Coach Inc.'s shares, like its handbags, are losing their cachet. Some investors believe the outsized gains for Coach stock, which has surged 22 times since first being sold to the public in 2000, are over. While the maker of Soho and Ergo purses has dominated the market for $200 to $400 handbags for the past decade, Coach is winning fewer customers amid a market slowdown. Competitors including Liz Claiborne Inc. and Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. are spending more to market purses, including Juicy Couture velour hobo bags and alligator satchels. Coach has widened its price range …

Attorney Generals from 30 states are urging the federal government to crack down on manufacturers that market caffeine-laced alcoholic beverages to underage consumers. The top state legal officers called on the Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to better regulate the hybrid drinks. In some cases, manufacturers are making claims that they are less intoxicating than beer, which is misleading, they say. The beverages -- with names such as Bud Extra, Sparks, Tilt and Rockstar 21 -- have as much or more alcohol than beer and malt beverages. They also contain stimulants, such as caffeine, guarana and …

Despite scandals that have shaken consumer confidence in products imported from China, marketers outside of those affected segments aren't taking any extra measures to offer reassurance regarding safety. In the wake of last week's latest China-quality scandal, in which Mattel issued its second lead-paint-based toy recall, marketers should be doing more to address the concerns, crisis-communications experts say, adding that it's shortsighted for marketers to assume consumers will give Chinese imports the benefit of the doubt. Yet marketers in industries that source ingredients from China were keeping a low profile on the issue. Spokesmen for major food …

Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats Markets have until Wednesday afternoon to respond to Federal Trade Commission arguments that the buyout should not go forward due to antitrust issues. The company had planned to move ahead with the $565 million deal, announced six months ago, as early as noon Monday if the U.S. Appeals Court had not issued a stay. Whole Foods said the FTC looked at the deal the wrong way, focusing on natural and organic grocers rather than taking a broader view of the overall industry. When Whole Foods announced its plan to buy Wild Oats for …

Where they once got gifts from the pharma giants to increase sales of new drugs, doctors are now being wooed by health insurance companies, which are offering cash incentives when they switch patients to cheaper generics. Insurers' motivation for the incentives is simple: cut costs. Generic drugs are much cheaper than brand-name medications. In the face of stiff generic competition, pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer have ratcheted up ads for blockbuster drugs. Pfizer enlisted the face of artificial heart inventor Dr. Robert Jarvik to pitch Lipitor. A recent Blue Care Network program paid 2,400 Michigan doctors $2 million for …

Paying for high ad placement on search engines could be a waste of money, since many consumers are planning to visit those Web sites anyway. New research by Microsoft suggests a big chunk of search ad spending is wasted because advertisers pay top dollar for high ad placements clicked by consumers already en route to their sites. Listings tied to such "branded" keywords, typically a company's name or products, eat up about half of search budgets. Atlas, formerly part of aQuantive and now a unit of Microsoft, studied 30 search ad campaigns reaching 120,000 users on Google, Yahoo! …

Dell is the juiciest account to go up for grabs in years. And Madison Avenue executives are scrambling to try to accommodate requests for advice that goes far beyond normal bounds. Not only is it a holding-company review, so near to the hearts of the marketing conglomerates because they justify the umbrella organizations that arch over their myriad agencies, there's the $90 million to $100 million revenue figure the PC maker is throwing around. That's a huge chunk of change, much bigger than the real revenue numbers behind the massive media billings quoted for Bank of America or …

The debut of "High School Musical 2" on the Disney Channel was highly anticipated by two very different groups of viewers. For the millions of children across the nation, it was the "must-watch" show of the week. For marketing executives at Disney Channel and its parent Walt Disney Co., it was a moment of truth -- had it learned from its previous experiences with the original "High School Musical." Despite lukewarm reviews, the film's debut drew 17.2 million viewers, according to preliminary ratings estimates from the channel. If those estimates hold up, it would make the debut of …

Virginia's state's tourism agency will eliminate images of people making heart symbols with their hands in its marketing because the gesture is also used by a violent street gang. The gesture, in the Virginia is for Lovers "Live Passionately" campaign, shows thumbs and index fingers formed into a heart. It is one of several symbols associated with the Chicago-based Gangster Disciples. At first, tourism officials thought the gang was a small group in South Carolina and continued with the ads. Then the agency received e-mails pointing out that the gesture is flashed by members of the …

Organics marketing guru David Becker's firm helped brand and market Safeway grocery store's O Organics label. Its success is readily apparent in the numbers. Sales from the O Organics label netted more than $162 million in the first year, after being marketed in all 1,800 Safeway-owned stores. While organics typically demand a premium, privately labeled items can often be sold for less because the margins are higher. For O Organics, the end result is a private organic label that retails for close to the price of traditional groceries. More than 200 products are marketed under the O Organics …