Pepsi's re-branding may make cosumers go "WAT?"
Labels: economic news, food
As you walk down the soda aisle at the grocery store, you are about to see a new look for Pepsi.
In fact, the change could be so dramatic a few people might not realize at first glance that it’s Pepsi. The company is prepared for some confusion, said Frank Cooper, Pepsi-Cola North America vice president of portfolio brands, which includes the company’s core carbonated soft drinks.
“In the initial phases, and we’re just in the seeding phase, I think there will be people who actually will not know it’s Pepsi,” Cooper said. “And that’s okay. But I think there will be a small group of people who will be on the inside of it and who can start the conversation on their own terms.”
As U.S. consumers continue to move away from carbonated soft drinks, PepsiCo, a Purchase, N.Y.,-based snack foods and beverage giant, is placing a huge bet on a sweeping and somewhat cryptic brand makeover. The company has said it plans to spend $1.2 billion over the next three years to reinvigorate carbonated soft drinks.
It won’t be easy. Both Pepsi and Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. are working to increase sales in a shrinking U.S. soda market. U.S. sales volume for carbonated soft drinks has declined for the past three years and is on track to fall again in 2008, according to figures from Beverage Digest.
After assessing the market, Pepsi decided dramatic action was needed, Cooper said.
“We decided, ‘Hey, now is the time to make that fundamental shift,’” he said. “If we’re going to capture the imagination of the consumer again, let’s rethink at a fundamental level the relationship between our brand and the consumer.”
The most visible change initially includes new logos and packages for PepsiCo beverages. The round red, white and blue Pepsi logo has evolved over the years from a bottle-cap design that Pepsi adopted as its official logo in 1962. It was last changed in 2002, when Pepsi started using a dynamic three-dimensional globe split by a white wave.
The new Pepsi brand emblem takes a minimalist approach. It remains a red, white and blue circle, but the wave is gone. It has been replaced by a diagonal white slit intended to represent a “smile.” The word “Pepsi” is included in lowercase letters.
Other major PepsiCo brands also are getting a new look. Sierra Mist, Pepsi’s lemon-lime flavored soft drink, has been given a blurry label, as though the name is emerging from a forest.
The company has not officially released the new Mountain Dew logo, but images are surfacing on the Internet that show “Mtn Dew” lettering set on a computerized topographical map of mountain peaks. PepsiCo’s sports drink brand, Gatorade, will be emblazoned with a big letter “G.”
The new packages for the core soft-drink brands have started showing up in some stores and should replace the old cans and bottles on most store shelves by early next year. They’re already stirring up heated debate on the Web, which has been a large part of the initial launch.
The logos have elicited a strong reaction in the graphic design community, said Armin Vit, a principal with Brooklyn, N.Y., design firm UnderConsideration LLC. The company runs a blog, underconsideration.com/brandnew, about corporate and brand identity work.
A posting about the Pepsi logo drew 400 responses, more than any other posting since the blog was started in 2006. Few responders were kind in their assessment. One referred to the logos as “brand butchering.”
“I think 90 percent of the people just didn’t like it,” Vit said.
Pepsi is known for making changes in design, Vit said. While Coca-Cola has tweaked design over the years, the company is known for a classic cursive script logo and contour bottle, he said.
The new Pepsi logo, though, is confusing, Vit said. The logo changes depending on the product. It starts with a grin for Diet Pepsi and becomes a broad gap representing laughter for Pepsi Max.
“What are they supposed to mean?” Vit asked. “Is the Pepsi Max supposed to make me happiest? It was a little bit too convoluted.”
Arnell Group, a New York design firm that has worked with Donna Karan, McDonald’s and Tommy Hilfiger, came up with the new logos. Replacing the Pepsi wave with the Pepsi smile gives life to the logo, said Cooper, the Pepsi-Cola vice president.
“The work Arnell did on the design is right and on-point for us,” Cooper said. “The logo itself is dynamic. It has depth. It has a certain energy to it. When you move from that wave to a smile, a certain humanity comes from that.”
The logos, though, are just one part of the effort to reconnect with consumers, Cooper said. Instead of a big media splash, Pepsi has started its marketing effort at the grassroots level, he said.
