It still holds true that yesterday’s crises make today’s television hits, and tonight is the HBO debut of Too Big to Fail, based on New York Times writer Andrew Ross Sorkin’s eponymous book.

The movie depicts the failure of Lehman Brothers during the financial crisis of 2008. In high praise, Michael Kinsley writes, “I’ve never come closer than the two minutes after watching Too Big to Fail to understanding what a “credit default swap” is.” 

A suitably start-studded cast includes William Hurt in the role of former Treasury secretary Henry M. "Hank" Paulson Jr.; Billy Crudup as Tim Geithner, and Paul Giamatti as Ben Bernanke. But equal weight goes to CNBC and their anchors.Continue reading...

The new J.Crew catalog features a photo that has raised the ire of some conservatives who see it as an affront to traditional "family values." The photo, part of the regular Jenna's Picks feature, this month called "Saturday with Jenna," depicts the brand's president and resident design guru painting her son's toenails pink (above).

The image outraged well-known psychologist Keith Ablow, who took to Fox News to scold J.Crew, saying "Yeah, well, it may be fun and games now, Jenna, but at least put some money aside for psychotherapy for the kid—and maybe a little for others who’ll be affected by your 'innocent' pleasure."

This morning, the tempest in a pink teacup led to a "gender discussion" on the CBS Early Show featuring a psychologist as one of a trio of concerned moms. Oh yeah, it's on.Continue reading...

According to The Wall Street Journal, Goldman Sachs "is telling employees that they will no longer be able to get away with profanity in electronic messages." For those WSJ readers under 65, "electronic messages" means "email." But wait! There's more!Continue reading...

Cyber Monday is being pronounced a success, with shopping up 13.7% and Amazon reportedly edging Wal-Mart.

The folks at the US Federal Trade Commission had their heads screwed on straight for once, by deciding to wait until the day after Cyber Monday to launch new rules requiring bloggers and celebrities to disclose when they promote a product online for pay, or in exchange for free stuff. (I know: as if anyone there even made the connection.) Well, we kind of joked about who might get caught up in these rules -- and questioned whether celebrities who tweet for pay will test the trust of their audience -- but, we suddenly notice (just in time!), we are included.

The FTC has been under fire from bloggers for issuing strict rules without sufficient guidelines or consumer education, considering that fines can range up to $11,000. It has promised to target advertisers, not bloggers, or maybe just big fish, or maybe not heavily fine the little fish -- which has raised concerns of selective prosecution. In a "heated but civil" interview between blogger Edward Champion and the FTC's Richard Cleland, it's noted that partner marketing links such as Amazon Associates are included in the disclosure requirements.

Well, as brandchannel readers have likely noticed, we use Amazon Associates. This is a well-known program that pays participants for referring business to Amazon, via links which are easily seen (because the URL string includes "brandchannelcom") and which will bring a fairly small amount of revenue to the site if you follow that link and make a purchase. We've included them for many years when we link to media (books that are reviewed, or films in our brandcameo section), and have been using them on this blog when referring to certain products Amazon sells. (Those references being there because they belong in the story, not so as to send business to Amazon.)Continue reading...

The practice of sponsored blogging, which we called out last week, is in for some new regulation from the US government. Ad Age reports that the Federal Trade Commission has voted to "require bloggers to clearly disclose any 'material connection' to an advertiser, including payments for an endorsement or free product," starting December 1, with fines up to $11,000. The new rules also govern celebrity endorsements.

Ad Age calls the new rules "the most far-reaching attempt to stamp some guidelines of conduct on the blogosphere, which generally operates according to informal codes and the notion that 'inauthentic' bloggers -- including those not disclosing commercial relationships -- will suffer in the web's court of public opinion."Continue reading...