The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling yesterday to reject the
FDA's attempt to impose "sweeping ad and marketing curbs"
upon the tobacco industry "kills two major possible ad
curbs," including the FDA's proposals to permit "only black
and white ads without imagery" in magazines with more than
15% readership by minors and to limit outdoor tobacco ads
(AD AGE, 3/21)....In Ft. Worth, Blane Bachelor writes that
the MLS Burn's new home jerseys and red shorts "come with a
price: a smiling Tony the Tiger logo on the front" and the
Kellogg logo on the back. Bachelor notes that while Kellogg
has "replaced AT&T as one of the league's major corporate
sponsors" this season, it's "doubtful that a cheerful
cartoon Tiger on the front left corner of their shorts will
have many players saying how 'g-r-r-reat' the new unis are"
(FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 3/22).
NEW ADS: James Brown will star in a $5M NBA playoff ad
campaign to air on TNT and TBS starting next month. The
spots "feature Brown dancing and singing 'The Boss' while
grooving with" players like Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant,
Allen Iverson and Glen Rice (N.Y. POST, 3/22)....NY-based
Cliff Freeman & Partners "broke a racy campaign" last
weekend for FSN's new "Sports Geniuses" quiz show that
"shows men in compromising situations expressing relief when
asked sports questions." In one spot, a man is "trying on
his wife's bra." In another, a man is shown "letting a cat
suckle his nipple. When caught in the act, each is asked a
sports-trivia question." The campaign uses the tag, "If
only every question was a sports question" (ADWEEK, 3/20
issue). "Sports Geniuses" debuts next Monday (THE DAILY).
