Tuesday, May 20, 2008 Well, he asked for it. Literally. According to a class-action lawsuit filed in West Virginia last week, the CEO of ID theft prevention firm LifeLock-the same one who, in ubiquitous TV and print ads, displayed his Social Security number as a challenge to thieves who thought they could outwit his company's service-has had his ID stolen many, many times in the past year. More than 20 driver's licenses have been issued in his name, and "his entire personal profile has been compromised to the extent that the birth date associated with his Social Security …

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Monday, July 28, 2008

I wish I cold discern a pattern here -- type of story, publication, day of the week, hard news or feature -- but I can't, so I'll just keep doing what I've been doing. And I thank you for being on the other end.

The Food and Drug Administration has warned Coca-Cola that it is wrongly stressing the vitamins and minerals contained in Diet Coke Plus. It says it is not appropriate to fortify snack foods, such as carbonated beverages. It also says a "plus" claim can only be used on a product that contains at least 10% more of the daily reference value of a nutrient than a comparable product. A letter addressed to CEO Muhtar Kent dated Dec. 10 was posted on the FDA's Web site Tuesday. Coca-Cola says it believes its product meets FDA requirements and …

In order to keep this holiday jolly, I shall steer clear of all jocularity about makeovers for sentient beings of a certain age and will merely re-report the fact that, as Barbie approaches her fifth decade, a sweeping marketing makeover is taking place. The goal is to make her again popular with older girls, who've turned to video games and the like. Barbie had largely ceded the "tween" customer -- kids eight to 12 -- to Bratz and high-tech toys, according to Richard Dickson, the brand's new general manager. "We had lost a whole piece of the business, the …

Though it has been a while since we checked in on The New Frugality, it's of little surprise that austerity continues apace. Gas prices may be down by as much as 60% since the summer, but 48% of consumers are spending those savings on groceries, and 42% will sock it away for an even rainier day. Only 10% plan to splurge on entertainment, Jack Neff reports, but 37% said they will use it to buy gifts and 30% plan to pay down credit card debt. Precima, the Toronto-based unit of Alliance Data's LoyaltyOne marketing firm, surveyed 3,000 consumers between …

Retailers, meanwhile, are trying to stay in-step with consumers by highlighting prices and acknowledging that times are tough, reports Lilly Rockwell. L.L. Bean, for instance, which in past years focused on how durable its products were, has zeroed in on prices in its most recent holiday campaign. Marshalls has developed television commercials that describe how it receives items in its store, usually from a manufacturer that needs to unload extra merchandise. One ad mentions the "crummy economy" in a voice-over. "We are really the best solution in this economy for shoppers who want low prices but don't want to …

P-I columnist Bill Virgin shouts out 50th birthday greetings to BankAmericard, and 40th salutations to Visa, which was cobbled together in 1968 by BankAmericard franchisee institutions trying to fix problems in the system. Although BankAmericard wasn't the first credit card, its growth led to a personal-finance world far different than there had been before. "Blaming the credit card for the debt burdens consumers now carry is a little like blaming the hammer when someone flattens a thumb instead of striking the nail," Virgin writes. His column reminded me of a piece I wrote about Diner's Club, which was …