Addicted to deception Tobacco industry hasn't kicked bad marketing habits

Anyone who thinks the tobacco industry's tradition of sleazy death-dealing is a thing of the past should check out a new study by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Cigarettes became more addictive from 1998 to 2004, as nicotine levels increased by 10 percent.

The most popular brands with young people -- Marlboro, Newport and Camel -- delivered significantly more nicotine than in the past.

Nicotine jumped 20 percent in Kool, one of the menthol brands preferred by most African-American smokers.

The big three cigarette makers had no response to this new evidence that the industry is still manipulating nicotine levels to hook more young people and minorities and to make it harder for smokers to quit.

The data for the study were submitted by the cigarette manufacturers as required by a Massachusetts law. Most of the tests were done by a Canadian lab that simulates the way people smoke.

The study comes on the heels of U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler's order that the industry quit deceiving the public with cigarette labels such as "light" and "low tar." [ read full article ]

GoTucsonOnline leaves clients in limbo - Company fails to deliver promised online services, marketing packages

GoTucsonOnline may be a legitimate business struggling through hard times -- or it may be an outright scam.

Either way, Angela Pratt and several other local business owners have been victimized by the Chandler-based company, which offers online services and marketing packages that it has failed to deliver.

In June, the company known as Digital Impressions, doing business as GoTucsonOnline, offered Pratt and the auto repair business she co-owns with her husband, Daniel Pratt, a $2,000 package that promised to build a Web site, run radio ads and print business cards, Angela Pratt said.

The Pratts ponied up $300 and handed over the domain name they'd already secured for Dan's Toy Shop, 555 E. Fort Lowell Road, which repairs Toyota, Scion and Lexus automobiles.

When radio ads the company promised to run in July didn't air, Angela Pratt began trying to contact the company by phone, e-mail and any other mode of communication that might get to them.

She has yet to get a response. [ read full article ]

'Participant' marketing idea going for U.S. patent

A filmmaker creates a presentation for a nonprofit group and gets corporate sponsors for the project, making a potentially costly effort for the organization revenue neutral -- or even profitable.

The nonprofit and corporate sponsors get their diverse messages to their target audience, and viewers get coupons and discounts from the sponsors.

It may sound simple, but Chattanoogan John Disterdick has a business method patent pending on the approach, which he calls participation marketing. He said his company, Philadelphia Film LLC, has participation productions in the works and is pitching several more.

"It's the fastest growing area of patent law," said Mr. Disterdick, whose company specializes in multimedia presentations. "Nonprofits have never been able to do this at no cost. It's connecting brands with causes -- putting multiple companies together with a brand and creating relationships with the viewer," he said.

Andrew Huffman, Philadelphia Film's patent attorney, said his first reaction to the program was not unlike others he saw.

"I thought, 'Why's nobody done this?'" he said.

"Lots of inventions -- interval windshield wipers, for instance -- seem obvious the first time you see them, but somebody had to think of it," he said. [ read full article ]