Caffeine-laced pantyhose that promises to banish cellulite by boosting metabolism and burning fat is selling briskly on a U.K.-based Web site: $50 for three pairs. "The response has been phenomenal," says Charles Duncombe, site director of Tightsplease.com, which has sold 20,000 pairs of the Slim Fit 20 pantyhose since it launched 18 months ago. "I can count on one hand how many customers have called to say the pantyhose doesn't work." Not counting gym memberships, $96.9 million was spent in the U.S. alone on products that claim to remove cellulite. The product is just one of the intriguing 30 Best Business Ideas in the World selected by the editors of Business 2.0, who are unveiling a new one each day on the Web. Read the whole story...

Critics predict it may be "the best worst movie of the year," but "Snakes On a Plane," which opens today, has already won marketing kudos. With New Line Cinema spending only 7 percent of its $30 million budget for pre-release promotion, SoaP is a word-of-mouth Internet phenomenon that has spawned more than 1,000 logo-emblazoned products, a ranking in the top 200 of most popular Web searches and a blog attracting up to 50,000 visitors a week. New Line invited fans to participate in making the film and ran a contest through a social-networking site for bands to write a movie theme song. Director David Ellis says involving the audience in production yielded a better end result. "You have to listen to the fans," he says. "I would rather ask them what they want and deliver than give them something they don't want." Read the whole story...

Tobacco companies face strict new limitations on marketing and must stop labeling cigarettes as "low tar," "light" or "natural," a federal judge ordered in a long-awaited ruling on a 1999 suit filed by the Clinton Administration. In a decision that sent tobacco stocks soaring, Judge Gladys Kessler found tobacco companies guilty of racketeering, but imposed no financial penalties. In her 1,742-page decision, Judge Kessler lambasted tobacco companies for deceiving the public by marketing and selling "their lethal product with zeal, with deception, with a single-minded focus on their financial success and without regard for the human tragedy or social costs that success exacted." The judge rejected a government proposal that the industry be forced to underwrite a multibillion-dollar program to help smokers quit and to educate young people about tobacco's hazards, but did order the companies to begin an ad campaign on the adverse health effects of smoking. The ruling could jeopardize major brands such as Marlboro Lights and Camel Lights. Sales of light brands constitute more than 50 percent of the cigarette market. Analysts predicted that the "light" issue will be appealed. The ruling applies to Batco; Brown & Williamson; Lorillard; Philip Morris and its parent, Altria and R.J. Reynolds. Read the whole story...

Going where its target buyers are, Chevrolet will spend nearly half its ad budget on the Web to launch its retooled Aveo subcompact sedan. The car's main target of 18- to-34-year-olds spends an average two hours daily online, says Ed Peper, general manager of Chevrolet. TV will account for roughly 35 percent of Aveo's relaunch budget, which includes print buys and guerrilla-marketing street teams. General Motors spent $25.7 million in measured media for Aveo's launch in 2004; $7.4 million last year; and less than $14,000 in this year's first quarter, according to TNS Media Intelligence. For the car's launch two-and-a-half years ago, the carmaker bought time on the Super Bowl to air a spot in which tall basketball players looked short seated in the vehicle, as a way to show the Aveo's roominess. Read the whole story...