Some media couldn't wait to jump all over the almost non-existent attendance this week at the "Million Gulp March" near City Hall in New York against Mayor Bloomberg's proposed soda ban.

Organized by a gaggle of libertarians, Ron Paul supporters and ad hoc protesters, the protest at New York's City Hall on Monday drew only about 50 people, according to local reports, while organizers had predicted attendance of about 500 — never mind the "million" moniker in its name.

"Before, the government was instituted to protect the rights of everyone and prevent crime, and now it's cracking down the rights of everyone," Zach Huff, a spokesman for Ron Paul 2012 organizer NYC Liberty HQ, told CBS News. "It's astonishing we have a mayor who is pro-choice when it comes to what a woman can do with her body but isn't pro-choice with simple choices, like soda-container sizes."

Bloomberg retorted, "If you want to kill yourself, I guess you have the right to do it. We’re trying to do something about it."Continue reading...

It's 7-Eleven Day, so slurp it up! Highlighting the obvious tie-in between its brand name and event marketing manna from heaven, 7-Eleven stores long ago picked July 11 (7/11) at the height of North America's summer to throw a party and drive customers to the Slurpee machine.

To celebrate the convenience store chain's 85th year in business, 7-Eleven is giving away free 7.11 (of course) ounce Slurpee drinks between 11 AM and 7 PM local time (not, alas, 7 AM-11 PM) on 7/11/12. Last year, 7-Eleven handed out 5 million Slurpee drinks on 7-Eleven Day. This year, how many do you think they expect to distribute? Why, 7 million, of course.Continue reading...

While they suffer from even more ignominy under a new glare induced by the HBO documentary series The Weight of the Nation, the roundly condemned purveyors of "junk" salt, sugar and calories aren't exactly lying low and saying their mea culpas. McDonald's, Coca-Cola and 7-Eleven are each fighting back in their own way.

Coca-Cola has launched a test of its own new "mid-calorie" sodas to join PepsiCo in trying once again the concept of a "hybrid" diet/non-diet drink even though other attempts by both companies to mine a moderately-minded market have failed. Coke plans to test Sprite Select and Fanta Select products this summer — with only half the calories, 70 of regular drinks per 12-ounce can — in test markets in Atlanta, Detroit, Louisville and Memphis.

Interestingly, Coke's new toe in the mid-calorie water will depend on a blend of sugar: Cargill's Truvia brand of natural sweetener stevia plus erythritol, a "sugar alcohol" (unlike the ingredients in PepsiCo's new, nationally available mid-cal, Pepsi Next, which includes sucralose and high-fructose corn syrup). That gives Coke a leg up on an "more natural" claim it might want to make for select beverages against Next.Continue reading...

• Smart. Funny. Perfectly on-brand. This Australian Slurpee commercial, above, is inspiring.

• MAC launches Wonder Woman makeup collection.

• The Onion: "Iams Executives Scrambling To Figure Out Why Brand Is Losing 2- To 4-Year-Old Chocolate Labs"Continue reading...

In speeches leading up to this week's U.S. midterm elections, Obama quipped that while Democrats were doing the heavy lifting regarding economic fixes, GOP leaders were hanging out drinking Slurpees. So when he yesterday called for a summit of Democratic and Republican congressional leaders on Nov. 18, 7-Eleven snapped to attention with patriotic zeal.

After a "Slurpee Summit" meme started making the rounds following Obama's post-"shellacking" press conference yesterday (where a reporter's quip about staging a Slurpee summit with GOP leaders was picked up by TV cameras), 7-Eleven kicked into high gear.

The brand's marketing team has contacted the White House with an offer to create a custom purple Slurpee — combining blue and red, of course — for that historic meeting. But can an icy drink thaw frosty relations?Continue reading...