One of the dangers for brands in releasing Super Bowl ads and teasers early is that it allows the criticism to start early as well.

That's what various brands are facing even before kickoff of the Big Game, as Coca-Cola is the latest brand feeling the heat over its pre-Game teaser. Coke is getting criticized for its depiction of Arabs in its desert-set spot, above, while Volkswagen undergoes more examination of the Jamaican accents of the white characters in its "Get Happy" spot.

In other game-related brand developments leading into Sunday's big game, Samsung just released its Super Bowl ad teaser, "El Plato Supreme," featuring Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd pitching their ideas for Samsung's Big Game ad: "The Next Big Thing," a 2-minute spot directed by Jon Favreau, that will air during the 4th quarter of Super Bowl XLVII on Sunday. This is the second year Samsung Mobile has an ad running during the Super Bowl:Continue reading...

Even as she defends her opinion on the Casey Anthony verdict to her Twitter followers, Kim Kardashian has bigger things on her mind.

No, we don't mean her infamous posterior, although apparently she's trying to make it a little less prominent by the time she walks down the aisle in Vera Wang; we're talking about kashing in on her upcoming nuptials.

The Twitter-happy Kardashian, who's on the August cover of Cosmopolitan, is getting married this summer to New Jersey Nets play Kris Humphries.

While Kim’s mom, Kris Jenner, has made it clear that she isn’t a big fan of Kim shedding the family brand of her surname to become Kim Humphries, there is apparently another matter she didn’t caution her reality-show star daughter about: product placement at the nuptials.

PopBytes reports that Kardashian "needs everyone at her wedding to be chauffeured about in Rolls Royces" — provided (thoughtfully, as in free of charge) by Platinum Motorsport, a luxury automobile restyler.Continue reading...

Kim Kardashian is getting married — and it’s causing a minor rift with her mother. Not because Ma doesn’t like the fellow, New Jersey Nets forward Kris Humphries. And it’s not because of the wedding preparations for the reality TV star’s big summer event. No, it’s because 30-year-old Kim Kardashian plans to lose her last name, the golden family brand, and become Kim Humphries.

“I don’t think she should take his name and be Kim Humphries,” her mom, the 55-year-old Kris Jenner, reportedly said. “I think she needs to be Kim Kardashian because she’s worked so hard to get where she is.”

Of course Jenner ditched the last name of Kardashian, too, when she married Olympic legend Bruce Jenner. But her daughters — the K-named trio that is Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney — have made their names household ones since Keeping Up With The Kardashians debuted on the E! Network back in October of 2007.Continue reading...