The new campaign borrows heavily from what Mountain Dew has done for years, Cooper said. Mountain Dew targets core consumers with messages tied to extreme sports, video gaming and alternative music and art.
For the new Pepsi campaign, Pepsi has identified local “influencers” — artists, chefs, community organizers and event planners — in cities across the United States, Cooper said.
Working with these influencers, products are starting to show up at intimate events, he said. It could be a concert at an old warehouse or an art exhibition for charity, Cooper said.
For the Pepsi brand, the company wants to set a tone of “optimism and youth,” he said. “It’s not about age,” Cooper said. “It’s about a mind-set, a way of approaching the world.”
And if you’re not one of the local influencers, don’t worry. Pepsi will reach you, too. “Trust me, we will make it clear as we move along,” Cooper said.
Pepsi has not said whether it will use a Super Bowl ad to unveil the logos, but it does have plans for mainstream media, he said.
“For us, the TV piece is critically important because of the reach,” Cooper said. “We’re definitely going down that path. But it’s not the place we’re starting from in terms of how we’re thinking of engaging the consumer.”
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Giving Axe Body Spray a run for its money.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Looking to beef up your mojo this holiday season? Labels: bizzare news, food
Burger King Corp. may have just the thing. The home of the Whopper has launched a new men's body spray called "Flame." The company describes the spray as "the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat."
The fragrance is on sale at New York City retailer Ricky's NYC in stores and online for a limited time for $3.99.
Burger King is marketing the product through a Web site featuring a photo of its King character reclining fireside and naked but for an animal fur strategically placed to not offend.
The marketing ploy is the latest in a string of viral ad campaigns by the company. Burger King is also in the midst of its Whopper Virgins campaign that features an taste test with fast-food "virgins" pitting the Whopper against McDonald's Corp.'s Big Mac.
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Tis the season for thieving.
A customer stole 50 dollars from me / my work today. Labels: crime drama, food, local news, money, work
Occasionally a customer will forget or have need to call when I'm delivering their food in order to give credit card information.
9 times out of 10, I make the call and do the transaction, but this time the customer went ahead and did it while I was standing there.
Only they PRETENDED to be calling.
I got them to sign the receipt which is normal practice in this case and went back to the store.
This is when I learn that he hadn't called the store at all and was just PRETENDING.
The phone number listed on his receipt only goes to voice mail.
I returned to his address within 10 minutes of when I was last there and he didn't answer the door.
My boss called the police and I had to fill out an affidavit detailing the events as well as a description of the man.
Thankfully I am not, at least currently, on the hook for the 50 dollars.
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Assault with a Value Menu Item
VERO BEACH, Fla. — A Vero Beach man faces a domestic violence charge after authorities said he assaulted his girlfriend with a cheeseburger. An Indian River County Sheriff's Office arrest report said a 22-year-old man and his girlfriend got into an argument as they sat in a car in front of their home. Labels: bizzare news, crime drama, Florida, food
The report said the man would not let the woman out of the vehicle, so she threw his drink out of the car. In response, the man allegedly grabbed her arm and smashed the cheeseburger into her face. The pair got out of the car, and authorities say the man again took the McDonald's sandwich and put it on her face.
The man was released on $1,000 bond Wednesday.
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Do you like... PIE?
INDIANTOWN, Florida - Martin County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested a man who threw hot sweet potato pie in his girlfriend's face on Thanksgiving because he didn't like the food, according to a Sheriff's Office report. Labels: bizzare news, breeder news, crime drama, Florida, food
On Thanksgiving, Christopher Ford, 46, went to his home and he asked for something to eat, according to the report.
But Ford was upset with the meal his girlfriend fixed for him and they got into an argument in the kitchen. While arguing, Ford picked up the sweet potato pie his girlfriend had recently removed from the oven and slammed it into her face, according to the report.
Ford ran outside the rear door of the residence when the woman's three teenagers went into the kitchen to see what the ruckus was and saw their mom with pie on her face, according to the report.
