FTC clarifies rules for social and mobile advertising.

Reader's Digest reports big gains among advertisers and readers.

Samsung deals with high expectations for Galaxy S IV as it outspends Apple on marketing.

BBC World News launches global marketing campaign.

Boeing gets FAA initial approval of battery fix for Dreamliner and wins $15 billion order from Ryanair for current 737 plane, report says.

Cadbury's Silk undergoing brand "renovation."

Chevrolet accelerates dealer infotainment training.Continue reading...

Apple value dips as Google soars.

Facebook sued over bungled IPO.

HSBC, now Europe's biggest bank, sheds personal loan assets.

Carmakers at Geneva Auto Show express fears on European recovery.

AARP ramps up YouTube marketing.

Ally Financial says U.S. is probing its retail-financing practices.

Amazon launches first TV effort, for fashion unit; leads mobile retail sales.

American Suzuki gets OK of bankruptcy plan by U.S. court.

Baileys slims down its bottle.

BBC Worldwide reportedly in talks to sell Lonely Planet stake.

Best Buy and Facebook focus on next-generation mobile marketing.

Boeing expects to move fast to get Dreamliner back into the air after FAA approval of fixes.Continue reading...

Al Gore’s embattled, progressive cable news channel, Current TV, is on the block. Spinning it in a positive light, CEO Joel Hyatt confirmed the rumors to the New York Post, commenting, “Current has been approached many times by media companies interested in acquiring our company. This year alone, we have had three inquiries. As a consequence, we thought it might be useful to engage expertise to help us evaluate our strategic options.”

Co-owned by former Vice President Gore, Hyatt (who made his money with Hyatt Legal Services) and several private backers with similar left-leaning political views, Current is available to about 60 million homes, and receives about 12 cents per subscriber from pay-TV operators carrying it, around $82 million last year, according to SNL Kagan, with ad revenue in 2011 estimated at $16.9 million. But that's still not enough to make the media brand an attractive enough standalone play for its owners.

The channel launched in August 2005 as a youth-centric, user-generated service, fueled by Gore’s personal crusade against global warming. Positioned as a bid to "democratize" the media business, putting more power in the hands of viewers to produce and distribute their own content (and then user-generated ads, called V-CAMs, short for "viewer-created ad messages"), the ill-fated service has gone through programming and personnel upheavals since the moment it went live.Continue reading...

Angry Birds are coming to TV.

Apple pressured on suppliers and sustainability as brand sees Consumer Reports soft-pedal problem of "hot" iPads.

Belvedere vodka "rape ad" actress sues Moet Hennessy.

BMW unveils "sexy" i8 Spyder concept.

Burger King promotes new menu with Jay Leno, Mary J. Blige, David Beckham and Sofia Vergara.

Chevrolet plans decision on future of "Chevy Runs Deep" with new ad agency.

Coty offers to buy Avon for $10 billion.

Current nixes Keith Olbermann as on-air anchor, citing behavior.

Dunkin' Donuts launches Hispanic marketing campaign.

Facebook delves deeper into search.Continue reading...

Archie Comics celebrates gay marriage in new cover.

Bristol-Myers to buy Inhibitex for $2.5 billion.

CBS introduces all-new CBS This Morning show.

Cadillac unveils ATS small sedan as import-fighter at Detroit Auto Show, which signals a turnaround for the industry.

Chick-fil-A cuts calories in kids' meals.

CES loses clout as tech-industry platform.

Current TV and Keith Olbermann make up following election coverage dispute.

Denny's promotes healthier media options.

Disney marketing head MT Carney departs.

Dow sponsorship of London 2012 Olympics continues to raise hackles.Continue reading...

BMW projected to beat Mercedes-Benz for US luxury crown.

PepsiCo reportedly mulls layoffs and salary freeze to appease Wall Street.

Kodak bankruptcy report in WSJ slams stock price.

Apple hires Adobe exec to oversee iAds, threatens to sue company behind Steve Jobs doll and rises at Foxconn's expense.

Australia's Commonwealth Bank crowdsources customer ideas.

Arm & Hammer ordered to pull TV commercial criticizing cat litter competitor.

Audi's China sales outstrip Germany.

Boeing closes premier factory in Wichita.

Burberry is now the most popular luxury brand on Facebook, as YouTube, MTV and Coca-Cola lead in FB engagement.Continue reading...

The way much of America sees things, political polarization is a bad thing. Washington politicians still believe that the citizenry want nothing as much as bipartisanship in the nation's capital. Centrist efforts such as No Labels base their entire appeal on a lack of extremes. Even Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign was built largely on a promise of overcoming the nation's political divisions.

But polarization has remained and, no doubt, grown in the fertile soil of economic tribulation lately. And that has been a very good thing for at least one prominent media brand: Fox News. The leading cable news network and one of its most prominent hosts, Sean Hannity, are celebrating the 15-year anniversary of the birth of Fox News and its association with the once-obscure radio talk-show host.

Fox News is flattening the competition from CNN and MSNBC more convincingly than ever, ratings-wise. And the success of Fox News' stalwart appeal to its right-leaning viewers recently prompted MSNBC to stop all pretense and throw its marketing toward its own, but left-leaning, viewership base. MSNBC lately has been doing better in the ratings. Meanwhile, CNN, still nominally trying to occupy the mushy middle, has struggled.Continue reading...

While nowhere near as shocking as News Corp.'s surprise closure of News of the World, across the Atlantic CNN delivered its own shocker this week. Eliot Spitzer is out as CNN replaces his nine-month old In the Arena roundtable program that followed the demise of Parker Spitzer, and faithful Anderson Cooper regains his flagship positioning with Anderson Cooper 360 moving to 8 p.m. ET starting August 8th.

Spitzer's ouster isn't the only news. Additional changes to the CNN schedule include the shifting, in late September, for The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer from 5-7 p.m. to a late afternoon 4-6 p.m. slot; John King’s show will move to 6 p.m.; while Erin Burnett, recently hired from CNBC, will assume the 7 p.m. slot as the lead-in to Cooper.

The only prime-time show unaffected is Piers Morgan Tonight, the 9 p.m. interview show introduced six months ago to replace Larry King.Continue reading...