"We are… chairs. And now it's time to conquer you."

"What if we stand up?" is the message in a new ad for Coca-Cola, part of the soda maker's "4 commitments to fight overweight and sedentary lifestyle" campaign and part of Coke's larger push to get out ahead of the negative "sugary drinks" PR wave. By breaking the message that connected the Coke brand to "the problem," it's a departure from the brand's previous "obesity" messaging. 

The ad is running in Spain—where Coke just signed a new bottling agreement and launched is "Happiness" ATMs as part of its global "Open Happiness" campaign.Continue reading...

The Sundance Film Festival has a solid history of showcasing interesting films that have gone on to be big hits, like Little Miss Sunshine, Reservoir Dogs, The Usual Suspects, Clerks, and Hoop Dreams.

But it's looking like Jobs — which stars Ashton Kutcher portraying Apple founder Steve Jobs' quest for glory — may not be one of them.

The film, which closed out the 2013 festival last week, received mixed reviews. The Guardian's Ed Gibbs gave it two out of five stars, calling it “an overly reverential and saccharine view” of Jobs, who died more than a year ago.Continue reading...

Japanese lab rats have paved the way for a new wave of sodas. Back in 2006, Japan’s National Institute of Health and Nutrition found that rodents that were fed dextrin and fat simultaneously absorbed less of the fat into their system than the rats that were given fat without dextrin.

Welcome to your new dextrin-rich diet, Japan! Earlier this year brewer Kirin released a Mets Cola beverage, which contains dextrin, onto the market, selling it as a soda that would keep consumers from packing on too much fat. It sold well enough that PepsiCo and Suntory, the sole bottler and distributor of Pepsi products in Japan, are jumping into the fat-blocking cola fray on Nov. 13 with Pepsi Special. As the Huffington Post notes, the “Japanese government certifies these colas as ‘food for specific health use.’”

Pepsi has long experimented with novel flavor combinations in Japan (case in point: yogurt, watermelon or strawberry/milk flavored cola, anyone?) In fact, in December it's also introducing a new clear cola called Pepsi White in time for the holidays with seasonally cute snowmen. Despite being clear, ABC News reports that it's tangerine-flavored. And that's not the only limited-edition variation PepsiCo is rolling out internationally.Continue reading...

Apple pays $60M to end iPad trademark dispute in China, looks to secure ipad3.com domain.

Barclays scandal forces out chairman, saying "the buck stops with me."

Bristol-Myers agrees to buy Amylin Pharmaceuticals for $5B in cash, expands diabetes alliance.

Rupert Murdoch will rebrand the Wall Street Journal as WSJ as part of News Corp. split.

AMC parent ends AT&T U-verse TV dispute with long-term agreement, as Dish feud continues.

Applebee's rolls out fresh menu, look and campaign.Continue reading...

Plenty of sports teams invite fans to come watch them train, travel with them to away games, or come play ball with some of the players who were second-stringers way back when, but the Real Madrid soccer team in Spain is going way further than that.

The team has announced that it is constructing a $1 billion amusement-filled vacation resort and theme park on a manmade island in the United Arab Emirates that will be shaped like the team’s emblem and is slated to open in January 2015.

The club's management team told the press that they're confident it's "an emotional place for an emotional brand" — and a smart business extension that will satisfy hardcore fans and prove to be a 'real' money-maker. Critics aren't so convinced.Continue reading...

Gap, J.Crew and other retailers slash prices, as stores try to thwart price apps, and tweak websites to spur sales.

A&W is sold by Yum! Brands to A Great American Brand.

Absolut celebrates 30 years of gay ads.

Adidas pursues church for trademark infringement; church asks Derrick Rose to intercede.

Akamai purchases cloud rival.

Apple isn't expected to produce a smaller iPad, although fuel-cell MacBooks are rumored. Apple's online sales also exceed Walmart.com results.

AT&T's $1.93 billion deal for Qualcomm's airwaves approved.

Bebe expands with wedding collection.

Best Buy criticized for not fulfilling some holiday online orders.

BT's long-running family campaign in the UK ends its run.

Burberry, Forever 21 and Zara score on Facebook.Continue reading...

Do not adjust your computer monitors — yes, that's British actor Clive Owen in an - ahem - cheesy spot for Burger King Spain, and not a celeb commercial spoof by Funny or Die. (Watch the spot's 'making of' below.) Other than appearing as "The Driver" in The Hire, the award-winning series of short films for Mercedes-Benz directed by Guy Ritchie and featuring his then-wife, Madonna, Owen isn't known for commercial endorsements.

Back in the U.S., Burger King is about to be unseated from its "perennial No. 2" position in the burger wars, the Wall Street Journal reports, with Wendy's poised to take over second spot in U.S. sales for 2011, following McDonald's. According to year-end projections by market research firm Technomic for the Journal, "Americans are expected to spend more than $175 billion at fast-food restaurants this year, up about 3% from 2010. Wendy's U.S. same-store sales are forecast to rise 1.1%, while Burger King's U.S. and Canada same-store sales will drop 3.9%."Continue reading...

What's in a name? For Pepsi's latest spot in Spain, it all depends how you look at it.