CBC News: Marketplace | Murmurs | a daily blog of consumer-related news

Apple Computer can use its apple logo on the iTunes Music Store without infringing the trademark of Apple Corps Ltd., the Beatles' record company, a British judge ruled Monday... MORE»

Companies are deceiving the public with the marketing and advertising of so-called "educational toys," a consumer group in the U.S. says... MORE»

Apple Corps., the record company that brought you a little band called The Beatles, is taking on the Apple Computers empire in a London court. The two Apples are entangled in a trademark war over the computer giant's shift into the music business with its hugely popular website, iTunes... MORE»

If the rumours are to be believed, Apple is putting in the final touches to make advertising history - launching an ad for its colossally popular iPod that will be visible from space... MORE»

The Toronto Star says former sprinter Ben Johnson is trading in his infamy as Canada's most notorious sports cheater to hawk a new energy drink: Cheetah Power Surge... MORE»

Much is being made about the dramatic makeover the Sun-Maid Raisin girl has undergone... MORE»

Loblaw Companies Ltd. launched a new line of designer fashions yesterday as it beefed up its range of offerings to meet competition from uber-retailer Wal-Mart... MORE»

Who owns the red cross emblem? The Canadian Red Cross says it does... And so it's apparently launching battles against unauthorized usages of the red-cross symbol; it's threatening to sue everyone from the makers of first-aid kits and video-game makers that identifying in-game health-kits with the red cross symbol... MORE»

murmur categories: logos/branding

tags: consumers consumer news consumerism Red Cross logos branding trademark copyright

posted by Tessa | 2:49 PM (ET) | Permalink

A group of Italian artists and activists called Molleindustria has come up with an online 'game' that challenges players to consider their consumption habits and what consequences they may have on the complex chain of command that is fast-food economics... MORE»

There’s a fascinating dustup occurring in the quickly converging world of online gaming and advertising... MORE»

Companies are going out of this world to take advantage of new satellite map systems like Google Maps. Some companies are painting ads on their roofs in order to appear on the popular map service... MORE»

Beware while surfing through the blogosphere. Like the real world, blogging is full of clandestine marketing, where corporate marketers pose as supposedly real bloggers bantering about this and that while sliding in the odd product nudge... MORE»

A few years ago, when my parents were downsizing from my childhood home and cleaning up the place for potential buyers, my dad made a remarkable archaeological discovery: tucked in the back corner of our yard he found a Barbie graveyard... MORE»

We focus a lot on complaining about products, customer service, advertising, etc., but tend not to give much thought to what happens when someone contacts a company with something nice to say... MORE»

Sony has confirmed it is indeed running an urban graffiti campaign to market its new PSP (Portable PlayStation), Wired News reports... MORE»

Some skeptical citizens in Los Angeles say they’re being preyed on by graffiti bandits – but they’re not blaming the young ruffian type you might imagine. They say Sony has come up with a clandestine corporate graffiti campaign to promote its PSP (portable PlayStation)... MORE»

Consumer conceit revealed: Study finds correlation between shoppers’ names and brands
November 15, 2005

It seems we’re full of ourselves when it comes to our shopping habits. A new study suggests that we pick certain brand names for an entirely narcissistic reason – because they contain letters of the alphabet that are in our own name... MORE»

murmur categories: products, branding

tags: consumers, consumer news, consumerism, branding

posted by Tessa | 9:55 AM (ET) | Permalink

There are some people who love McDonald’s, and there are some who love McDonald’s. Like this woman from the Phillipines who has been popping up in her photoblog in the most peculiar and usual of places -- in full-on Ronald McDonald regalia. From going to the dentist, to playing a little b-ball with her friends... MORE»

That’s enough. This has got to stop. Now Martha Stewart is teaming up with a housing developer to create a subdivision of 650 homes outside of Raleigh, N.Y. ... MORE»

McDonald's customers will soon have a lot more to chew on when the company starts printing nutritional facts on the packaging of its products, CBC News reports... MORE»

A former graphic designer for the Nazi party is suing Volkswagen over its logo. Nikolai Borg says he helped design VW’s logo, and he wants the carmaker to recognize his contribution... MORE»

Mattel is suing a restaurateur in Quebec for naming his BBQ-themed joint "Barbie's." The California-based toy maker is taking the case to Canada’s Supreme Court, claiming that children might wander alone into the bar under the mistaken impression that it has something to do with the Barbie dolls... MORE»

posted 10:54 AM (ET) | Permalink

It seems the folks at McDonald’s missed the big lesson most of us learned in high school: if you’re trying too hard to be cool, you’re simply not cool... MORE»

Can a modern-day businessman copyright a 5,000-year-old tradition? Beverly Hills yoga master Bikram Choudhury thinks it can, and he’s turned his fight into a legal exercise... MORE»

Mattel, the maker of Barbie, is hoping to reinvent the long-limbed doll through a partnership with Fox TV's wildly popular American Idol franchise... MORE»

A lawsuit battle in Chicago over the trademarking of plush toys has taken a twist, the Chicago Tribune reports... MORE»

Apple has top brand appeal
February 2, 2005

Apple Computer has edged out Google to become the world’s most influential brand, says the online magazine Brandchannel.com... MORE»

posted by Tessa | 10:08 AM (ET) | Permalink

VW files charges over viral ad
January 31, 2005

An update on a story from last week... The carmaker Volkswagen has filed criminal charges over a so-called viral ad making the rounds on the web that features a suicide bomber whose attack is defeated when he blows himself up but his VW Polo remains intact... MORE»

posted by Tessa | 9:56 AM (ET) | Permalink

A very long tail indeed
January 11, 2005

The folks over at Google.com have compiled 800 million Usenet messages into a 20-year archive of "firsts" mentioned in usenet history up to December 2001... MORE»

posted by Tessa | 10:03 AM (ET) | Permalink

Playing the name game
December 15, 2004

What's in a name? Perhaps not much, at least when it comes to popular everyday products. Microsoft might well be the leader in this -- consider the starkly simple names it's given its wares: Word, Office, Project, Media Player...

Of course these strokes of straightforwardness are not accidental - they're the result of strategic marketing efforts that triumph strong, simple branding and finely focused messages. But I think there's something intriguing in the more subtle approach taken by merchants of days gone by.

Consider 7Up, the lime-flavoured soda favoured by stain-wary moms at birthday parties. 7Up has been around for 75 years, but why it's called 7Up, and what 7Up means (if anything, for that matter), remains a frothing debate to this day.

As Barbara "Queen of the Urban Legend" Mikkelson reports on her website, Snopes.com, several theories exist about the origins of "7Up".

One story claims the name came from a stroke of luck the drink's inventor had at the craps table (he apparently rolled sevens all night, and invested the winnings in getting the drink to market - but there's no evidence to back this up); another story cites the fact that Seven Up has seven letters (but, then again, so does "Six Down" and "Cat Food").

In the end, the truth of how 7Up got its name was taken to the grave with the soda's creator - and the mystery lives on ...

posted by Tessa (Online Producer, Marketplace) | 04:13 PM (ET)

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