Move over, Kodak — the Wall Street Journal is reporting that another iconic American brand is in trouble. As early as this week, Hostess Brands Inc. is "preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection ... a move that would mark the second significant court restructuring for the Twinkie and Wonder Bread baker in the past several years."

The ubiquitious Twinkies snack, introduced in 1930, are still popular, with 36 million packages sold last year. But that wasn't enough to save its parent company, which is deeply in debt (owing its creditors more than $860 million), and "has been facing a cash squeeze amid high labor costs and rising prices for sugar, flour and other ingredients... Those costs together have proved higher than the company's roughly $2.5 billion in annual sales, creating losses and cash shortfalls."

Hostess Brands, the WSJ's Shira Ovide notes, also makes "schoolyard favorites Ding Dongs, Ho Hos, Suzy Q’s, Fruit Pies, Sno Balls, Dolly Madison Zingers and Drake’s cakes." And while there's some debate about how long a Twinkie will last in the wild, the origin of their name isn't disputed, she adds:

James A. Dewar was a manager of a Chicago-area Continental Baking Co. plant in 1930, when he got the idea of injecting cakes with cream filing. He said he came up with the name for his invention when he saw a billboard in St. Louis for “Twinkle Toe Shoes.” Dewar started his career driving a horse-drawn pound cake wagon and retired in 1972 with the unofficial title of “Mr. Twinkie.” He died in 1985, at the age of 88.

Lowe's controversial decision to pull its advertising from TLC's All-American Muslim reality series — already spoofed by Funny or Die — has been named one of the top PR disasters of 2011 by Business News Daily. Read more here.

Victoria's Secret was just accused (by a Bloomberg News investigation) of using child labor; this week it's the Kardashians' turn on the hot seat.

Kim Kardashian and her controversy-stirring family are being accused of using sweatshops to manufacture the K-DASH and Kris Jenner Kollection lines for QVC,  by the US-based Institute for Global Labor and Human Rights, according to a report in Star magazine (via Radar). The family responded via a rep that they're unaware of such conditions but are taking the allegations "very seriously."

Other brands being targeted by the global labor and sweatshop watchdog include a Chinese manufacturer of Hasbro's Transformers toys; the Dallas Cowboys; and Walmart, the NFL and NCAA. (Update: Charles Kernaghan, executive director of The Institute for Global Labor and Human Rights, tells TMZ he was misquoted.)

The Victoria’s Secret brand can get some folks to get all hot and bothered — and not for the reasons you think. Bloomberg Markets magazine reports that “underage, mistreated African children have been forced to plant and pick organic, fair-trade cotton used in some of the company's underwear,” as USA Today notes.

The magazine's investigative report tells the story of seven children in Burkina Faso who work on the farms that Victoria’s Secret buys cotton from. The story starts with the distressing life of 13-year-old cotton-picker Clarisse Kambire, who is whipped with a tree branch if her production is deemed to be too slow by the man overseeing her work.

The company that owns Victoria’s Secret, Limited Brands, responded in a statement that it's conducting its own investigation into the claims. "If this allegation is true, it describes behavior that is contrary to our company's values and the code of labor and sourcing standards that we require all of our suppliers to meet. These standards expressly prohibit child labor," Limited Brands said. "Depending on the findings, we are prepared to take swift action to prevent the illegal use of child labor in the fields where we source Fairtrade-certified organic cotton in Burkina Faso."

Lowe’s caused an uproar when the DIY chain pulled its ads from TLC’s month-old reality show, All-American Muslim, which follows the adventures of five Muslim-American families that live near Detroit. That action caused plenty of anger to surface about the company as well as a call to boycott its stores by California State Senator Ted Lieu.

Now travel website Kayak.com is getting similar treatment. The site announced that it had decided to discontinue its ads mostly because it felt that the producers of the show hadn’t been totally upfront about its content.

“Any reasonable person would know that this topic is a particular lightning rod,” Kayak’s chief marketing officer, Robert Birge, wrote on the company’s blog. “We believe TLC went out of their way to pick a fight on this, and they didn't let us know their intentions. That's not a business practice that generally gets repeat business from us.”Continue reading...

America's Lowe's Home Improvement chain has found itself in a tricky spot after pulling its ads from a new reality show on Discovery's TLC cable network, All American Muslim. The action was preceded by pressure from the conservative Florida Family Association, the Associated Press reports.

The FFA claims that the month-old show (it premiered Nov. 13) about five Muslim-American families outside Detroit is "propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values," the AP notes.

However, the pulling of the ads has put a spotlight on Lowe’s that the company surely did not want.

California state senator Ted Lieu called the company’s choice "un-American" and "naked religious bigotry," and is asking consumers to boycott the chain. He also is considering taking legislative action against the store “if Lowe's doesn't apologize to Muslims and reinstate its ads.”Continue reading...

Still reeling from the Jerry Sandusky child abuse case, Penn State officials and fans groaned last night as the university's disgraced former football coach was arrested on fresh charges (which his lawyer says he's denying) ... while clearly wearing a Penn State jacket with the Nittany Lions logo as police hauled him off to jail, where he remains this morning. Above, a few of the responses on Twitter as the news broke.

After demonstrating initial sluggishness about the troubling potential connection between its Chevrolet Volt and battery fires, General Motors has shifted into high gear in its efforts to protect the cherished Volt franchise from consumer fears (as some owners ask the automaker to buy back their Volts) and eroding sales in the face of a federal safety probe.

GM CEO Dan Akerson told Reuters that the company may redesign the battery system for Volt to address issues that are being raised in a federal probe of wheter Volt's batteries pose a particular risk of fire even days after an accident might damage them. "We want to assure the safety of our customers, or our buyers, and so we're just going to take a time out, if you will, in terms of redsigning the battery possible," Akerson told the news service.

Akerson's remarks depict a GM brain trust that indeed now is taking seriously the possibility of significant, even fatal, erosion of the Volt brand. Busy responding to customer concerns on Facebook and Twitter, the company had done so well in positioning Volt with an American public that was curious about electrified vehicles and with federal policymakers who have been pushing the EV alternative.Continue reading...