It turns out Walmart and Tom Cruise have something in common. They both turned 50 this week. And the odd pairing share something else: Both quinquagenarians have set a lot of tongues wagging.

Cruise, of course, set the gossip world aflame in the summer heat for the announced split with his wife of five and a half years, Katie Holmes. Walmart, on the other hand, had a problem that affected a lot more people: some very unhappy folks who want the retailing powerhouse to treat their workers better and be more considerate to small businesses and not steamroll into new neighborhoods.Continue reading...

Five years ago today, Apple changed the world – again — by launching the first iPhone. The press release for the 6:00 p.m. EST, June 29th, 2007 launch noted:

iPhone introduces an entirely new user interface based on a revolutionary multi-touch display and pioneering new software that allows users to control iPhone with just a tap, flick or pinch of their fingers. iPhone combines three products into one small and lightweight handheld device—a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod®, and the Internet in your pocket with best-ever applications on a mobile phone for email, web browsing and maps. iPhone ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, which completely redefines what users can do on their mobile phones.

Since then, the smartphone marketplace has changed considerably thanks to its innovation and design. And Apple has reaped the rewards, pulling in $150 billion from the iPhone alone — and creating an "app economy" the likes of which even Steve Jobs couldn't have predicted five years ago.Continue reading...

It can be difficult to find anyone holding up a lighter anymore at concerts. There are few smokers, for one thing, and most concertgoers just hold up their phones (annoying anyone behind them not doing the same). There’s an app for everything, apparently.

But that doesn’t mean that lighters aren’t out there. Zippos has continued to crank them out no matter what the music of the day or what exactly needs to be set on fire. The brand just passed a major milestone, celebrating the production of its 500 millionth windproof pocket lighter on June 5th. The event (coincidentally?) fell on the birthday of the Pennsylvania company’s late founder, George G. Blaisdell.Continue reading...

Walmart Chairman Rob Walton didn't mention the company's Mexico bribery scandal specifically at the company's annual shareholders meeting in Fayetteville, Ark., today, but the whole mess hung over the gathering like a pallid mist.

And Walton left little to the imagination when he vowed that the $112-billion world's largest retailers would recommit to "integrity" as one of five "enduring values" that would continue to propel the retailer beyond its upcoming 50th anniversary in July.

"If you work for Walmart, there is no gray area between right and wrong," Walton said in his remarks, a clear reference to the New York Times investigation that allegedly uncovered that the company's Mexican operation had orchestrated bribes of $24 million to help it grow quickly and that some company executives had covered it up.Continue reading...

You’ve been seeing them around for years. Maybe you’ve even been slipping on a pair yourself. It feels like they’ve been around forever. But they haven’t. There was a world before Crocs.

However, that world is now more than a decade ago. Crocs has now turned 10, an age plenty of businesses never get to. It has also reached another number plenty of businesses never achieve: It’s a billion-dollar global brand.

To celebrate its tenth, it has just announced a “Crocs Around the World” campaign, which is bringing Crocs lovers together on a new website called, you guessed it, crocsaroundtheworld.com.

The company wants everyone to “share their favorite Crocs stories, shop for limited-edition products, and experience the brand’s evolution during the past 10 years.” There's also a list of regional events you can find your way to if you want to celebrate the big 1-0 with other Crocs-shod fans.Continue reading...

Raisins went mainstream thanks to the classic California Raisins television claymation commercial in the 1980's featuring I Heard it Through the Grapevine as its signature anthem.

Fast forward to 2012 and raisins are raising interest once again with the Sun-Maid Raisin Girl’s launch on Facebook to help celebrate the brand's 100th anniversary. That's her doing yoga on the beach, above — she's presumably a pro at the sunrise salutation, too.

"While the process of making raisins and dried fruits has remained relatively unchanged over the past century, information technology and international commerce continue to close the distance between the grapevine and consumer," stated Sun-Maid President Barry Kriebel.Continue reading...

Ferrari has had a rough ride in China lately.

In April, a the mysterious crash of a Ferrari in Beijing that killed its driver and injured two female passengers led to massive rumormongering after authorities censored all social media mentions about the brand (法拉利).

Then, just when Ferrari probably thought it had moved on to a better place, the brand is now taking flack for an incident in Nanjing that resulted in the desecration of the city's ancient wall.Continue reading...

Kraft Foods has announced that its iconic Oreo cookie brand, which turned 100 on March 6th, is now a $2 billion brand globally.

Kraft, which just reported strong first quarter results and is on track to split (with Oreo moving into the new Mondelēz entity) by year-end, expects to book $1 billion in emerging market sales of Oreo products this year.

The Oreo brand is big in China, for instance, where its "double fruit" flavors such as a raspberry and blueberry combo and other twists are popular. More details on Oreo's double-stuff growth projections in Kraft's press release.