A lawsuit that has consumers wondering what's in the taco shell at Taco Bell says the restaurant is legally constrained to call it "taco meat filling" but not "meat." Taco Bell, which would very much like to refute that argument, may stand on firm regulatory ground. That's because the regulation upon which the lawsuit rests pertains to how manufacturers, not the end user -- in this case restaurants, should label meat. While the USDA says "taco meat filling" is required to contain at least 40% fresh meat and must be labeled with the product name, including …

January showed automakers enjoying double-digit gains versus the year before. Toyota was up 17%, doing better than the average of 16% improvements among Asian makes competing in the U.S. market.

Bridgestone and Go Daddy are two of several companies using teaser spots to hint at their Super Bowl XLV ads. Bridgestone, which will sponsor the half-time show, is showing bits of two new spots from AOR Dallas-based The Richards Group. Domain-name vendor Go Daddy is teasing salacious ads featuring race-car driver Danica Patrick and workout personality Jillian Michaels. In that teaser, they argue with Go Daddy execs that they don't want to be part of a sexy stunt.

Disappointing December sales at Wal-Mart are leaving executives trying to figure out what to do with food, cosmetics, clothing and toys, per sources. Things have gotten so tight that the company is only letting product-category CEOs make purchases for stores, rather than lower-echelon managers, which is usually the case. The source says Wal-Mart is also asking vendors for cash to offset markdown costs to try to boost Q4 profit.

Allstate is apologizing for a tongue-in-cheek study it released last week rating the safest drivers based on their astrological signs. It seems some outlets took it seriously when the insurer found that Virgos were 700% more likely to be in a car accident last year than Scorpios. The company said the study was only for entertainment.

An online poll by Retail U found mobile technology will be a critical marketing platform this year for retailers. Respondents were asked to base results on what they learned at the National Retail Federation's 100th annual Convention and Expo in New York.

Verizon says it won't have AT&T's problem. The latter saw lines going out its doors when it started selling iPhones last summer as exclusive wireless service for the popular smartphone. Verizon says it will do things differently by selling iPhone 4 only online when it goes on sale this Thursday. One analyst with Envisioneering Group estimates up to half a million of the smartphones will be sold this weekend. He says the last time Verizon saw that kind of business was when it started selling the Motorola Razr in 2006.

Honda's profits dropped 40% in the automaker's third fiscal quarter. Not all of it has to do with the dropping value of the dollar versus the Japanese yen. Other problems leading to Honda's October-December earnings slip from ¥134.6 billion to ¥81.1 billion include a drop in sales in its home market because of the end of green-car incentives. And it also got hurt from a seafood subsidiary's engagement in questionable business practices.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation wants a mea culpa from "Saturday Night Live" for a sketch that pokes fun at pre-operative men. The sketch is a faux pharmaceutical ad for a once-a-day estrogen pill. In a release, the group said, "There were no 'jokes' per se; all the laughs came from the commercial's offensive and dehumanizing portrayals of transgender women."

The financial firm got the nod from readers of NYSportsJournalism for alliances with the NBA, ESPN, and NCAA and programs with schools, communities, sports fans and consumers. The financial institution is the first Grand Sports Marketer of the Year for NYSportsJournalism, which is heading into its third year of life. After BBVA, in alphabetical order, are Amway, CBS-Turner, Discover Financial Services, ESPN, Papa John's, Phillips-Van Heusen, Subway, Visa and Vizio.