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Jan. 31 (CNN) -- Barack Obama’s popularity makes him a marketer’s dream. Now, the honeymoon may be over for those trying to profit from his appeal. White House lawyers want to control the use of the president’s image, recognizing the worldwide fascination about Obama’s election, First Amendment free-speech rights and easy access to videos and photos on the Web. “Our lawyers are working on developing a policy that will protect the presidential image while being careful not to squelch the overwhelming enthusiasm that the public has for the president,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. Obama’s calls for change and his “Yes We Can” campaign mantra are being evoked to sell assembly-required furniture in Ikea’s “Embrace Change” marketing campaign, bargain airfares during Southwest Airlines Inc.’s “Yes You Can” sale and “Yes Pecan” ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc. shops. “I can’t remember this ever happening to an active politician before, as a spokesperson or as an image for a brand,” said Brad Adgate, director of research for Horizon Media Inc., a New York-based advertising agency. “He’s in the highest profile of any person in the world right now.” Riding the wave of Obama’s popularity may become a concern when advertisers use his likeness without permission to imply that Obama is endorsing a product or cause. The White House through the years has objected to commercial use of presidential faces, such as footage of President George H.W. Bush in a Cold War-themed 1989 television ad for cold medication. Presidential Speeches The National Education Association is running a TV ad with excerpts from a speech Obama gave on July 5, 2007, with the group’s logo behind him. The educators’ group has previously shown remarks by Obama in Web videos and is confident the president shares a “clear and longstanding” commitment to “real change and real reform in education,” said Steve Snider, NEA’s manager of advertising and broadcast services. The Web site for McKinstry Co., a Seattle-based mechanical contractor that Obama visited during last year’s presidential campaign, features a YouTube clip of Obama praising its work improving energy efficiency at schools and office buildings. “As president I’ll use companies like McKinstry as a model for the nation,” Obama says. McKinstry spokeswoman Genevieve Guinn said the company bought rights to the video and hasn’t gotten any White House complaints. Obama’s face is on a full-page newspaper advertisement by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a lobbying group in Alexandria, Virginia. Burning Coal “We figured out how to put a man on the moon in 10 years,” the ad quotes Obama as saying last August. “You can’t tell me we can’t figure out how to burn coal that we mine right here in the United States of America and make it work.” The group also began running a TV ad in December that shows footage of Obama promoting clean-coal energy during a campaign event last September. The clean coal lobby group told Obama representatives about the ads before the inauguration and “received no signals from them that there was any discomfort. As a record-setting crowd jammed Washington earlier this month for Obama’s inauguration, Obama’s face was featured on thousands of t-shirts, coffee mugs and calendars for sale at stores and street vendors across the capital. Obama’s official inaugural committee got into the act, too, setting up its own memorabilia store. Malia, Sasha Dolls Since the Obamas moved into the White House, Michelle Obama objected to the sale by Beanie Babies-maker Ty Inc. of dolls with the same names as her daughters. The company said the Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia dolls weren’t modeled after the first daughters. A search for Michelle Obama’s name on Google Inc.’s Web site brings up an online ad for J. Crew Group Inc., which got free publicity when the first lady wore a J. Crew outfit on NBC’s “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” last October. “Inauguration Style: Get Looks Like Those Worn by the First Lady” the Web ad says.
Psaki wouldn’t provide details about legal options the White House counsel’s office is considering to deal with commercial use of Obama’s likeness.
The White House lawyers may have to make case-by-case determinations about the best ways to protect the presidential image without tempering enthusiasm or trampling on free-speech protections, said Jonathan Band, an intellectual property lawyer in Washington.
“It will be difficult,” Band said. “Because he is the president of the United States and there was this campaign and everyone’s proud, I think the First Amendment will be applied much more broadly with respect to people wanting to use an image of the president than it would be with typical entertainment figures or sports figures.”
Commercial Exploitation
The use of Obama-related images also may involve copyright issues and various state laws about the ability of individuals to control commercial exploitation of their likenesses, Band said.
Appropriation of a president’s face and voice, to a large degree, come with the territory, said Princeton University historian Fred Greenstein.
