Eugene David<br>...The One-Minute Pundit

Posted 4:43 PM by Gene

If it's Sunday it must be Big Double-A-Scribble Time:

1. Has Green Stopped Giving?

Well, let me put it this way: Recently I bought a few of Heinz' Boston Market entrees. They're marketed as VERY green. How green are they? They're SO green Heinz instructed me not to cook them in a conventional oven. Not only has green stopped giving, it's started taking away.

2. Employees No Longer Baggage, but Blessing

Let's see how many employees Yum! Brands, Overstock.com, Kraft Foods, Fidelity Investments and Southwest Airlines decide are not considered a blessing.

While employees have always been the front line of customer interactions for brands, particularly those in the service industry, a number of factors of late have brought them more to the fore, including a more transparent and socially engaged society, a still-fragile economy where everyday value trumps aspirational brand attributes, and an ongoing lack of trust in corporate America and CEO spokespeople.

So we answer the challenge as ADAGE's readers always do: with buzzwords, platitudes and institutional malevolence.

3. Speaking of malevolence, some companies think they can cure some very bad PR by hiring a consultant. Thankfully some very bad PR is a little more stubborn than that, and it will be a LONG time before FOXCONN does NOT equal SUICIDES.

4. And yes, we had paid attention to this story about the infallible Nielsen and its very fallible Web ratings, but as the current AD BOOM shows not even a permanent vacation in Hell will stop media types from believing in THEIR tooth fairy.