Ad critic and car guy Dan Neil says the two-minute short "epitomizes, to the point of self-parody, all the worst characterizations the Reactionary Right holds dear about the Loony Left (of which I am, again, a card-carrying member): highhanded, holier-than-thou, gratingly preachy, salvationist, tone-deaf, collectivist. And in several imputations in this film, flat-out wrong."

Daimler AG plans to use half of its $6.4 billion research-and-development budget this year on developing green technology, and it plans to challenge Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's leadership in models that that reduce carbon-dioxide emissions, Chris Reiter reports. "We will attack this year, definitely," says Thomas Weber, Daimler's development chief. "There is no reason why we should look to others. They have to look to us; we're setting the benchmark." Mercedes-Benz is introducing a new transmission that improves efficiency and will help it roll out "start-stop" technology that turns off the engine …

A report commissioned by BET and based on U.S. Census Bureau data, shows that African-Americans are both better off financially and more suburban than previously thought, Todd Wasserman and Noreen O'Leary report. "African-Americans in 2010" also finds that the black population is growing 34% faster than the population as a whole, is younger, and tends to be single more than the general population. Not all the news is rosy. Although more young black women are going to college, for example, men of the same age are not keeping pace, according to Jacklynn Topping, a business strategist and co-author …

Laurie Burkitt has a piece this morning about "audacious" advertising such as the Weatherproof Obama billboard being a sign of the tough times we're in. When the going gets rough, marketers tend to push the limits about what their products can accomplish, according to Mary K. Engle, associate director for advertising practices at the Federal Trade Commission. "The biggest problem tends to be that marketers let claims get ahead of science," she says. Take Kellogg's short-lived claim that Cocoa Krispies "now helps support your child's immunity." Or that Frosted Mini-Wheats boosts children's attention span by 20%. The company …

A bit of a cold snap from both the right and the left fronts may be freezing Obamania in its tracks, but a bevy of products got the benefit of the Obama Effect since the president (and his first lady) took office last January, Laurie Petersen reports. J. Crew, Planters Trail Mix, Honest Tea and Hartmarx suits were all touched in one way or the other, she writes, and "if Bill Clinton was strictly a McDonald's man, Obama's cravings helped put Five Guys Burgers and Fries on the national map." Every Portuguese Water Dog had its …

Don Thompson, 46, who has served as president of McDonald's U.S. operations since 2006 and who recently oversaw the company's largest menu introduction in nearly 30 years -- specialty coffees -- has been promoted to the company's No. 2 post worldwide. David Sterrett reports that he is now the frontrunner to succeed CEO James Skinner, 65. "McDonald's needed to do something because it was too big of a job for Mr. Skinner to handle alone," says Janna Sampson, a chief investment officer with OakBrook Investments. The former No. 2, Ralph Alvarez, resigned last month because of recurrent knee …