After deputies arrived, the victim was transported to Martin Memorial Hospital South to treat the burns and blisters on her neck from the hot pie, according to the report.
Later that night deputies found and arrested Ford. He was charged with domestic battery and was released on a $5,000 on Friday, said Rhonda Irons, the Martin County Sheriff's Office spokesperson.
(Ed note: Oh Florida with your nut case news stories. We've missed you!)
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And now for something... completely different.
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[underaged patron] has stopped being a fan of Pueblo Mexican Restaurant
A Kennesaw restaurant had its license to serve alcohol revoked today after pictures of underage drinkers were posted on Facebook. Labels: crime drama, facebook, food, local news, youth news
The Cobb County Commission approved a recommendation to revoke the license held by Mi Pueblo Mexican Restaurant on Town Center Drive following a show cause hearing requested by the county license review board.
Cobb County police cited Mi Pueblo last September for serving alcohol to patrons under 21. The restaurant is located near Kennesaw State University and is frequented by students.
Police investigated the restaurant following a written complaint, and after viewing photos of minors drinking at the restaurant that were posted on the social networking site.
Several restaurant employees also did not possess valid work permits, Detective Chip Mercier told commission members.
Ricardo Bernal, the assistant manager and son of Mi Pueblo owner Jesus Bernal, said his father put his life savings into the restaurant.
“All he wanted was a better future for our family,” Bernal said.
“I have been in the U.S. for a long time. I’ve always worked,” Jesus Bernal said through an interpreter. “This is basically the future for me and my kids.”
Cobb Commissioner Tim Lee said the authorities cannot look the other way when local ordinances are violated.
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Fatty loses weight in jail.
BENTONVILLE, Ark. — An inmate awaiting trial on a murder charge is suing the county, complaining he has lost more than 100 pounds because of the jailhouse menu. Labels: food
Broderick Lloyd Laswell says he isn't happy that he's down to 308 pounds after eight months in the Benton County jail. He has filed a federal lawsuit complaining the jail doesn't provide inmates with enough food.
According to the suit, Laswell weighed 413 pounds when he was jailed in September. Police say he and a co-defendant fatally beat and stabbed a man, then set his home on fire.
"On several occasions I have started to do some exercising and my vision went blurry and I felt like I was going to pass out," Laswell wrote in his complaint. "About an hour after each meal my stomach starts to hurt and growl. I feel hungry again."
But Laswell then goes on to complain that he undertakes little vigorous activity.
"If we are in a small pod all day (and) do next to nothing for physical exercise, we should not lose weight," the suit says. "The only reason we lost weight in here is because we are literally being starved to death."
The suit also asks that the county be ordered to serve hot meals. The jail has served only cold food for years.
The meals, provided through Aramark Correctional Institution Services, average 3,000 calories a day, jail Capt. Hunter Petray told The Morning News of northwest Arkansas for a story Saturday.
A typical Western diet consists of 2,000 to 3,000 calories a day.
Laswell's suit was filed without a lawyer in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville.
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1. Buy candy in bulk.
2. Bring candy to school where it is banned.
3. Sell candy to children.
4. ????
5. PROFIT!!!
VICTORVILLE, California — With candy sales banned on school campuses, sugar pushers are the latest trend at local schools. Backpacks are filled with Snickers and Twinkees for all sweet tooths willing to pay the price. Labels: food, money, school news, youth news
“It’s created a little underground economy, with businessmen selling everything from a pack of skittles to an energy drink,” said Jim Nason, principal at Hook Junior High School in Victorville.
This has become a lucrative business, Nason said, and those kids are walking around campus with upwards of $40 in their pockets and disrupting class to make a sale.
Schools have been individually banning junk-food sales for years, and enforcement was increased in 2005 when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger passed legislation to combat childhood obesity, according to the office of the governor.
Since then, schools have slowly adjusted by offering more healthy alternatives, such as baked chips and granola bars.
But Nason said that he sees just as much candy and soda as ever, because students still bring it from home — for lunch, and to turn a profit.
“I think it’s original purpose was pretty good, but it doesn’t seem to be making that big of a difference,” said teacher Rolayne Allen of the junk-food ban.
