The American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry's main lobby, has embarked on a multiyear, multimedia, multimillion-dollar campaign, to convince voters--who, in turn, will make the case to their members of Congress--that rising energy prices are not the producers' fault and that government efforts to punish the industry would only make pricing problems worse. The oil lobby thinks it has made significant progress with consumers and will make even more as it continues to spend heavily on public relations. Allied industry groups such as coal and natural gas are also increasing their efforts to curry favor with the public, …

Even before yanking his offer to buy Yahoo, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had begun laying the groundwork for a strategy to compete with Google in online advertising. He's convinced that getting the online ad business right is essential to Microsoft's future as consumers and businesses increasingly switch from desktop software like Microsoft's to free online services that do the same things. It may be impossible to catch Google in search advertising. But Microsoft has a fighting chance on several other fronts. Perhaps most important is display advertising, the colorful banner and video ads that run at the top or …

Citigroup CEO Vikram S. Pandit is intent on keeping Citigroup together rather than carving up the financial conglomerate, as some investors are urging. But in a break from the financial supermarket model championed by Sanford I. Weill--who built Citigroup through acquisitions in the late 1990s--Pandit plans to focus on businesses and regions where Citigroup can generate the fattest returns. At the same time, Pandit vows to "break apart the culture" and demand better performance. To do so, he has brought in executives and overhauled compensation so his managers have incentives to focus on what is best for the entire …

In a joint statement provided by Unilever regarding its "Campaign for Real Beauty," the company, photographer Annie Leibovitz, and photo retoucher Pascal Dangin all deny substantially altering images in the much-lauded campaign. Dangin kicked off the controversy with a quote he said was taken out of context in an interview with The New Yorker magazine. Dove's "real beauties" were not airbrushed, but their photos were treated to eliminate dust from the film and provide "color correction," the statement says. In a separate statement, Dangin says: "My quotes have been taken out of context and my role with Dove …

Warner Independent Pictures and Picturehouse--the art-house film division of Warner Bros. and the indie movie arm of New Line Cinema--are closing. Warner Bros. CEO Alan Horn says it's more a decision to cut costs--and shed duplicate production, marketing and distribution infrastructure--than to cut independent films. "We'll still be looking for movies that interest us creatively," Horn says. "But when we make the movie or acquire the movie, we'll hand it over to our existing marketing and distribution group." Launched in 2004, WIP had early successes with the Oscar-winning documentary "March of the Penguins" and "Good Night, and Good …

Unlike traditional products that were designed entirely in Japan, a new no-frills TV set Sony will sell in the competitive U.S. market was invented largely by Sony engineers in Mexico using off-the-shelf parts. The new line is one piece of a culture shift needed to pull Sony out of a downturn, and it shows that Sony managers are starting to get the hang of collaborating better, says CEO Howard Stringer. Stringer is preparing to roll out a new phase of his turnaround plan. This month, he will announce an ambitious plan that speeds the development of innovative products and services. …

America's lead in creating new products and services has remained remarkably resilient over the past decade--even as more research and development by U.S. companies is done offshore, according to a new study published by the National Academies, the Washington organization that advises the U.S. government on science and technology policy. The 371-page report titled "Innovation in Global Industries" won't reassure all skeptics that the globalization of production and R&D is good for the U.S. One drawback is that most of the conclusions are based on old data: In some cases the numbers are from 2002. But the authors …

In a May 12 profile in The New Yorker posted online, Pascal Dangin of New York's Box Studios is quoted as saying he extensively retouched photos used in Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty. If true, the revelation could seriously undermine an effort that already has subjected Unilever to considerable consumer and activist backlash in recent months. "It was great to do, a challenge, to keep everyone's skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive," Dangin is quoted as saying. A spokeswoman for Unilever didn't immediately return calls and email for comment. An attempt to reach Dangin …