From the Associated Press: MADISON, Wis. - Oscar G. Mayer, retired chairman of the Wisconsin-based meat processing company that bears his name, has died at the age of 95. Mayer's wife, Geraldine, said he died of old age July 6 at Hospice Care in Fitchburg. He was the third Oscar Mayer in the family that founded Oscar Mayer Foods, which was once the largest private employer in Madison. His grandfather, Oscar F. Mayer, died in 1955 and his father, Oscar G. Mayer Sr., died in 1965. Mayer retired as chairman of the board in 1977 at age 62 soon after the company recorded its first $1 billion year. The company was later sold to General Foods and is now a business unit of Kraft. Mayer's first wife, Rosalie, died in 1998. He married Geraldine Fitzpatrick in 1999.

Here is a classic Oscar Mayer "Wiener" ad from 1965:

 

 

From FOX News: An advertisement for Burger King's latest sandwich leaves little to the imagination and should be discontinued due to "distasteful" and unappetizing references to oral sex, advertising experts told FOXNews.com.

The print ad for the "BK Super Seven Incher" — a limited time promotion in Singapore, a society known around the world for its strict government controls of social conduct — shows the "mind-blowing" sandwich near the open mouth of a wide-eyed, red-lipsticked woman accompanied by the suggestive tagline: "It'll blow your mind away."

"Fill your desire for something long, juicy and flame-grilled," the ad continues.

Mark Duffy, a blogger and an advertising copywriter at a major New York City firm, said the advertisement is among the "worst" he's ever seen in more than 17 years of industry experience.

"I've seen a lot of sexual innuendo ads and this is about the worst, especially for something as mainstream as Burger King," Duffy told FOXNews.com. "I was a little repulsed by it. It's really misogynistic to women and it's also unappetizing."

Duffy said it appeared the woman's face in the advertisement had been retouched to make it look like a doll and that the American cheese on the sandwich seemed a little too white.

"It's outlandish," he said. "They obviously didn’t hire a top-notch food photographer."

Duffy, who called on Burger King to terminate the ad, said there's little else marketers could have left to the imagination.

"It's really distasteful on the appetite level and on the social level," Duffy said. "The ad pretty much speaks for itself. How much more do they have to spell it out for you?"

Lauren Kuziner, a spokeswoman for Burger King, said the campaign was produced by a local Singaporean agency and not by the company's U.S. advertising firm, Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

Burger King Corp values and respects all of its guests," Kuziner said in a statement to FOXNews.com. "This print ad is running to support a limited time promotion in the Singapore market and is not running in the U.S. or any other markets. The campaign is supported by the franchisee in Singapore and has generated positive consumer sales around this limited time product offer in that market."

From Claudia Eller of the Los Angeles Times: When it comes to marketing movies to kids, fast food wasn't to Disney's taste. But 20th Century Fox sees nothing wrong with a Big Mac. The News Corp. studio has struck a partnership with McDonald's for five of its major movie releases through 2010, beginning with the summer sequels "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" and "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs." Such movie tie-in deals, which encompass advertising commitments, in-store promotions and online campaigns, have become increasingly important to Hollywood studios as they try to hold a lid on marketing costs. Advertising expenditures for TV campaigns can exceed $10 million per picture." http://www.latimes.com 

From Elizabeth Licata of Nation's Restaurant News (www.nrn.com): NEW YORK (April  14, 2009) KFC officially unveiled its long-awaited Kentucky Grilled Chicken on Tuesday, in a nationwide product rollout that brand parent Yum! Brands Inc. has said will help spark sales at the chicken chain.

Four years in development, the grilled chicken product is intended to provide more healthful offerings to customers and increase visits among consumers who think of KFC as a fried-chicken-only restaurant. The grilled chicken is priced the same as KFC’s fried chicken, and the chain’s well-known buckets can be mixed with both grilled and fried menu items.

“It will help sales,” KFC franchisee Ric Rozier said in New York at the unveiling of Kentucky Grilled Chicken. “It is designed to increase trial among new customers and keep our regular customers happy with a new product.”

Rozier, who as vice president of operations at GDR Associates Inc. operates three restaurants in Westchester, N.Y., has been offering the product for two weeks, but he declined to give any sales results.

To spread the word about the new product, KFC will offer free samples nationwide on Monday, April 27. Consumers who stop by any KFC throughout the day for “UNFry Day” will receive a free piece of Kentucky Grilled Chicken.

The product launch also will be supported by a nationwide advertising campaign created by DraftFCB Chicago urging customers to “UNThink what you thought about KFC.” TV spots feature endorsements from The Food Network’s Sandra Lee and TV One’s chef G. Garvin. A website, www.unthinkkfc.com, also has been developed.

“The new Kentucky Grilled Chicken is delicious,” Lee said. “In addition to being a better-for-you option, I love that moms can swing by the drive-thru of their local KFC and pick up an entire meal that is high in quality and taste.”

With between 70 and 180 calories and 4 to 9 grams of fat, depending on the piece, Kentucky Grilled Chicken is positioned as an option that will draw health-conscious consumers back to KFC. Original Recipe fried chicken has between 110 and 370 calories and 7 to 21 grams of fat per piece.

READ FULL ARTICLE