Teachers are instructed to confiscate candy when kids have it in class, Nason said, and the punishment for making sales can be detention.
But confiscating candy all the time can be challenging, Allen said, especially around the holidays when students bring more of it to school.
Daryl Bell, principal at Apple Valley Middle School, said that he also sees an increase in candy around the holidays, but that for the most part, students steer clear of sodas and buy juice and water from the vending machines.
A few candy sellers are caught each year there, Bell said, but he does not see it as a problem on campus.
Since Hook moved away from junk food years ago, Nason said he has not seen a change in student health.
“I think they get a good nutritional lunch here, but looking at our kids and looking at physical education scores, I don’t see how it’s been a highly effective program,” Nason said.
One way around the problem is the school’s lunch accounts, Nason said. Parents can monitor what their kids are eating by putting money on their lunch cards to buy school meals instead of handing them cash.
But as long as kids can get candy, from the store and at home, they will continue to bring it to school, Nason said.
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Here's a tip: Stop dicking over your employees.
SAN DIEGO — A Superior Court judge on Thursday ordered Starbucks to pay its California baristas more than $100 million in back tips that the coffee chain paid to shift supervisors. Labels: court drama, food
Saying baristas were entitled to $86 million in back tips plus interest, San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett also issued an injunction preventing Starbucks' shift supervisors from sharing in future tips.
Cowett said the practice was a violation of a state law prohibiting managers and supervisors from sharing in employee tips.
Starbucks Corp. spokeswoman Valerie O'Neil said the company planned an immediate appeal, calling the ruling "fundamentally unfair and beyond all common sense and reason."
The lawsuit was filed in October 2004 by Jou Chou, a former Starbucks barista in La Jolla, who complained that shift supervisors were sharing in employee tips.
The lawsuit gained ground in 2006 when it was granted class action status, allowing for the suit to go forward for as many as 100,000 former and current baristas in Starbucks's California stores.
"I feel vindicated," Chou said in a written statement released by attorneys. "Tips really help those receiving the lowest wages. I think Starbucks should pay shift supervisors higher wages instead of taking money from the tip pool."
California is Starbucks' largest U.S. market, with 2,460 stores as of Jan. 8, the latest count available. The company has more than 11,000 stores nationwide.
Starbucks earned more than $672 million on revenue of $9.4 billion during its fiscal 2007, which ended Sept. 30.
The coffee company also took issue with the brevity of Cowett's ruling, which was only four paragraphs, saying the judge failed to address the unfairness to shift supervisors.
"This case was filed by a single former barista and, despite Starbucks request, the interests of the shift supervisors were not represented in litigation," O'Neil said.
Terry Chapko, an attorney for the baristas, said the ruling was a victory, but the case was far from over.
"Starbucks should be paying their shift supervisors a supervisory wage, not compensating them through tips that legally belong to baristas," he said.
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I wonder if the Naked Cowboy M&M is plain or peanut?
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City street performer "The Naked Cowboy" is suing Mars Inc. for $6 million over the use of his trademark look -- white underwear, cowboy boots and a hat -- by a blue M&M candy on a Times Square billboard. Labels: celebrity non news, court drama, food, music news, nakedness, new york city
For nearly a decade, Robert Burck has been a fixture in Times Square, where he strums a guitar on a street corner while dressed in his skimpy signature costume.
In a lawsuit filed this week in Manhattan federal court, Burck said that two oversized Times Square billboards that promote M&Ms used his look without compensating him.
The billboards feature a scantily clad blue M&M with a guitar alongside views of New York including street scenes and the Statue of Liberty.
Burck is suing privately held Mars Inc., which makes M&Ms, and Chute Gerdeman Inc., an Ohio agency that he said created the ad, for trademark infringement.
Neither company was immediately available for comment.
"Just like The Naked Cowboy does on a daily basis in Times Square, the M&M is not only dressed as "The Naked Cowboy," it is playing the Naked Cowboy's distinctive white guitar in the cartoon," the lawsuit said.
Mars and Chute Gerdeman "decided to exploit and trade upon The Naked Cowboy's well-recognized likeness without a license and without furnishing any compensation," the lawsuit said.