“It’s par for the course,” he said. Presidents have all been imitated, positively and negatively, in one form or another, he said. “When you have really newsworthy and dynamic figures they invite parody, they invite idolizations, they invite imitation in one mode or another.”
Global Appeal
As someone with a fresh face and broad international and domestic appeal as the first black president, Obama’s celebrity status is unusually susceptible to marketing pitches, said Al Ries, chairman of Ries & Ries, an Atlanta-based marketing strategy firm.
“There’s just no question that any marketer that can find an angle,” he says, “would benefit enormously with the association.”
Still, regardless of whether the president’s lawyers lay down the law soon, Obama’s popularity will likely ebb and flow just like any other politician’s.
“Now’s the time to latch on to his coattails, because it isn’t going to last forever,” Ries said. TAMPA, Fla. (CNN) - NBC said on the eve of Sunday's Super Bowl that it has sold the last two of the 67 advertising spots for the game, pushing total ad revenue for the event to a record $206 million.
The network said its total of $261 million in ad revenue for all of Super Bowl day also is a record, calling it an especially impressive feat in the middle of the economy's steep downturn.
The Super Bowl is the premier advertising event with an U.S. audience of 100 million viewers, many of whom watch closely during game breaks for the debut of entertaining, big-budget commercials. The ads have sold for between $2.4 million and $3 million per 30-second slot this year.
"These advertising milestones show the power of the NFL brand and the strength of the Super Bowl as a TV property in this economic climate," said Jeff Zucker, president and CEO of NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co. "The Super Bowl has become one of our country's biggest holidays, a uniquely American day, and advertisers recognized the value in being a part of it."
Thirty-two advertisers in all will showcase their products during Super Bowl coverage.
NBC said the ads featured during the game also will be available for viewing almost immediately after they air at Web sites including NBC.com, Hulu.com and Superbowl.com. Tragedy has struck in upstate New York, a street view car hit a baby deer on Five Points Road - and then recorded the whole thing on Google Maps. Nobody noticed until, well, someone noticed, prompting a Daily What blog post, floods of traffic, and then a sequence of five street-level pictures being removed from the site. Google replied: "The driver was understandably upset, and promptly stopped to alert the local police and the Street View team at Google. The deer was able to move and had left the area by the time the police arrived. The police explained to our driver that, sadly, this was not an uncommon occurrence in the region - the New York State Department of Transportation estimates that 60,000-70,000 deer collisions happen per year in New York alone -- and no police report needed to be filed." (CNN) -- A bus carrying Chinese tourists overturned Friday near Hoover Dam, killing at least seven people and injuring at least nine others, an Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman said. Authorities work on the crash scene Friday on U.S. 93 in White Hills, Arizona, near Hoover Dam. The accident happened at 4 p.m. on U.S. 93 at mile marker 27, about 27 miles south of Hoover Dam, said Lt. James Warriner. The dead lay in body bags on the roadway near the bus, which was on its side across both lanes and onto the shoulder of the highway. Initial reports from the scene indicated rescuers had difficulty communicating with the passengers, all of them Chinese nationals. Five of the injured were taken to Kingman Regional Medical Center, where one was in critical condition and four were in serious condition, said Ryan Kennedy, executive director of operations. Rick Plummer, a spokesman for University Medical Center in Las Vegas, said the hospital received five victims by helicopter, one who died, two in critical condition and two in serious condition. Another five victims were expected to arrive by ambulance. The north-south highway at the crash scene in White Hills, Arizona, was shut in both directions. Officials said the bus was heading from Las Vegas to Arizona. Hoover Dam is near the border of the two states. (CNN) -- After 34 years of invitations, the "Boss" finally said yes to the National Football League. Bruce Springsteen was first asked to play the Super Bowl in 1975, his bandmate says. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band headline the Super Bowl XLIII halftime show in Tampa, Florida, on Sunday. E Street guitarist Nils Lofgren promises it will be "a very cool thing," but would only hint at what four Springsteen songs the band will play. "One of them has to be 'Born to Run,' but he's got over 400 great songs," Lofgren said. The song list, in fact, is subject to change "knowing Bruce, since what we do is so improvisational," he said. "We've got the best bandleader in the business and whatever we decide to do, we'll be able to do it well and I'm sure it will be a great ride," he said. Lofgren said the NFL first asked Springsteen to play at the Super Bowl in 1975, but he declined. "They keep offering it to him and he keeps turning them down," he said. "So, we were thrilled that he had a change of heart and decided to do it." Springsteen is taking the E Street Band on tour a world tour beginning April 1 to support the band's latest album, which was released January 27. The new album -- "Working on a Dream" -- sounds "very fresh and in your face," Lofgren said. (CNN) -- Billy Powell, keyboardist with the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, died of a heart ailment at his condo in the Jacksonville, Florida, suburb of Orange Park, police said Thursday. He was 56. Billy Powell, center, poses with other members of Lynyrd Skynyrd at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2006.
