Since the late ‘70s, chocolate maker Nestle has had one group of customers so irate with it for allegedly misrepresenting the positives of breast-milk substitutes to uninformed consumers that they’ve been boycotting their products for decades. Now the company has another problem on its hands.

A study commissioned by Nestle found “numerous” violations of its “measures to combat child labor in the Ivory Coast cocoa industry,” according to Bloomberg.

The Fair Labor Association’s report found that “four-fifths of (Nestle’s) cocoa comes from channels for which information on labor is opaque.” In response, the company hosted a webcast in which it outlined its cocoa plan, including “new monitoring programs in two cooperatives this year and in 30 by 2016.”

“The use of child labor in our cocoa supply goes against everything we stand for,” Jose Lopez, Nestle’s head of operations, stated on the webcast. “You can be here talking about child labor but if there’s no school, it’s not going to work.”Continue reading...

Apple pays $60M to end iPad trademark dispute in China, looks to secure ipad3.com domain.

Barclays scandal forces out chairman, saying "the buck stops with me."

Bristol-Myers agrees to buy Amylin Pharmaceuticals for $5B in cash, expands diabetes alliance.

Rupert Murdoch will rebrand the Wall Street Journal as WSJ as part of News Corp. split.

AMC parent ends AT&T U-verse TV dispute with long-term agreement, as Dish feud continues.

Applebee's rolls out fresh menu, look and campaign.Continue reading...

Microsoft will announce Monday a plan to sell tablets under its own brand, in a challenge to Apple's iPad, while Amazon reportedly plans to launch cloud music service in July to rival iTunes.

Kirin Holdings agreed to pay $200.9 million Australian dollars (US$203.4 million) for the shares it doesn't already own in Australian boutique brewer Little World Beverages, as Japanese companies expand offshore to combat flagging domestic demand.

Dr Martens owners seeks up to £200m from potential buyers.

AirAsia plans to follow Virgin model with brand extensions.

Android relaunches user interface.Continue reading...

Executives at Christian Louboutin are likely seeing red after losing a court battle against Zara over a pair of $70 red-soled shoes.

Louboutin took Zara to court in 2008 and won when the shoes hit the market saying that it alone had the rights to produce and sell red-soled shoes, but an appeals court in France has ruled in favor of Zara and is telling Louboutin it also has to fork over £2,500, or about $3,600, according to New York magazine. 

That isn’t a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, of course, but it’s an extra little face-rub in the mud for Louboutin, which has been on the warpath against counterfeiters of its signature red-soled shoes.

The ruling also doesn’t bode well for a bigger Louboutin appeal, against Yves Saint Laurent, in a case that the brand lost last summer in New York.Continue reading...

Remember the old aphorism about eating oatmeal because it "sticks to your ribs?" Quaker Oats now plans to find out whether that is at least metaphorically true — and, if so, whether there might be a new "satiety" benefit to eating its oatmeal products that could help promote the brand.

That's just one of the objectives of the new Quaker Oats Center of Excellence, a research nexus announced this week by the PepsiCo brand. The company is streamlining and accelerating research around other potential health and nutrition benefits of oats besides it well-documented, government-approved claim to help lower cholesterol levels and thus mitigate heart disease.

Also, Nestle announced that it has centralized its clinical-research efforts at a new unit in its headquarters city of Lausanne, Switzerland, with the aim of rationalizing the planning and management of clinical trials and fundamental research projects so that it's better positioned to gain health claims by the European Food Safety Authority. The new Nestle unit also is expected to help it expand its global reach and better adapt products to gloabl needs, a Nestle executive told NutraIngredients.com.

Both efforts are significant as mainstream CPG giants seek much bigger gains in the world of better-for-you products, just as they for so long have dominated markets for mainstream foods and beverages.Continue reading...

Amazon gets ready to move on Apple in mobile ad space.

BP is investigated on estimates of Gulf leak.

Dewey & Leboeuf bankruptcy marks biggest collapse of a law firm in U.S. history.

Facebook stock performance creates more turmoil as site is reportedly ready to pay $1B for Opera as mobile platform and is eyeing Face.com acquisition.

Ford aims to catch up production with hot U.S. demand.

GM wanted to change ad slots on Facebook.

Groupon looks to reimburse subscribers with unused deals. 

JPMorgan Chase faces probe in Japan as firm tries to offset trading loss.Continue reading...

QR codes and augmented reality are hot commodities for mobile marketing, bridging the digital and analog worlds, pushing the edges, out-of-the-box, smart, crazy and fun. A few new mobile promotions that caught our attention:

Austrian crystal purveyor Swarovski is bringing the bling to Facebook with an app that delivers the digital Warholian promise of “15 amazing seconds of fame” by inviting users to submit personal dance videos modeling sunglasses for a chance to win one of 15 pairs of Swarovski Amazing sunglasses.

Bloomingdale’s new Big Brown Bag app (click here for Android) is a play on the store's "Big Brown Bag" bags, letting users create and manage wedding registries and Loyallist rewards points and pay their bill, find discounts and promotions and scan products in-store to view promotions and find other locations. “The launch of our mobile application for iPhone and Android is part of our commitment to enhancing our customer’s omnichannel shopping experience,” said Anne Bridges, SVP site merchandising, Internet productions and planning, to Mobile Commerce Daily. "We’re now inviting couples to use their phones – instead of a gun – to scan items to add to their registry."Continue reading...

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing files for bankruptcy.

Chipotle faces federal probe.

Facebook deals with aftermath of less-than-stellar IPO showing, as NASDAQ admits some fault and site faces pressure to perform for advertisers. Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, meanwhile, surprises with post-IPO wedding to his longtime girlfriend.

Alibaba and Yahoo strike a $7 bullion stock deal.

AT&T sings praises of Facebook fans.

Apple and Samsung talk today about ending smartphone-patent war.

Barclays to sell $6.1 billion BlackRock stake.

BMW Guggenheim Lab prepares Berlin debut.

Carl's Jr. seeks $100-million IPO.Continue reading...