One blog, in a reference to TIME's Person of the Year, is already calling him Man of the Year — at least, that's how Death and Taxes is hailing Julian Assange.

If there were any doubt about the rising brand that is Assange and his whistleblowing site, Google search results (after the jump) show the off-the-chart spike in searches for WikiLeaks, the #1 search term in the US and around the globe since the explosive release of classified US Embassy cables that started on Nov. 28.

Despite pressure by the US government and others to silence WikiLeaks, since the week (Nov. 28-Dec. 5) following the release of the official US cables, "Wikileaks" has remained the top search term in the US, as measured by Google Insights. With founder Julian Assange's arrest today in the UK, Google's chart may need to go up to 11.Continue reading...

In a list of the the most iconic brands of the last 100 years, a very good argument could be made for placing "Kalashnikov" near the top. But as its namesake designer turns 90, the AK-47 brand finds itself in flux, plagued by knock-offs, and slowly losing control of its identity, as its Russian manufacturer files for bankruptcy.

As a weapon, the AK-47 is the world's most popular. It is estimated that up to a million Kalashnikov rifles - in both AK-47 and AK-74 form - have been made worldwide. Even in silhouette form, all the meaning behind the brand is conveyed: Grit. Revolution. Reliability. Simplicity. Proletarianism.

For this reason, the AK-47 has also become a design and fashion icon. In the form of everything from money clips to necklaces, pendants and belt buckles to AK47 ice cube trays and even tongue-in-cheek anti-gentrification movements, the image of the AK-47 coveys meaning. Mozambique and Zimbabwe both display the gun's silhouette on their respective national flags.Continue reading...

Americans buy about seven billion bullets a year. This year, the ammunition business is booming more than ever, with some shortages reported.

And while shortages make buying a favored brand over "whatever you got" less important, branding is still important within the ammo business. It's easiest to think about ammunition brands much the same way one would brands of batteries or gasoline: commodities. So branding is more important than ever, even if Rob Walker missed the point -- that gun-owners prize performance, not just image --  in his column in yesterday's New York Times Magazine.Continue reading...

When wary consumers rushed out to take advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program, non-automotive brands took note. Now one brand is trying to capitalize with its own cash for clunkers program.

Sig Sauer, the American extension of Swiss-German gun manufacturer Swiss Arms AG, has launched a cash for gun clunkers program which, from now until December, will pay $200 to anyone trading in an old gun for a new Sig Sauer model. Like the auto version, the Swiss Arms AG program sets limits for what defines a clunker: guns must be  "free from cracks in frame or other key components… must be a semi-auto pistol 9mm or larger, or revolver of .38 caliber or larger.”Continue reading...