Rosa Parks, the civil-rights icon who refused to give her bus seat to white man in 1955, has become the centerpiece of the kind of posthumous peddling usually associated with athletes and Hollywood stars. The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development--the organization that Mrs. Parks charged with safeguarding her image--hired CMG Worldwide to get a handle on the widespread misuse of her name on everything from T-shirts to coffee mugs. While licensing experts estimate the current value of selling Mrs. Parks' image at only six figures a year, they say that over time those who control her …

Toy Wishes' annual list of the Top 12 must-have toys not only includes technology-infused toys, such as Nintendo's Wii and TMX Elmo, but also Monopoly's Here & Now Edition. The game features new tokens, including branded products like McDonald's French fries and Starbucks coffee. Hasbro's Butterscotch, a life-sized miniature toy pony that uses sensors to respond to touch and sound, is also expected to be near the head of the pack, despite a $299 retail price. Butterscotch moves when its name is called and falls asleep when the lights go out. Other toys on the list: Bratz Forever Diamondz …

Hometown Coffee Co. of Bridgeville, Pa. has cut a deal to supply coffee beans and conceive drink recipes and menus for a coffee venture bearing the name of kung fu movie star Jackie Chan. Jackie's Java Co. has already opened seven carts or kiosks in China, and signed a franchise agreement to open 20 shops in the Philippines. "The stores are going to be East-meets-West with some Jackie Chan type of influence," says Thomas Kazas, Hometown Coffee's president. The company and Chan's staff in Hong Kong are negotiating to open outlets in Singapore and Chinese cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai …

A new study finds that packaged-goods firms that outsource their sales and marketing save up to 30 percent in costs. An increasing trend to outsource--driven by the ability of external food brokers to find ways to reduce costs and improve marketing effectiveness--is expected to grow within the next few years, according to the report. Entitled "Value of Outsourcing Sales and Marketing," the study participants included Kraft, Masterfoods, the Coca-Cola Company, Nestle, ConAgra Foods, PepsiCo and Sara Lee. A manufacturer's decision to outsource is usually based on the needs of specific product categories. Products with scarce shelf space and that …

In order to smooth the way for Johnson & Johnson's pending $16.6 billion acquisition of Pfizer's consumer-products business, the companies have sold five drug and personal-care brands to Chattem for $410 million. They are Act oral rinse, Balmex diaper-rash ointment, Kaopectate, Unisom, and Cortizone. A J&J spokesman said no divestitures have been required yet as part of the Federal Trade Commission review of the deal, but the divestitures had been made to "facilitate FTC clearance." People familiar with the matter said that strategic factors also factored in, as J&J decided which brands it wanted to keep in cases where incoming …

Toysrus.com--which teamed with Amazon.com a year after its disastrous 1999 holiday season, when some customers got their toys delivered after Dec. 25--is gearing up for a serious battle for consumer dollars this holiday season. The companies severed ties following a ruling in March, which found that Amazon.com breached a deal to give Toys "R" Us Inc. exclusive rights to supply some toy products as a third-party vendor on Amazon.com. Amazon is appealing. Meanwhile, Toys "R" Us is angling to take a big share in cyberspace by offering gift cards for the first time and by expanding its merchandise to …

In an effort to burnish the image of the 2007 Sentra as a hip, contemporary, urbane automobile, Nissan is breaking a new campaign. It features 30-year-old comedian Marc Horowitz living in the car for seven days. The results of Horowitz's week in the Sentra this past summer are targeted to consumers in their 20s and 30s--mostly in the media forms they favor, which include MySpace, TiVo, video clips meant to be shared with friends, and the video shorts known as Webisodes. The shorts and a diarylike blog kept by Mr. Horowitz are posted on a dedicated Web site (nissanusa.com/7days) with …

Google has launched a company-wide initiative called "features, not products" to cut back on the number of products it introduces, while making it easier for consumers to use the ones it does. For example, it plans to combine its spreadsheet, calendar and word-processing programs into one suite of Web-based applications. Google became famous for its simplicity, winning millions of fans with a mostly white home page and simple search box. Now, however, more than 50 products in various stages of development are available across Google's Web sites. There are so many that the company has collected 35 on a …

Playboy Enterprises takes the wraps off its new Playboy Club casino in Las Vegas today. It's a reinvention of the members-only venues, featuring scantily clad Bunnies that were a nightlife fixture in several cities globally from the 1960s until 1991. The new venture, in partnership with the Palms Casino Resort and nightspot chain N9NE Group, is designed to bring the Playboy Mansion ambiance beyond L.A. No invitation is needed, though the cover charge is $40. Among the features are a "Hugh Hefner Sky Villa," complete with a replica of Hef's signature rotating bed. The Playboy Club is the main venue …

Ramadan, the month-long period when observant Muslims abstain from food, drink, smoking, sex, and negative thoughts from sunrise until sundown, has gone commercial across the Middle East and Persian Gulf. Like Christmas in the West, it has been transformed into a boon for business and advertising for foods, beverages, cars, hotels, electronics stores and retailers that use Ramadan messages and motifs to hype their products. Ad rates shoot up for certain time spots--such as TV ads right after iftar, when the daily fast is broken with a meal with friends and family. Following the meal, most families gather around the …