Wikileaks spoofed Mastercard's "Priceless" campaign this week. Watch the spot below, along with new perfume commercials featuring Scarlett Johansson and Christina Aguilera, plus place branding with a twist and more.Continue reading...

Abbott Labs plans to split into two companies.

American Express equalizes health costs for gay employees.

Citigroup agrees to pay hefty fine to settle securities charges.

Daimler dismissed US. head of Mercedes-Benz over personal expenses.

Eni makes big natural-gas find off coast of Mozambique.

Fox's The X Factor gets off to a slow start.

Frito-Lay draws complaint about "immersive" marketing to kids.

Groupon discounts its IPO valuation.Continue reading...

With the Occupy Wall Street movement now one month old and continuing to rattle workers in the financial industry around the world, a few big financial brands are being rattled independent of placard-carrying protesters in their midst.

Goldman Sachs lost $428 million in its latest quarterly earnings report, its second quarterly loss ever.

Citigroup has agreed to pay $285 million to settle SEC charges that it misled investors related to its mortgage businesses.

And Bank of America can't bank on being Number 1 anymore, as BofA cedes top spot to JPMorgan Chase this week.Continue reading...

Nature abhors a vacuum, and so does a rudderless economy. So it's quite natural that corporate chieftains increasingly are promoting their own prescriptions for righting the U.S. economy when the politicians can't figure out how to address the country's 9-percent-plus unemployment, shaky consumer confidence, wildly gyrating equity markets, moribund housing values and government deficits as far as the eye (and the eyes of everyone's grandchildren) can see. If government can't create the conditions necessary for business success, then business itself must try to do more.

Fortunately, as the Occupy Wall Street protests spread erratically around the nation and the world, some CEOs still have the courage to offer these prescriptions. Howard Schultz and Jeffrey Immelt come to mind, as the chiefs of Starbucks and General Electric, respectively, weigh in on the economic crisis in America.Continue reading...

Air Canada avoids strike for now; hits union with labor-board unfair practices complaint.

Apple defeats Samsung in Australian tablet patent case; prepares to offer movies over the "cloud."

Carrefour cuts its profit targets.

Citigroup's Vikram Panda ready to talk with Occupy Wall Street protesters; calls their concerns "completely understandable."

JPMorgan profits sink.Continue reading...

While some companies are embracing the ‘Occupy’ demonstrations popping up across the United States, others like Bank of America have made the decision to ignore the impact that these demonstrations can have on consumer sentiment.

Less than two weeks after ‘Occupy Wall Street’ demonstrations began in downtown New York, executives at Bank of America thought it a good time to roll out a new $5 monthly charge to its customers making check card purchases in a given month. Two other large banks, JP Morgan and Wells Fargo, are also reported to be considering similar fees.

Bank of America is now taking heat (including being spoofed on Ellen) for its recent fee introduction from both legislators and the media. Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill. urged customers to take their money to different banks. A Fox Business Network anchor went further and made headlines when she cut up a Bank of America debit card on air.

Consumer watchdogs will argue that the fee is not fair and that the government needs to protect consumers; however, the damage for Bank of America has already been done thanks to all of the negative press its announcement has received. Recent reports of sluggish performance on the bank’s website over the past few week have even been attributed to the bank’s fee announcement.Continue reading...

AMC kills Bing product placement deal for Walking Dead.

Apple's iCloud service goes live in first major product launch since Steve Jobs died.

BlackBerry outage response not RIM's finest moment, says BBC.

British PM David Cameron holds kids' advertising summit, while Tory Party rebrand has missed the mark, critics argue.

Cadillac unveils 'Cue,' its connected car system.

Chrysler strikes tentative deal with the UAW.

Diddy makes a landmark donation to the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem.

eBay looks to deepen its relationship with Facebook.

Google sees 60% drop in Google+ usage.Continue reading...

Ben & Jerry's appears to be the first brand to publicly side with the Occupy Wall Street protests. The Unilever-owned, socially pro-active ice cream-maker's homepage shows a message of solidarity that states, in part:

"We know that words are relatively easy but we wanted to act quickly to demonstrate our support. As a board and as a company we have actively been involved with these issues for years but your efforts have put them out front in a way we have not been able to do. We have provided support to citizens’ efforts to rein in corporate money in politics, we pay a livable wage to our employees, we directly support family farms and we are working to source fairly traded ingredients for all our products. But we realize that Occupy Wall Street is calling for systemic change. We support this call to action and are honored to join you in this call to take back our nation and democracy."

Read the full statement below. Know of any other brands showing their support? Post a comment below.Continue reading...