Powell, who died early Wednesday, had survived the band's October 1977 plane crash in Mississippi that killed lead singer Ronnie Van Zant; guitarist Steve Gaines; Gaines's sister, vocalist Cassie Gaines; an assistant road manager; and the pilot and copilot. Powell was seriously injured in the crash. More than 40 fans left messages on a fan Web site. "Billy, you are truely free now. Rock on with Ronnie and the gang. You also will be forever missed," read a note signed by traceyspruill. "I cannot believe the hurt that I have felt from being a Skynyrd fan, but I realize that it only hurts so much because I love the members of this band like my own family. We will always miss you, Billy. I can hear your fingertips rolling off those ivory keys right now. Thanks for being you. Rest in peace and may God bless you," another fan wrote. According to Orange Park Police Lt. Mark Cornett, Powell called 911 around midnight Tuesday from his condo at the Club Continental, complaining about chest pains. "When paramedics and police arrived, they found him unresponsive on the bed," Cornett said. Powell was pronounced dead at the scene, and his cardiologist signed the death certificate at 1:52 a.m. ET Wednesday. According to the officer, Powell missed an appointment with the same doctor on Tuesday. Powell joined the original Skynyrd band in 1972, but he worked for the Jacksonville, Florida-based band for several years before that as a crew member. Among the Southern rock band's acclaimed songs are "What's Your Name," "Freebird" and "Sweet Home Alabama," all released in the 1970s. "Sweet Home Alabama" reached the top 10 in 1974. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Two years after the plane crash, Powell, Allen Collins, Gary Rossington and Leon Wilkeson formed the Rossington-Collins Band. It broke up in 1982. A new Lynyrd Skynyrd band formed in 1987 and included Johnny Van Zant, Ronnie's brother. It began a tour in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where the plane was headed when it crashed. The band's last album, "Vicious Cycle," came out in 2003. CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- The Illinois Senate on Thursday voted unanimously to remove impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich delivers a closing argument at his impeachment trial Thursday. Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges in December. Federal authorities allege, among other things, that he was trying to sell or trade the Senate seat that became vacant after Barack Obama was elected president. After the governor's arrest, the state House voted overwhelmingly to impeach him. The Senate vote was 59-0. Moments after removing him from office, the Illinois Senate also voted unanimously to prevent Blagojevich from ever holding political office in the state again. "I'm obviously sad and disappointed, but not at all surprised, by what the state senate did today," Blagojevich said during a free-for-all news conference outside his Chicago home during which he answered reporters' questions, hugged shouting supporters and even promised a neighbor's child he'll play basketball with him this summer. It's something I knew they would do a long time ago," he said. "The fix was in from the very beginning." Shortly after the vote, newly minted U.S. Sen. Roland Burris, D-Illinois, who was appointed to the seat by Blagojevich, issued a statement saying he stands behind the state Senate's decision to remove the governor from office. "As I've repeatedly stated, the governor must be held accountable for his actions to the legislature, in a court of law and to the people of the state of Illinois. ... Today's conviction speaks loud and clear that there are serious issues preventing him from fulfilling his responsibilities and I support putting new leadership in place." Earlier Thursday, Illinois state senators made final deliberations in Blagojevich's impeachment trial. "Honest and competent governors don't act like Rod Blagojevich," Republican Sen. Kirk Dillard said. "Rod Blagojevich needs to be removed from office." Sen. Kwame Raul, a Democrat, said the governor had not presented any evidence in his defense and had not called any witnesses. The governor firmly denied wrongdoing Thursday, as he has all week on television talk shows. (CNN) -- A family of four has been found dead in a suburban Columbus, Ohio, home in what's believed to be a murder-suicide, authorities said Thursday. Police tape surrounds a Whitehall, Ohio, house, where a family of four was found dead Wednesday. Police in Whitehall, east of Columbus, responded to a call around 2 p.m. Wednesday and found the