Burck has trademarked his signature look and has made several television and movie appearances in costume, including for a televised audition on the "American Idol" reality TV program, the lawsuit said.
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Krispy Kreme drops the trans fats from their delicious morsles of heaven.
Krispy Kreme announced Monday that it has dropped trans fats from its menu. That means its doughnuts and other foods and beverages contain less than a half-gram of trans fats. Labels: food, health news
But the original glazed doughnut is still a 200-calorie indulgence of white flour, sugar and fat, deep-fried in a blend of vegetable oil and palm oil that’s higher in saturated fats than the previous formula.
The bottom line: An original glazed doughnut still contains 200 calories and 12 grams of total fat. It now has 6 grams of bad fats (all saturated) rather than the 7 grams of saturated and trans fats that it had before.
The doughnut hounds in the Atlanta Constitution newsroom didn’t notice any change in taste, although, of course, they complained that they were sampling cold doughnuts instead of hot ones. (It’s the first formula change for the original glazed since the ’80s.)
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"I Am Legend" truly Legendary.
I saw "I Am Legend" at 1am on Friday morning with Colin at Atlantic Station. We enjoyed some of my Japanese candy I got from my secret stalker over on the message boards over on HSX. Mmmm. Green tea Melty Kisses. Labels: colin, food, Japan, movies, personal
As for the movie, well, it's pretty epic. Will Smith as the last man on earth after a virus comes and causes everyone else to become zombie/vampire type things is a great remake concept from "Omega Man" or "Last Man on Earth."
But it's not without problems.
Parts are really dull. Many don't like the ending -- though I didn't have a problem with it other than maybe it was rushed. And the creature effects aren't exactly great in my opinion.
That didn't stop it from becoming the highest December grossing movie ever. Yeah, Lord of the Ring fanboys, that's right... Poor Mr. Frodo.
Here are the estimates for the box office in North America from this weekend:
1. "I Am Legend," $76.5 million.
2. "Alvin and the Chipmunks," $45 million.
3. "The Golden Compass," $9 million.
4. "Enchanted," $6 million.
5. "No Country for Old Men," $3 million.
6. "The Perfect Holiday," $2.97 million.
7. "Fred Claus," $2.3 million.
8. "This Christmas," $2.3 million.
9. "Atonement," $1.85 million.
10. "August Rush," $1.8 million.
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Free Taco!!
Since someone stole a base during the World Series, America gets a free taco! Labels: food, sports news
At Taco Bell between 2 and 5pm on Tuesday October 30th you get a free taco.
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Who actually will admit to eating at Hardee's?
St. Louis — The people who brought you the Monster Thickburger and the 1,100-calorie salad are at it again — this time for breakfast. Labels: food, health news
Hardee's on Monday rolled out its new Country Breakfast Burrito — two egg omelets filled with bacon, sausage, diced ham, cheddar cheese, hash browns and sausage gravy, all wrapped inside a flour tortilla. The burrito contains 920 calories and 60 grams of fat.
Brad Haley, marketing chief for the St. Louis-based fast-food chain, said the burrito offers the sort of big breakfast item normally found in sit-down restaurants with an added advantage.
"It makes this big country breakfast portable," he said.
In 2003 the chain introduced a line of big sandwiches, including the Monster Thickburger. The 1,420-calorie sandwich is made up of two 1/3-pound slabs of beef, four strips of bacon, three slices of cheese and mayonnaise on a buttered bun.
Even Hardees' chicken salad — topped with onion rings and crispy chicken — has 1,100 calories and 83 grams of fat.
The chain does offer some low-calorie options, including roast beef and chicken sandwiches.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based advocate for nutrition and health, has called the Hardee's line of Thickburgers "food porn."
Haley makes no apologies.
"We don't try to hide what these are," he said. "When consumers go to other fast-food places they feel like they've got to buy two of their breakfast sandwiches or burritos to fill up. This is really designed to fill you up."
The government's Center for Nutritional Policy and Promotion recommends a daily caloric intake ranging from 1,600 calories for sedentary women and older adults to 2,800 calories for teenage boys and active adults. Hardee's sees its core customers as young men ages 18 to 34, Haley said, though it expects a wider range for breakfast items.
