Walmart will test in-store lockers for online deliveries a la Amazon. 

CBS aquires 50 percent of TV Guide Network for $100 million.

Southwest Airlines becomes the official airline of golf.

California shoe company sues Under Armour for trademark infringement.

Facebook and TiVo continue to battle over thumbs-up symbol.

After weeks of rumors and potential leaks, the Miami Dolphins will unveil their new logo on April 25.

Doritos officially launches new global campaign and redesigned packaging.

Human Rights Campaign's red equal sign logo for gay marriage goes viral on social media.Continue reading...

It has been nearly 16 years since the episode of “Ellen” that found its main character, as played by Ellen DeGeneres, come out of the closet and tell the world that she was gay, followed up by the historic "Yep, I'm Gay" cover of TIME.

That, of course, was a watershed moment and plenty has happened since. States have legalized gay marriage. Gay characters that don’t fall into ancient stereotypes actually populate mainstream films and television shows. Those in the 18- to 44-year-old demographic are mostly all for gay marriage, leading many to assert that, with time, it will be fully integrated into American culture. 

That same demographic is the target of most marketers, which has led to a rapid growth in gay-themed ads. Anti-gay sentiment clearly isn’t dead, though, and marketers take the risk of getting one faction of its fans upset when it goes that route, a fact Kraft’s Oreo brand found out last summer when it put a rainbow-themed Oreo on its Facebook page and then discovered a massive fight occurring in its comments section.

Amazon has now stepped in to show that it’s happy to have its products, specifically Kindles, used by gays or straights. In a new ad campaign that broke this week, a shirtless man and bikini-wearing woman sit next to each other at a resort looking at their e-readers. While he squints at what looks like an iPad in the sunlight, she can see her Kindle Paperwhite just fine. He decides to purchase a Kindle from his device and after, suggests that they should celebrate. She says that her husband is bringing her a drink right now. His response? “So is mine.” Touché.Continue reading...

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index is the national benchmarking tool on business policies and practices related to LGBT employees, and their 2013 report has good news.

“Businesses have laid a foundation of workplace equality the likes of which no previous generation of employees and job seekers has ever seen,” said the Human Rights Campaign in releasing its Index this week.

The HRC's CEI report has been released each fall since 2002 as a granular analysis of large U.S. employer’s performance pertinent to the LGBT workplace. When the group did its first survey a decade ago, just 13 businesses received top rating, while in 2013, a record 252 businesses achieved the top rating out of 688 businesses rated including the entire Fortune 500.

Companies are rated on 40 policies and practices, including having fully-inclusive equal employment opportunity policies, providing equal employment benefits, demonstrating organizational LGBT competency, evidence of their commitment to equality publicly, and exercising responsible citizenship.Continue reading...

It’s complicated, the whole issue of personal privacy in an era of social media transparency, and the fact that the first female astronaut, Sally Ride, who this week died at age 61 from pancreatic cancer, came out publically in her obituary, listing her partner of 27 years, Tam O'Shaughnessy first, as a survivor, is stirring the pot of comment and prejudice.

"Could she have helped the cause? Maybe," says Fred Sainz, VP of communications for the Human Rights Campaign. "For her not to have shared an incredibly important aspect of her life — being in a committed long-term relationship with a woman — meant many Americans did not get to see a dimension of her life that would have helped them understand us (gay people) and our contributions to society.

Ride was open in her personal life, "She just didn't want to go public with it during her lifetime. And that's a big difference," said Sainz. "There's no question that Sally Ride could have been fired if she'd come out while she worked for NASA.”Continue reading...

Add Vogue editor Anna Wintour to the list of celebrities supporting the Human Rights Campaign's "New Yorkers for Marriage Equality" initiative to allow same-sex marriage in New York state. Others throwing their support (and personal brands) behind the HRC effort include Sean Avery, Barbara Bush, Larry King, Julianne Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, and others you can watch here.

As for the other pro-LGBT "cause celeb," the San Francisco Giants this week, following a fan's lobbying, committed to become the first professional sports team to tape a PSA for the "It Gets Better Campaign" anti-gay bullying campaign.

As New York state governor Andrew Cuomo kicks off a statewide "marriage equality" tour (and opponents gear up to fight him), New York Rangers star Sean Avery's PSA (above) that was released late last week in support of gay marriage has reignited the debate about homophobia in sports, writes Bleacher Report, citing the recent Kobe Bryant homophobic slur incident. Former First Daughter Barbara Bush also taped a PSA for the Human Rights Campaign-backed "New Yorkers for Marriage Equality" effort earlier this year, among other celebs rallying to change New York state legislation.

Are inclusive HR policies good for a brand's PR and corporate image? That's a question many major brands are asking these days.

Consider a hot-button issue such as gender resassignment surgery, a major life change that not all companies support — or want their diversity policies known externally.

AP, reporting on the latest Corporate Equality Index published by by the Human Rights Campaign, notes that major employers including Wells Fargo, Coca-Cola, Campbell Soup and Walt Disney all now (quietly) provide transgender-inclusive health benefits for employees undergoing a sex change. 

Eighty-five others, including AT&T, Sears, Yahoo!, American Express, Kraft, Kodak — which isn't alone in taking public pride in its GLBT Pride program — Morgan Stanley, PricewaterhouseCoopers, General Motors and State Farm pay for a minimum of one surgery during sex reassignment, which is now considered “medically indicated” according to the American Medical Association, and not optional.Continue reading...