Without setting a specific timeline, General Mills says it will reduce the sugar content of the 10 cereals it markets to children under 12 to single grams of sugar per serving levels, Sarah Knapp reports. The Center for Science in the Public Interest says the announcement is an important step in the right direction and calls on other cereal manufacturers to follow GM's lead. "Many of our cereals are already lower in sugar, but we listen to our consumers, and we know that some would prefer to see even lower levels of sugar in cereals, especially children's cereals …

When Alissa Walker saw the new AOL logo a few weeks ago -- AoL. -- she flat out did like it. And wrote so. So did a lot of other Internet wiseacres. But then some wise marketing communicator got the idea of reaching out to her and offering her a behind-the-scenes look at why Wolff Olins, whose head of strategy is the irrepressible Paul Worthington, recommended that the new team keep AOL in the first place, and added a lower-case "o" and a period to the logo. To make an intriguing story short, Walker kind …

Obviously fueled by hard times, this year will be the first since 1992 that coupon use has grown in the U.S., reports Sandra M. Jones. And the cents-off vehicles aren't just the purview of packaged goods manufacturers any more. Retailers from Walgreens to Neiman Marcus are latching on to the trend. "Coupons are just more accessible to more consumers than ever before," points out Todd Hale, svp of consumer and shopper insights at Nielsen. Searches for coupons on Google have more than doubled this year and 42% of consumers plan to use a coupon for their holiday shopping, …

When a Web site claimed that Cepia's hot-selling Zhu Zhu Pets contained high levels of antimony, CEO Russell Hornsby immediately did all the right things to contain the potentially crippling news, Christopher Palmeri reports. He signed a crisis communications firm, published the company's own product test results, "and even asked his 23-year-old daughter, Natalie, to go on television and radio defending the hamsters." When the Consumer Product Safety Commission quickly said that the product was safe, the day was saved with hardly a ruffled hair on Mr. Squiggles' fur. "We are not experiencing product returns," says …

In other developments, Angela F. Braly, president and CEO of Indianapolis-based WellPoint, the largest health benefits company in the U.S., has been named to the P&G board.