The Country Breakfast Burrito is generally available for $2.69 by itself or $4.09 for a combo that includes hash rounds and coffee.
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Horror writer's research ends up getting him arrested.
MEXICO CITY (AP) - An aspiring horror novelist was arrested after police discovered his girlfriend's torso in his closet, a leg in the refrigerator and bones in a cereal box, a city prosecutors' spokesman said Thursday. Labels: bizzare news, crime drama, food, murder
Jose Luis Calva told police he had boiled some of his girlfriend's flesh but that he hadn't eaten it, the spokesman said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the case.
Calva told police he was a writer and poet—officers found the draft of a novel titled "Cannibalistic Instincts," he said.
Investigators were trying to determine if chunks of fried meat found in a pan in the apartment were human, the spokesman said.
Police came to Calva's apartment Monday after neighbors reported a fetid smell. They discovered the dismembered body of his girlfriend Alejandra Galeana in a closet, the spokesman said. A leg and pieces of an arm were in a refrigerator and there were bones inside a cereal box.
The family of Galeana, a 30-year-old pharmacy clerk, reported her missing on Friday and told police of her relationship with Calva, the official said.
Calva is being investigated in the killings of two other women, including an ex-girlfriend, also a pharmacy worker, whose dismembered body was found in 2004, and an unidentified prostitute who was killed earlier this year.
Calva tried to run from police to avoid arrest, but was struck by a car and was still hospitalized on Thursday
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File this under: Darwin was robbed.
A teenager was rushed to hospital after overdosing on espresso coffee. Labels: drugs, food, health news
The 17-year-old downed seven double espresso coffees while working in the family's sandwich shop and was left "burning up and hyperventilating".
Student Jasmine Willis, who thought the coffees were single measures, said the effects of the espresso were so severe her actions left customers bewildered.
She said she started laughing and crying for no reason while serving them, but after being sent home by her father Gary the medical symptoms started. She developed a fever at home and was unable to breathe properly.
Jasmine, of Stanley, County Durham, was rushed to the University Hospital of North Durham after her cousin called the paramedics. Doctors confirmed she had overdosed on caffeine and after monitoring her condition allowed her home a few hours later.
She made a full recovery and wants to warn others about the dangers of excessive coffee drinking.
"My nerves were all over the place," Jasmine said.
"I was crying in front of the customers and had tears streaming down my face."
After going home she experienced frightening physical symptoms. She added: "I was drenched. I was burning up and hyperventilating.
"I was having palpitations, my heart was beating so fast and I think I was going into shock."
After being allowed home from hospital she suffered side effects for days and now cannot face the sight of coffee.
She said: "I felt exhausted for days afterwards. I did not realise this could happen to you and I only hope other people learn from my mistake."
Her father Gary, who runs The Sandwich Bar, in Stanley, said: "She did not realise she was drinking double measures.
"I have always stressed to my children the importance of moderation but Jasmine got caught out on this occasion."
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Man Not McLovin' It.
A Morgantown man, his mother and his friend are suing McDonald's for $10 million. Labels: court drama, food
The man says he bit into a hamburger and had a severe allergic reaction to the cheese melted on it.
Jeromy Jackson, who is in his early 20s, says he clearly ordered two Quarter Pounders without cheese at the McDonald's restaurant in Star City before heading to Clarksburg.
His mother Trela Jackson and friend Andrew Ellifritz are parties to the lawsuit because they say they risked their lives rushing Jeromy to United Hospital Center in Clarksburg.
The lawsuit alleges Jeromy "was only moments from death" or serious injury by the time he reached the hospital.
"We're interested in seeing McDonald's take responsibility and change a systemic quality control problem that endangers the lives of up to 12 million Americans with allergies," said Timothy Houston, the Morgantown lawyer representing the plaintiffs.
Houston said his clients were in Morgantown in October 2005 and stopped at the Star City McDonald's on the way home to Clarksburg. Jeromy Jackson was living with his mother at the time.