bodies of Mark Meeks, 51; his wife, Jennifer Dallas-Meeks, 40; and children Jimmy, 5, and Abbigail, 8. "We're confirming all four victims had gunshot wounds, and a gun was found at the scene," Sgt. Dan Kelso said. A suicide note purportedly written by Meeks also was found at the scene, but police are not releasing the note's contents, Kelso said. Authorities believe Meeks shot his wife and two children and then himself, Kelso said. It was the second time this week that a family died in an apparent murder-suicide. On Tuesday, the bodies of Ervin Antonio Lupoe, his wife and five children were found in their Los Angeles, California, area home after Lupoe faxed a letter to a local television station explaining that he and his wife had lost their jobs and felt it was better to end their lives. Police resisted the suggestion that the killings were motivated by finances or job loss. "Out of respect for the family, detectives are not releasing the actual motive, but it's not financial, and he was employed," Kelso said. The vice president of operations at Immke Northwest Honda, where Meeks was a service manager, confirmed that he was a current employee. "We as a dealership decline to comment on this devastating tragedy, except to say that all of us here at Immke Northwest Honda are very sad and our condolences go out to the family," Tom Spicer said. NEW YORK (CNN) -- Eating a box of Girl Scout Cookies in one sitting will be a little bit easier this year: The Girl Scouts of the USA confirmed Wednesday that it has reduced the number of cookies per box to save money because of rising transportation and baking costs. People buying Girl Scout cookies like these on their Web site this year can expect fewer cookies in the packages. Michelle Tompkins, a national Girl Scout spokeswoman, said that "the cost of baking a cookie today is significantly higher than it was even a year ago, and our bakers cannot continue to absorb these rising costs." She also said transportation costs have increased 30 to 40 percent from a year ago. The combined cost increase prompted the organization to "lower the net weight of our cookie boxes slightly rather than ask our customers to pay a higher per-package price during these difficult times," Tompkins said in a written statement. There will be two to four fewer cookies in boxes of Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Shortbread Cookies, DoSiDos and Trefoils, she said. LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A man apparently despondent about losing his job killed his wife and five children before turning the gun on himself, officials said Tuesday. The bodies were found inside this home in the Los Angeles suburb of Wilmington. The bodies of five children and two adults -- the children's mother and father -- were found Tuesday in a home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Wilmington. Among the dead, authorities said, were an 8-year-old girl and two sets of twins -- 5-year-old girls and 2-year-old boys. Ervin Lupoe apparently called 911 and contacted a television station by fax before committing suicide, authorities said. "No words can describe this tragedy," said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. "There's no way to comprehend this unspeakable act." Police were alerted by KABC-TV, who said the station had received a faxed letter and a call from an individual who was threatening suicide. Responding officers found all seven bodies inside the home, said Capt. William Hayes. Nearly simultaneously with the KABC call, a man called 911 and reported coming home and finding his family dead, Hayes said. But, Deputy Police Chief Kenneth Garner said, the man told KABC he had killed them. A suicide note found at the scene "indicated a business dispute" between Lupoe and Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center, Hayes said. In the faxed note to KABC, the man said he was despondent over an employment situation, police said. Kaiser Permanente said Lupoe and his wife, Ana, were both former employees of the medical center. Both had been terminated, Hayes said, with Lupoe's termination coming last week. It appears there were grounds for the termination and it did not come as a result of layoffs, he said. "There is no reason to believe this is anything other than a murder-suicide," Lt. John Romero said. "There is no current threat to the community, no active search for a suspect." The father and the three girls were found in one upstairs room of the home, the mother and twin boys in another, police said. Deputy Police Chief Kenneth Garner described the scene as one of the most grisly police have