General Motors says that it has been over-promoting its largest vehicles and plans to change its marketing strategy by placing a much greater focus on its high-mileage cars, new hybrids and other fuel-efficient vehicles. The automaker's "dramatic redesign" of its strategy includes blanketing the Internet with advertising to drive home a message that GM can compete with industry rivals on fuel economy, according to Mike DiGiovanni, the company's top sales analyst. When speaking to the media, company executives will talk up GM's high-mileage vehicles and commitment to new fuel-saving technologies, such as hybrids and battery-powered vehicles. Even in …

The changing dynamic of the doctor-patient relationship--with patients seemingly calling the shots when it comes to prescription drugs--was the focus of a congressional hearing last week that asked the question, "Direct-to-Consumer Advertising: Marketing, Education or Deception?" House Democrats who called the hearing want legislation that would impose new rules on so-called DTC ads. This isn't a new debate. But one particularly striking aspect of last week's hearing was that it pitted doctors against drug companies, with the former saying that DTC ads do more harm than good and the latter basically ignoring what the doctors had to say. …

McDonald's just-launched marketing blitz for it new Southern-style breakfast foods is one of it biggest product launches in the past two years and marks the debut of chicken on its breakfast menu. The line underscores the increasing importance of chicken to the fast-food giant. Not only does chicken consumption continue to grow at a strong clip, but analysts say restaurant companies can fashion more menu items from chicken than from beef. The perceived healthfulness of chicken is a key driver of that trend, industry analysts say, although fried chicken sandwiches are often no less fattening than their beef …

Dell is abandoning several of its most popular gaming personal computers to focus on what it sees as its premium line called Alienware. The strategy is part of Dell's broader turnaround effort. Gaming PCs are a niche market, but tend to shape PC design trends and influence mainstream buyers. Next month, Dell will begin phasing out four gaming systems in its XPS line of PCs, leaving the Alienware line that it acquired in 2006 as its sole offering to big-spending gamers, a largely male group predominantly 18 to 34 years old. It is an overdue but risky move. …

Legislation that would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to oversee tobacco products will try to reduce smoking's allure to young people by banning most flavored cigarettes--including clove and cinnamon--but not menthol. Menthol is the most widely used cigarette flavoring and the most popular cigarette choice of African-American smokers, but it is seen as politically off limits because mentholated brands are so crucial to the American cigarette industry. They make up more than one-fourth of the $70 billion American cigarette market and are becoming increasingly important to the industry leader, Philip Morris USA, without whose lobbying support …

As the Model T turns 100 this year, Ford is sponsoring an international campaign with five universities to develop a car that is simple, lightweight, practical and priced below $7,000. Each university will receive $75,000 to create a concept of the future Model T; two winners will be announced on Oct. 1, the date the "Tin Lizzie" officially celebrates its 100th birthday. While each group faces harsh limitations because of the vehicle's low cost, says Ananth Kota, a University of Michigan- Dearborn graduate student in automotive engineering, there is no shortage of ideas. "We're still looking at even solar …

New Balance and "Sesame Street" will launch a co-branded collection of premium children's shoes across major retailers including Finish Line, Foot Locker, Hibbitz Sporting Goods and others, in addition to its own stores, in July. With a price point of $43 for infant styles and $65 for grade schoolers' footwear, the shoes will be backed by a national campaign that includes TV spots during "Sesame Street," which airs three times a day in most major U.S. markets. Print executions start running in July issues of Cookie and Parenting. While New Balance has been catering to children for years, it …

A prototype of an electric car that Nissan showed Sunday in Tel Aviv will be developed and on the market in the U.S. and Japan by 2010. The commitment--which is expected to be announced today by Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn--will be the first by a major automaker to bring a zero-emission vehicle to the American market. Ghosn says Nissan decided to accelerate development of battery-powered vehicles because of high gasoline prices and environmental concerns, not just because of the need to meet stricter fuel-economy standards. "What we are seeing is that the shifts coming from the markets are more …