Jeromy did his part to make it known he didn't want cheese on the hamburgers because he is allergic, Houston said.
He told a worker through the ordering speaker and then two workers face-to-face at the pay and pick-up windows that he couldn't eat cheese, Houston said.
"By my count, he took at least five independent steps to make sure that thing had no cheese on it," Houston said. "And it did and almost cost him his life."
After getting the food, the three drove to Clarksburg and started to eat the food in a darkened room where they were going to watch a movie, Houston said.
Jeromy took one bite and started having the reaction, Houston said. One of the three immediately called the McDonald's to let restaurant employees know they had messed up the order, but had to cut the call short when Jeromy started having a bad reaction, Houston said.
At least two managers at the McDonald's called the Jacksons afterward to apologize for what happened, Houston said.
McDonald's representatives offered to pay half of Jeromy's medical bills -- which totaled about $700. When Houston became involved, he said the company offered to pay all the medical costs.
The plaintiffs weren't interested, and McDonald's wasn't offering anything more than medical costs.
The Jacksons and Ellifritz filed the lawsuit on July 18 in Monongalia Circuit Court.
Houston didn't know if McDonald's had yet been served with the complaint.
The lawsuit seeks damages on two counts of negligence, one count of intentional infliction of emotional distress and one count of punitive damages.
(Ed note: You know, if I was allergic to something that COULD FUCKING KILL ME, -- which I think is being wildly exaggerated above, by the way -- I don't think I'd go to places where others were responsible for the products I'm putting in my mouth. Especially fast food resturaunts where people are more likely to ADD what you tell them you do not want, just to be vindictive bastards.)
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I'm McLovin' It!
CHICAGO — Anything made by McDonald's tastes better, preschoolers said in a study that powerfully demonstrates how advertising can trick the taste buds of young children. Labels: food, health news, television, youth news
Even carrots, milk and apple juice tasted better to the kids if it was wrapped in the familiar packaging of the Golden Arches.
The study had youngsters sample identical McDonald's foods in name-brand or unmarked wrappers. The unmarked foods always lost the taste test.
"You see a McDonald's label and kids start salivating," said Diane Levin, a childhood development specialist who campaigns against advertising to kids. She had no role in the research.
Levin said it was "the first study I know of that has shown so simply and clearly what's going on with (marketing to) young children."
Study author Dr. Tom Robinson said the kids' perception of taste was "physically altered by the branding." The Stanford University researcher said it was remarkable how children so young were already so influenced by advertising.
The study involved 63 low-income children ages 3 to 5 from Head Start centers in San Mateo County, Calif. Robinson believes the results would be similar for children from wealthier families.
The research, appearing in August's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, was funded by Stanford and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The study will likely stir more debate over the movement to restrict ads to kids. It comes less than a month after 11 major food and drink companies, including McDonald's, announced new curbs on marketing to children under 12.
McDonald's says the only Happy Meals it will promote to young children will contain fruit and have fewer calories and less fat.
"This is an important subject and McDonald's has been actively addressing it for quite some time," said company spokesman Walt Riker. "We've always wanted to be part of the solution and we are providing solutions."
But Dr. Victor Strasburger, an author of an American Academy of Pediatrics policy urging limits on marketing to children, said the study shows too little is being done.
"It's an amazing study and it's very sad," Strasburger said.
"Advertisers have tried to do exactly what this study is talking about — to brand younger and younger children, to instill in them an almost obsessional desire for a particular brand-name product," he said.
Just two of the 63 children studied said they'd never eaten at McDonald's, and about one-third ate there at least weekly. Most recognized the McDonald's logo but it was mentioned to those who didn't.
The study included three McDonald's menu items — hamburgers, chicken nuggets and french fries — and store-bought milk or juice and carrots. Children got two identical samples of each food on a tray, one in McDonald's wrappers or cups and the other in plain, unmarked packaging. The kids were asked if they tasted the same or if one was better. (Some children didn't taste all the foods.)
McDonald's-labeled samples were the clear favorites. French fries were the biggest winner; almost 77 percent said the labeled fries tasted best while only 13 percent preferred the others.
