Cup of Java

Dalai Lama, food and the Striper
Alcohol companies warned to tone down their raunchy ads- "In the UK, irresponsible drinking has been cited as a contributory factor in the recent increase in sexually transmitted diseases and underage pregnancies.
At a recent meeting of The Amsterdam Group (TAG), a European Union-wide drinks industry body, drinks company representatives were warned that brands must take a cold shower when it comes to advertising or face the kind of legal curbs currently imposed on tobacco advertising.
Adverts that have reportedly been criticised for their over-raunchy nature include Bacardi rum’s “Latin Quarter” campaign, a Smirnoff ad featuring a woman having a noisy orgasm in a theatre box and one for Carling depicting a man licking up beer that has been dribbled around a flat by a meagrely-dressed female."

"On the path to enlightenment, Salesforce.com has taken a detour. On Tuesday, the San Francisco dot-com mailed hundreds of letters apologizing for publicity posters that not only trumpeted its 100,000 subscribers but also featured the Dalai Lama, shown meditating under the slogan "There is no software on the path to enlightenment."
The poster had invited 500 guests to the Dalai Lama's speech, sponsored by the American Himalayan Foundation, on Sept. 5 at Davies Symphony Hall. Now, Salesforce.com, which sells a Web-based service for tracking sales and marketing, will not attend the event.
"We had no right to suggest that either the American Himalayan Foundation or His Holiness support us. We made a mistake. For any harm to the reputations of His Holiness and the American Himalayan Foundation, we apologize," the letter says. View the poster here.

This week Safeway, the UK supermarket chain, announced that it is to offer customers the opportunity to visit a local farm, allowing them to see just how their food is produced...Safeway argues that customers have become "divorced from their food". The new initiative is an attempt to re-unite them."

The largest American retailer of athletic shoes, Foot Locker Inc., is revamping the advertising and marketing for three of its retail chains. The ambitious overhaul, which includes the namesake flagship chain, is timed to coincide with the important back-to-school shopping season.
Two chains, Foot Locker, with from 1,400 to 1,500 stores, and Champs Sports, with about 600 stores, are getting new campaigns. The third, Lady Foot Locker, also with about 600 stores, is getting both new ads and a new look, intended to appeal to younger women. The new television, print and Internet campaigns, with budgets estimated to total more than $6 million, are from AKA Advertising in New York, which has worked for Foot Locker since 1999.