Two university labs find that more than 60% of olive oil labeled as "extra virgin" is a cheaper, lower-quality olive oil, Elizabeth Weise reports, but the North American Olive Oil Association disputes the findings, says that less than 10% of the oils it tests has any problems and the brands that have the problems represent 1% of the market. Currently, there are no legal standards for labeling olive oil, beyond that it must be 100% olive oil, but the USDA will institute voluntary standards in the fall. They require that oil labeled "U.S. Extra Virgin Olive Oil" have "excellent …

I get notified on Facebook every time a colleague of mine tills another opportunity in Farmville, a world populated by 20 million or so folks with virtual green thumbs. From next Monday through July 26, Elizabeth Olsen reports, those blueberries she plants will no longer be of the generic variety. They'll be organic offerings from General Mills' subsidiary Cascadian Farm. "We're at a crossroads for the brand," says Cascadian Farm marketing manager Tim Goldsmid. "We're looking to get our message out in a bigger way, and we wanted a creative way to do that." He says that Allying with …

A Food and Drug Administration panel voted on Wednesday to keep GlaxoSmithKline's troubled diabetes drug Avandia on the market, but with added restrictions for its use. Physicians will have to undergo specific training to ensure that they fully understand the risks associated with the drug, Alice Park reports, and patients may have to sign consent forms indicating their willingness to take those risks. Twelve members of the 33-person panel voted to ban the drug outright; the FDA commissioner and deputy commissioner will make a final decision on the drug's fate. Over at the Federal Trade Commission, meanwhile, Nestle HealthCare …

Responding to negative press, irate bloggers and flighty investors, Apple will hold a press conference Friday to address, in some unspecified way, the controversy over its antenna on the iPhone 4. Some users and, more critically, Consumer Reports, say that the otherwise much-lauded device drops calls if a user's hand covers the lower-left corner of the wraparound stainless-steel antenna, as we re-reported yesterday. The Merc News' John Boudreau writes that Apple reportedly will apply a nonconductive coating to the iPhone 4 to reduce the reception problems. If it repairs or recalls existing units, RBC Capital Markets …

American Eagle Outfitters is expanding from its teen base today as it opens a store in Pittsburgh carrying clothes for youngsters and toddlers, Karen Talley reports. The playground is getting crowded: Aeropostale last year expanded into kids retailing shops called P.S. from Aeropostale (they are exceeding expectations, the company says), and Gap is also expanding its kids' and baby lines. Kid and babies are easier for teen retailers to connect with than adults, some analysts say, and Betsy Schumacher, chief merchandising officer for American Eagle's 77kids unit, agrees that there are "natural synergies" to be had. "We like …

Pride goeth before the fall in stock price, Robert Cyran tells us this morning. Apple has "has never done humble or open particularly well," he writes, and its lack of any eat-crow DNA cost it about $5 a share in market valuation yesterday. It all started when Consumer Reports declared that dropped calls on the iPhone 4 were not the result of a software bug, as Apple has claimed, but rather of a flaw in the design of its antenna. CR testers offered up an admittedly inelegant duct-tape solution to the problem and Cyran says Apple should consider offering …

Rich Thomaselli collects some colorful descriptors -- irascible, cantankerous, monster -- in a roundup of George Steinbrenner's impact, not only on New York and his beloved Yankees but also on the way sports brands are built and nurtured. David Carter, sports-marketing instructor at the University of Southern California and principal of Sports Business Group, tells Thomaselli that The Boss may have been a marketing liability early in his tenure but that that by becoming "a caricature of himself," he ultimately drove interest in the team. Robert Boland, professor of sports marketing at New York University, says that sports-business experts will …

President Barack Obama is visiting the site of a future battery plant in Holland, Michigan, tomorrow and will use the occasion to promote his administration's $2.4-billion efforts to boost electric-vehicle production in the U.S., Justin Hyde reports. Along those lines, the U.S. Department of Energy will release a report this week claiming the push to produce electric and hybrid-vehicle batteries could sharply lower their costs. Four plants are expected to be running by the end of the year and the Holland factory is set to open in 2012 with $151 million of its $303-million cost backed by government grants. Obama …

After Washington state passed a tax on soda and other sugary beverages in April, beverage industry lobbyists got their act together and have quashed efforts in several other states to pass a similar tax this year, Joey Peters reports. Not only have bills in Mississippi, New Mexico and New York state gone nowhere, an industry-funded initiative to repeal the Washington tax looks likes it has gained more than enough signatures to go before voters in November. The tactics vary from state to state but the overall message is "don't lay the blame for obesity solely on soda." Washington state Rep. …

Web customer strategist Jeremiah Owyang, a partner at Altimeter Group, offers a five-point plan for developing customer advocacy program that, he says, will yield a "low-cost trusted unpaid army" of folks promoting your brand. "Focus on building a long-term relationship with customer advocates who are an extension of your authentic brand," he writes. Start by assigning a staff member to manage the program on a part-time basis. Then, find the right advocates to represent your brand. They're probably already out there; just look at existing blogs and Facebook pages. Invite the people you find to your headquarters and start to …