PepsiCo's Amp Energy brand launched an iPhone app last Friday that provides guys pickup lines and background info for 24 different types of women, ranging from "military chick" to "married." "Amp Up Before You Score" also invites users to brag about their conquests on Facebook and Twitter accounts. Eyebrows, and ire, have been raised, as might be expected. Mashable posted a piece with the headline "Alienate your female customers? Pepsi has an app for that," Natalie Zmuda reports. But she makes the point that the controversy didn't really get going until Amp apologized at @Ampwhatsnext: "Our app tried 2 …

In announcing that profits are again on the upswing, Samsung executives yesterday said that their No. 1 goal is to increase the value of their hardware devices by making software, services and content available for them, Evan Ramstad reports. Most of Samsung's TVs will be able to connect to the Internet and display widget-like programs that are now common on personal computers and cell phones, particularly Apple's iPhone. Samsung's Media Solutions Center, which was created in July 2008 to coordinate software and content for cell phones, was given a bigger mandate after a company-wide reorganization in December. …

With the help of Apple's retailing team, Walt Disney is going to overhaul its 340 stores in the United States and Europe from floor to ceiling, Brooks Barnes reports, as well as open new ones. "The world does not need another place to sell Disney merchandise -- this only works if it's an experience," says Jim Fielding, president of Disney Stores Worldwide.

German coffee maker Melitta is rolling out a new line of European gourmet products -- the Café Collection -- in the U.S. with a print and TV campaign that drives home the message of "a flavor of Europe in every cup." Cafe Collection is the company's first new product introduction in several years, reports Elaine Wong. There are six varieties: a medium and dark roast, a combination of light and dark, decaffeinated and a Hazelnut Crème Brulee and Parisian Vanilla flavored coffee. They will be available in bagged form only, as the line is appealing to the growing …

Whatever the historic significance of Susan Docherty's promotion to the top U.S. sales position at General Motors -- she is the first woman to hold the title and will be the only female on CEO Fritz Henderson's nine-person executive committee -- is dwarfed by the enormity of the task in front of her. "This isn't: Wait three years, five years for a product plan to come in. This is: Deliver results now," Gary Dilts, svp of global automotive for J.D. Power and Associates, tells Tim Higgins. Docherty, 46, got her start at GM working the midnight …

The takeaway that Kai Ryssdal gleans from Ogilivy & Mather demographer Peter Francese's 10,000-word white paper on the 2010 census, which became available on the Ad Age Web site yesterday for $249, is that there is "no such thing as the average American consumer anymore." Indeed, Francese says that census data will show that we are a truly multicultural, very complex society chock full of grandparents -- 70 million or so, to be somewhat precise. But a large number like that somewhat misses the point because the Internet has created a fractionated collection of very …

Emily Bryson York and Jeremy Mullman remind us that Burger King has been prone to more than its share of "degrading, stupid and insensitive" commercials recently but they cannot fathom what the chain was thinking when it allowed its name to be attached to a "tasteless" Fox-created animated skit featuring the Dallas Cowboys and a bunch of fat jokes during the "Fox NFL Sunday" show this week. The skit made fun of Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo with several gratuitous references to the weight of his former girlfriend, Jessica Simpson. By the way, Bryson York and Mullman write, Simpson …

More videogames than ever will target the female market this holiday season, reports Yukari Iwatani Kane, as publishers make a serious effort to develop mass-market games beyond the usual action titles that appeal to pasty young men. Among the top titles is a new installment of "Littlest Pet Shop" for young girls and a series of fashion-themed games called "Charm Girls Club" for older girls, both from Electronic Arts. In August, Sony packaged a lilac version of its PlayStation Portable device with a "Hannah Montana" game. Ubisoft Entertainment is introducing "Your Shape," a personal-training game, but Nintendo, …