Energy drinks are seemingly everywhere, particularly when it comes to marketing to younger audiences.

Industry leaders Red Bull, Monster Energy, and Rockstar have sunk some serious marketing dollars into the “international sports market, sponsoring athletes, events and video shoots in motorsports, surfing, snowboarding and skiing, mixed martial arts, and others,” according to the New York Times. Logos for the brands are appearing on athlete apparel and gear.

Two professional snowboarders had enough last year and started to make their own statement with a campaign, called "We Drink Water", against the energy-drink companies, including creating their own non-logo logo, “Drink Water,” on their boards. The slogan has taken off and now the two snowboarders, Bryan Fox and Austin Smith, have a website selling T-shirts ($30), sweatshirts ($60), jackets ($65), and sets of stickers and pins ($10).Continue reading...

Fourteen top clothing brands have traces of toxic chemicals that are harmful to human health and the environment within them, Greenpeace has discovered, according to Agence France Presse.

Traces of the chemicals, known as nonylphenol ethoxylates or NPEs, were found in such brands as Adidas, Uniqlo, Calvin Klein, H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Lacoste, Converse and Ralph Lauren, Greenpeace reported in its study, “Dirty Laundry 2,” according to the AFP.Continue reading...

When nature-loving Henry David Thoreau wrote “I heartily accept the motto, 'That government is best which governs least,' in his essay “Civil Disobedience,” he probably never imagined an app that replaced advertising with works of art from independent artists.

The Public Ad Campaign, an underground American organization that uses “bold acts of civil disobedience” to “air (its) grievances in the court of public opinion,” debuted an app last weekend that allows mobile devices to virtually replace outdoor advertising with public art, using augmented reality to take over a billboard, bus shelter or other form of advertising.

The billboard-hating group tested its monkeywrenching app at the raucous crossroads of the marketing world, Times Square, where every ad is massive and in-your-face. As Minyanville points out, this lets Public Ad Campaign make its point without its members getting arrested, which has happened in the past.Continue reading...

Move over Ashton Kutcher. The Yes Men are punking brands, as shown in the above trailer for The Yes Men Fix the World movie about Bhopal in 2009.

After it emerged that GE paid no federal taxes last year, a website popped up last week with a URL similar to GE’s press domain, (genewscenter.com) posted a fake press release titled, "GE Responds to Public Outcry – Will Donate Entire $3.2 Billion Tax Refund to Help Offset Cuts and Save American Jobs." The AP fell for it, and reported the story as news.Continue reading...

Here’s one of those stories that could only emerge from a city as beleaguered as Detroit. Striking Detroit Symphony Orchestra musicians are begging the Big Three domestic automakers to withhold their historic financial support for the DSO.

The musicians’ union has tried to reach executives of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler with letters. Last week, they passed out fliers at the North American International Auto Show, where the Big Three promoted their comeback strategies to the press and public.

The musicians' plea: Stop providing financial backing to Motown's venerable symphony, at least until after the strike ends.Continue reading...

McDonald's has seen its share of controversy lately, mostly focused on its marketing of not-so-healthy meals to kids. The city of San Francisco even banned its Happy Meals.

Now another local US government is getting in on the action, but this time it's over the brand's new healthy breakfast item: its new Fruit & Maple Oatmeal. The problem? It seems the oatmeal, featured on McDonald's US homepage, doesn't actually have any real maple in it — and Vermont is serious (downright sappy, you might say) about its maple.Continue reading...

Pepsi's Superbowl ad campaign is looking to be a mind-bending exercise in crowdsourcing.

First, Pepsi and Doritos announced "the 10 finalists in the Crash the Super Bowl challenge" which will "compete to be one of six consumer-created ads – three for Doritos and three for Pepsi MAX – airing during the Super Bowl XLV broadcast."

That same day, Catholic activists announced their own crowdsourcing effort: "Ask Pepsi-Doritos to reject a commercial that blasphemes the Holy Eucharist as Doritos Chips and Pepsi."

Comedically silly soda commercials versus humorless religious outrage — a match made in heaven?Continue reading...

A duo of former McDonald's executives — former president and COO Mike Roberts and former communications head Mike Donahue — are planning to launch a healthy lifestyle brand comparable to Starbucks, Nike or Apple, but in the “fast casual” food services vertical. With backing from Chicago-based entrepreneur Steve Sidwell, the startup's brand name, for now, honors Sidwell’s daughter Stephanie.

Plans are to open the first restaurant in 2011 and grow to 250 locations by 2016, but Donahue told Ad Age, which broke the story, that there’s "no tangible goals other than to do one really good location, get the taste profile right and the affordability right.”

McDonald's, which is promoting healthy eating with spots such as its recent Yummivore campaign, above, likely isn't too worried. And its former execs are looking to fill a niche, not pursuing global domination.Continue reading...