encountered. Authorities did not release the names of the woman and children. "Unfortunately, this has become an all-too-common story in the last few months," Villaraigosa told reporters. He urged those who have lost jobs to take advantage of available assistance and resources, including mental health agencies. "Job centers, foreclosure counselors, and mental health professionals are ready to provide whatever services are necessary to get people back on their feet and to keep families afloat," the mayor said in a written statement. City Councilwoman Janice Hahn said, "No matter how desperate you are, no matter how frustrated you are, to think this was the only answer -- to take your whole family with you in death -- is just too much to understand." Kaiser Permanente said it is cooperating with the police investigation. Forbidden Phrase #1: "Relax." It might seem logical to you to tell a woman who's freaking out to relax. And if "logical" meant the same thing as "stupidest idea ever," you'd be correct. Understand, a woman screaming and carrying on in anger or frustration or panic thinks that her response is 100 percent appropriate. If the inciting situation has anything to do with you, she feels she has a responsibility to freak out extra to compensate for your maddening calm. So when you tell her to relax, you're implying that your response--i.e., nothing--is correct. You're denying that there's a reason to be upset. You're telling her she's crazy. Women may sometimes feel crazy and joke about it, but anything smacking of accusations of being crazy will be far from soothing. Say..."I'm just as upset about this as you are. Let's deal with it together." This way she knows you're totally sympathetic. This should help her to...oh, God...relax. Forbidden Phrase #2: "I love you." (During a fight) In movies, "I love you" is usually employed by men during I-love-you–appropriate situations--lovemaking, walks on the beach, airport reunions. In real life, a woman hears "I love you" most often at that point in a fight when she desperately wants to get to the heart of the issue, and when you desperately want to stop this nonsense and watch Alias--which you don't normally even watch. When you come home shirtless from a bachelor party or forget our birthdays and stand there in the face of our rage and crushing disappointment, do you really believe that merely stating the powerful existence of your love is going to make everything okay? Because it's not. Forbidden Phrase #3: "It's up to you." (A.K.A. "Whatever you want to do is fine with me.") Relationships are full of decisions. You decide where to eat, where to go on vacation, where to send your child to preschool. Most men wouldn't dream of looking at their wife or girlfriend and saying, "You know what? I just don't care." They would, however, say, "It's up to you." And find themselves in a world of hurt they never saw coming. Men think of decision-making as work without pay. For women, it's like window-shopping for life's possibilities, and we want you to help us shop. So when you say, "It's up to you," we feel abandoned. Say . . . "I could definitely do A or B, but I'm not crazy about C. What are you thinking?" This shows you're listening, suggests you care, and gets you out of deciding. Forbidden Phrase #4: "You knew I was this way when you married me." Well, the truth is that we didn't. Or we knew deep down, but we were so busy enjoying our fantasy of you that we chose to ignore what was really there. It's not your fault. It's just that when we were little, we spent so much time daydreaming about having the perfect life. Now that we're actually in grown-up life, we can't turn off our daydreaming switch. Telling a woman, "You knew I was this way when you married me" is like saying the way your life is right now is the way it's going to be forever and ever. And that may well be true--in many wonderful and not-so-wonderful ways. But if she were to accept that, a little part of her would die. Forbidden Phrase #5: (Nothing) At times, you may be afraid of saying the wrong thing. You may think, If I just keep my mouth shut, I'll be okay. Well, no. Imagine you're pitching in a baseball game in which there is no hitter, not even a catcher. You would not enjoy that. Imagine yourself, head hanging, going to retrieve the ball yourself and, once again, throwing it to no one. That's how we feel when you don't talk to us. Say . . . Anything. Throw the ball back. Throw it badly. Even risk throwing a wild pitch and letting her take an extra base. But keep your head in the game. Say . . . "It frustrates me, too--and I'm working on it." It's a lie. That's okay. |
