Following consumer complaints, a regional ad for its Big Mac that parodies mental illness -- featuring a familiar photo of a woman who appears to be crying with her head in her hand -- has been yanked by the fast-food giant from Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority subway trains. The headline in the ad states: "You're not alone." But the small print underneath says, "Millions of people love the Big Mac."

Sears has launched a new business unit, Shop Your Way Brands, aimed at creating and selling celebrity-driven fashion and lifestyle brands. Adam Levine and Nicki Minaj, judges on "The Voice" and "American Idol," respectively, are the first collections to be launched by the unit. The Hoffman Estates-based retailer will use its Shop Your Way loyalty rewards program to market the brands to consumers.

The 2013 Masters Golf Tournament kicked off Thursday but brands couldn't do much. The Masters only allows four minutes of commercials each hour and limits the amount of branding on the course so the majority of brand exposure comes from the golfers themselves and whatever airtime they get. Sponsors of the world's top-ranked golfers will get more product visibility than those backing lesser-knowns.

As goes energy, so goes business. If so, business might want to take Dramamine. Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, predicts volatility in fuel prices this year, although prices will "be skewed toward the lower extremes than in 2012." Kloza also forecasted a flood of crude from North America production. Price volatility has benefits: it will be good for smart marketers with lots of leverage who can take advantage of the price swings by buying low and selling high.

Paraphrased here, Marty Bernstein writes that the revised Lincoln Motor Company needs platelets, stat. Mark LeNeve, COO of Team Detroit, is scrubbing in at the new "luxury-oriented boutique agency" HudsonRouge. Bernstein writes that the new Lincoln Motor Company campaign "has been terrible. When I first learned the name of the new shop, Hudson & Rouge [sic], I gagged on the name's saccharine cuteness and knew nothing good would emanate from NYC - this was not going to be a flowing river of automotive creativity."

As Walt 'Clyde' Frazier and Earl 'The Pearl' Monroe celebrate the 40th anniversary of the New York Knicks' 1972-73 championship - for which the long-lost tape of Game 5 has been restored by MSG Network and will air for the first time in four decades - they reveal in this Q&A why they see both blessings and curses in what the NBA and its players have become and how the league is marketed around the world.

Amazon is getting a lot more interested in advertising, a big change from when the company had little but static advertising. Now brands like Lexus and Chrysler are buying, even though Amazon doesn't have an auto channel. Brands like the fact that they can reach people through Kindles, mobile apps, and off-Amazon through retargeting technology built in-house that can reach Amazon customers around the web segmented by demographics.

Carl's Jr.'s steamy Memphis BBQ Burger ad in which two Russ Meyer-attired women grill meat and sweat hit New Zealand, but Middle Earth hit back. The ad got fouled in advertising rules there prohibiting the use of sex appeal in an exploitative and degrading manner, and the use of sex to sell an unrelated product. Carl's Jr. responded with a radio ad using all but the visuals. The jury, literally, is still out.

The convenience store industry saw record sales of $700.3 billion last year. In-store sales increased 2.2% to reach a record $199.3 billion, while motor fuels sales increased 2.9% to hit a record $501 billion, according to figures revealed today at the NACS State of the Industry Summit. Alternative snacks, which includes meat snacks and health, energy and protein bars; liquor; cold dispensed beverages; and sweet snacks drove increases. Overall, 71.5% of the industry's total sales were motor fuels, yet motor fuels only accounted for 35%. Breakdown at jump.

Russell Simmons is launching his latest venture in the advertising world. Called Narrative, the new program is a digital marketing, entertainment and technology company, with longtime business partner Tricia Clarke-Stone. "We want to make sure agencies don't view us as a competitor," said Clarke-Stone. "We're not trying to be agency of record for different brands and clients. We believe we have a level of expertise that's really rooted in creating immersive brand experiences across platforms."