Quaker Oats has selected Jordan McGrath to handle buying
assignments in prime time, late-night and syndicated TV
programming for Snapple beverages.  The buying was previously
handled by JL Media (N.Y. TIMES, 4/3)....Today's USA TODAY
features a story on using controversial figures like Rush
Limbaugh and Dennis Rodman as product endorsers.  Pizza Hut
debuted ads last week which feature both.  Dottie Enrico writes,
"Marketing experts say companies are now willing to risk
controversy because they believe the exposure outweighs any
significant threat to sales.  And in a cluttered marketplace,
bland ads are easily forgotten" (USA TODAY, 4/3)....NBA's "Inside
Stuff" went behind the scenes of the new McDonald's TV commercial
with Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan, Larry Johnson,
Reggie Miller, and Shawn Kemp.  Johnson: "If I had to rate
Charles on his acting, I would give him about a seven and a half.
Of course, I am an eight and a half" ("Inside Stuff," 4/1).

     Add Pinnacle and Topps to the list of card companies "taking
advantage of the decision" by the NHL Enterprises and NHLPA to
allow each licensed company to print a new brand this year in
lieu of a second series from a previously-released brand.
Pinnacle will replace the second series of Score Hockey with
Select Hockey.  NHL Enterprises and the NHLPA had granted
Donruss, Fleer, Pinnacle, Topps and Upper Deck the rights to
produce only two sets and avoid "glutting the market."  After the
lockout, these companies were allowed to produce a third set.
Topps will introduce Topps Finest Hockey May 16 (Jay Preble,
TAMPA TRIBUNE, 4/1).

     "Following months of rumors and denials," Nike Inc. has
fired SFM Media Corp. from its $70M media buying account.  SFM
has been handling Nike's broadcast media since '89.  Wieden &
Kennedy, which handles Nike's creative and print buying, will now
also do Nike's broadcast buying.  W&K "has been trying to wrest
the business from SFM for years" (COWLES BUSINESS MEDIA, 3/31).
According to AD AGE, W&K is expected to set up a network and spot
TV buying unit in New York that could serve as a "foothold for a
bigger Wieden presence in the Big Apple" (ADVERTISING AGE, 4/3
issue).