Robert Thacker, former CMO at Target, has been appointed executive director for Adopt-A-Classroom, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting teachers and ensuring all children have equal access to quality education. Thacker joins the group following four decades in marketing and advertising at OfficeMax, Target and Sears and as former President and CEO of BBDO Minneapolis. Editor's note: This brief was amended to correct the spelling of Robert Thacker's name.

Wal-Mart's chief executive says short-term economic fixes could work, but job creation won't happen without tax reform and new trade agreements. One week after President Obama and Congress launched new jobs plans, Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke says there are structural issues holding back American companies. At this link is a Q&A with the CEO of the largest employer in the U.S.

Nutritional supplement company MusclePharm, which recently made headlines by signing NFL quarterback Michael Vick to an endorsement deal, continues to expand its sports marketing territory via a deal with Ultimate Fighting Championship. The new deal would greatly expand MusclePharm's role in time for UFC's network TV debut on Fox, scheduled for Nov. 11.

Diageo, owner of drinks brands including Baileys, Guinness, and Smirnoff, plans to increase its multi-million dollar partnership with Facebook to drive consumer engagement, especially in emerging markets. Facebook will provide strategic consultancy to Diageo's priority brands in New York, London, Amsterdam, Dublin, Sao Paulo, and Singapore and develop "social" consumer participation programs.

The New York State Attorney General's Office has reached a $1.8-million settlement with Michaels Stores Inc. in regard to deceptive advertising. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the settlement Monday. It includes $800,000 in civil penalties and donation of $1 million in arts and craft supplies to as many as 724 schools across the state, including 15 school districts in Clinton and Essex counties. The company also pledged to change its advertising policy.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has voted to support new guidelines on marketing food to children. The Food Marketing Workgroup, a coalition of 95 organizations aimed at improving nutrition and ending obesity among the nation's children, is hoping that this support from the Democratic-controlled Senate will counter language inserted in a House appropriations bill that would cut off funding for the program and require further study before the guidelines could be implemented. The voluntary guidelines call for food, beverage, and restaurant companies to either modify product formulations or cut out all marketing aimed at children under 18, from TV ads to …

Forget perfume, apparel, a new snowboard line, or a ski resort. Olympic snowboarder Shaun White is backing Whitemint, a new flavor by Kraft Foods' Stride. Packages feature the Olympian's. Also known as "The Flying Tomato" White was in a commercial for a Stride 2.0 this summer is now in a new TV ad for Whitemint. Serena and Venus Williams have done Doublemint; and Marlon Wayans was in Dentyne ads, and there was a Bubblicious flavor, LeBron's Lightning Lemonade. Whitemint is meant to appeal to those ages 18 to 24.

The Ritz-Carlton has launched a $10 million advertising campaign comprising direct mail, email, social media and banner ads. The effort, via Los Angeles-based Team One, touts the luxury hotel chain's new tagline, "Let Us Stay with You." Ritz-Carlton replaced its previous "It's Our Pleasure" slogan, which the brand launched in 2004. The chain will maintain its lion and crown logo but will lose the logo's silver tray and white-gloved-hand visual. "We still stand for service," said Allison Sitch, senior corporate director of PR at Ritz-Carlton. "Now, the visuals depict the detail, the little touches of staying at our hotels. I …

Three years after its $15.1 billion purchase of the ailing financial franchise Wachovia, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo is rolling out a real stagecoach, which launches a D.C. rebranding effort for the acquired and rebranded bank. There will be ads in transit stations, on buses, billboards and on TV. Capital One did a similar effort last year after buying Chevy Chase Bank. In each case, the acquirers had to assure their new customers that services would only get better. Capital One used two celebrity athletes with local ties -- then-Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb and Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin -- to tout …

So much for the ironclad equity of Swiss banks. UBS saw its reputation go back into the dumpster when it announced last week that unauthorized trades had lost it some $2 billion. London trader Kweku Adoboli was charged on Friday with fraud and false accounting dating back to 2008. And now, according to Reuters, UBS has upped to $2.3 billion the amount it said it had lost on rogue equity trades, per Chief Executive Oswald Gruebel, who said the alleged fraud would have consequences for strategy and possibly also for himself. The financial services company has suspended its …