• The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal , Wednesday, October 15, 2008 10:47 AM

As the Commerce Department reports that retail sales plummeted by 1.2% last month, two articles in the Times this morning look at the battlefield following the financial carnage of recent weeks and weigh the impact on sales and marketing.

Under the partial headline "Gadgetry Takes A Hit," Matt Richtel and Stephanie Rosenbloom write that demand for electronic items such as televisions, computers, high-end cell phones, and cameras is slipping. They predict discounting in the months ahead.

But the Consumer Electronics Association is a bit more cheerful than other analysts, as trade organizations are wont to be. Jesse Oxman, vp for industry affairs at the CEA, says it is projecting that TVs and audio equipment sales actually will rise 4.7% this holiday season over a year ago, for example.

Stuart Elliott rounds up campaigns that reference financial turmoil, ranging from print ads from Brooks Brothers that stress the durability of its "made-to-last" clothing to Denny's television spots that feature a $4 version of its $5.99 Grad Slam breakfast.

The Journal , meanwhile, reports that the Hard Times Festival in Hartshorne, Okla., is itself falling on hard times. The purpose of the annual (since 2001) event is to celebrate the generation that found ways to survive the Great Depression, but one college student says "it's turned into a giant yard sale." ;

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