove any in-store displays that feature the
false claims.
Despite the ruling, Gillette says
it can and will continue to claim that its vibrating
M3 Power razor
"stimulates hair up and away from skin," AdAge reports.
Via Consumer
World Blog
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Florida pharmacists
could be liable for drug interactions in patients
June 6, 2005
An appeals court in Florida is
allowing a widower to sue two pharmacists for
negligence in the death of his wife. The ruling
marks the first time that “pharmacists
can be held liable for failing to warn about
risks associated with use of drugs repeatedly
or in harmful combinations, even if they are
filling a doctor's prescriptions,” AP reports.
Related: Faint
Warning: How Canada tracks dangerous drugs (CBC
News Indepth), A Hard
Pill to Swallow (Marketplace), Out in the Cold (Marketplace).
Related Murmurs: Adverse
drug reaction database goes online, Drugs
killing thousands of seniors yearly
Via Associated
Press
posted 10:56 AM (ET) | Permalink
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Read 'low sugar'
labels carefully, dietitians advise
June 2, 2005
Less of the sweet stuff doesn't necessarily
mean that low-sugar product is better
for you, dietitians say. |
Low or reduced-sugar products are
replacing low-carb foods as the latest healthy
eating trend, but it may be a case of marketing
winning out over science.
Grocery stores across Canada
are increasingly stocking low-fat, low-carb
and low-sugar products from cereal to
yogurt, CBC Health and Science News reports.
Products may be labelled
as containing one-third less sugar, but
the marketing may be misleading, said
Theresa Glanville, a nutrition professor
at Mount St. Vincent University in Halifax.
When Glanville compared
boxes of reduced sugar and regular cereals,
she found only a five-calorie difference
per serving. That's because starches
or fat have been added to the low-sugar
cereals to boost taste and texture.
"The total amount of carbohydrate
is really just modestly different," said
Glanville, who suggests consumers should
read labels carefully. "For
most people, one product is just as healthy
as the other."
Related Murmur: Sugar
Surprise
Via CBC
Health & Science News
posted 9:15 AM
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Chemists show power
of miniaturized computers, electronics
June 2, 2005
By shrinking the size of
a key part in electronic devices, researchers
in Alberta may have discovered a way to make
faster, miniaturized gadgets.
Transistors act as an on/off switch
in devices ranging from traffic lights to cellphones,
CBC Health and Science News reports.
The component controls the flow of electrical
currents.
Today's fastest transistors need
about one million electrons to switch a current.
In the new discovery, current flows through a
single molecule a billionth of a metre, or nanometre,
in size. And only one electron is needed to make
the switch.
If engineers succeed in controlling
the single molecular transitor and connecting
them together, then the approach may find its
way into consumer gadgets that run faster, use
much less energy, and produce less heat.
Via CBC
Health & Science News
posted 9:08 AM (ET) | Permalink
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Neuromarketing:
Tapping into the inner you
June 1, 2005
Scientists have been looking at
the human brain, trying to pinpoint the processes
that make you reach for Coke instead of Pepsi.
The Holy Grail in this research is to uncover
what triggers the “buy” response
in consumers. It’s called “neuromarketing” and
Wired has a roundup of the latest studies coming
soon to an advertiser near you.
Related Marketplace stories: The
Science of Shopping,
Paco Underhill: Shopping Scientist
Related Murmur: Navigating
the supermarket: Study maps shoppers’ paths
Via Wired
posted 10:11 AM (ET) | Permalink
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RFID
tags to measure print
audiences
June 1, 2005
Mediamark
Research plans
to test a new
technology that would allow for RFID
tags to be printed on the pages of magazines.
If successful, it would allow detailed
measurements on how much time magazine
readers spend reading articles and looking
at advertising.
Related Murmurs: Navigating
the supermarket: Study maps shoppers’ paths,
RFID
could make your toothpaste sing, RFID
technology won’t be regulated in U.S., European
consumers worry about use of RFID, Pub-crawling
with Big Brother, Keeping
track of the kids ... with RFID
Via MediaPost
posted 9:34 AM (ET) | Permalink
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Consumers
make time for viral ads
June 1, 2005
Marketers
are falling over themselves to create the kind of viral
advertising, a-la Burger King's
Subservient
Chicken, that consumers pass around without
any media planning. As Gregg Spiridellis, co-founder
of popular web animation company JibJab tells USA
Today: "All
viral means is that you've created a message that people want to share."
Via USA
Today
posted 9:27 AM (ET) | Permalink
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Painkillers linked to
increased breast cancer risk
June 1, 2005
People who use ibuprofen or aspirin
daily for years may be in greater danger of getting
breast cancer, a U.S. study suggests.
The University
of Southern California research found
a small but significant increase in risk
of contracting the disease among women who
took ibuprofen daily for more than five years,
CBC Health and Science News reports.
"We observed a statistically significant
increased risk of breast cancer, especially non-localized
breast cancer, in long-term daily users of ibuprofen," the
researchers write in the study,
published in the June 1 issue of the Journal
of the National Cancer Institute.
People who popped an aspirin daily
for at least as long were also slightly more
likely to develop certain types of breast tumours,
the research indicated.
Via CBC
Health & Science News
posted 9:11 AM (ET) | Permalink
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Light blogging ahead
May 31, 2005
Just a note to let you know that
I'll be blogging less over the next month - I'm
working on a CBC/New York Times/Discovery Times
pilot series called Times
Seven which airs throughout June.
posted by Tessa | 9:25
AM (ET) | Permalink
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