Fifty-four percent preferred McDonald's-wrapped carrots versus 23 percent who liked the plain-wrapped sample.
The only results not statistically clear-cut involved the hamburgers, with 29 kids choosing McDonald's-wrapped burgers and 22 choosing the unmarked ones.
Fewer than one-fourth of the children said both samples of all foods tasted the same.
Pradeep Chintagunta, a University of Chicago marketing professor, said a fairer comparison might have gauged kids' preferences for the McDonald's label versus another familiar brand, such as Mickey Mouse.
"I don't think you can necessarily hold this against" McDonald's, he said, since the goal of marketing is to build familiarity and sell products.
He noted that parents play a strong role in controlling food choices for children so young.
But Robinson argued that because young children are unaware of the persuasive intent of marketing, "it is an unfair playing field."
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Now I know why Elf won't have sex with me!
A new phenomenon in New Zealand is taking the idea of you are what you eat to the extreme. Labels: Elf, food, international news, sex, that place they filmed Lord of the Rings
Vegansexuals are people who do not eat any meat or animal products, and who choose not to be sexually intimate with non-vegan partners whose bodies, they say, are made up of dead animals.
The co-director of the New Zealand Centre for Human and Animal Studies at Canterbury University, Annie Potts, said she coined the term after doing research on the lives of "cruelty-free consumers".
Cruelty-Free Consumption in New Zealand: A National Report on the Perspectives and Experiences of Vegetarians and other Ethical Consumers asked 157 people nationwide about everything from battery chickens to sexual preferences.
Many female respondents described being attracted to people who ate meat, but said they did not want to have sex with meat-eaters because their bodies were made up of animal carcasses.
"It's a whole new thing – I have not come across it before," said Potts.
One vegan respondent from Christchurch said: "I believe we are what we consume, so I really struggle with bodily fluids, especially sexually."
Another Christchurch vegan said she found non-vegans attractive, but would not want to be physically close to them.
"I would not want to be intimate with someone whose body is literally made up from the bodies of others who have died for their sustenance," she said.
Christchurch vegan Nichola Kriek has been married to her vegan husband, Hans, for nine years.
She would not describe herself as vegansexual, but said it would definitely be a preference.
She could understand people not wanting to get too close to non-vegan or non-vegetarians.
"When you are vegan or vegetarian, you are very aware that when people eat a meaty diet, they are kind of a graveyard for animals," she said.
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Anorexia and younglings.
Labels: food, health news, loli, shota, youth news
A six-year-old is the youngest boy to be treated for anorexia, a study reveals today. It also shows more young boys than girls are being treated for eating disorders such as anorexia.
Figures show 51 hospital admissions last year of boys under 11 with eating disorders and 36 admissions of girls.
Dr Jon Goldin, a consultant child psychiatrist at Great Ormond Street Hospital, said: "There is a whole range of eating disorders that young children suffer from, including compulsive overeating, food phobias or fear of swallowing, and refusing to eat.
"Young boys are more likely to be suffering from selective eating, where they will only eat a very narrow range of foods.
"You do rarely get some who have the problem into adulthood."
The statistics show that in 2003 hospitals made 93 admissions of boys under 10 with eating problems, compared with 21 admissions of girls. The number of individuals may be lower, with some children having multiple admissions.
Lib- Dem MP Sarah Teather, who obtained the NHS figures, said: "Young people are under pressure from all sides these days.
"It is time for a debate about how childhood is changing and politicians should be concerned about the type of issues teenagers are having to deal with at a younger and younger age."
A recent study by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health looked at more than 200 preadolescent children had suffered an eating disorder, of whom 37 were boys.
More than a third of the cases involved anorexia, including those of a six-year-old and an eight-year-old. From the age of two until he was six, Nicholas Pilcher ate nothing but cheese spread.
Even now, after years of successful treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital, the 15-year-old still struggles to eat vegetables and eats soft cheese on all his sandwiches.
His father Malcolm, 42, a BT product manager, said: "It was very tough. Nicholas used to starve himself rather than eat anything but Dairylea.
"It has been a long and complicated process. We never got a conclusion on why he ate the way he did."
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