Unilever will no longer use super-skinny models in its ads, as the maker of products ranging from Hellmann's mayonnaise to Dove soap wants all actors and models to have a Body Mass Index between 18.5 and 25. "As a responsible company, Unilever has adopted a new global guideline that will require that all its future marketing communications should not use models or actors that are either excessively slim or promote 'unhealthy' slimness," says Ralph Kugler, Unilever's president of home and personal care. While the move has drawn praise, some say it hasn't gone far enough, noting that a BMI …

The annual upfront negotiations have always been a complex business, but never before are they apt to be so tricky as this time around, writes Paul Thomasch. For as buyers and sellers head into next week's presentations and start to book some $9 billion in prime-time advertising, there are huge questions over how to set prices tied to the spread of digital video recorders, the broadcast of some shows online and changing measurement standards. "I don't know that it can be any more complicated," says Lisa Herdman, vice president and associate director of network programming at agency RPA. …

Cable's lust for billions of dollars in 2008 political ads could be left unmet due to what a top campaign strategist calls a "massive lack of flexibility" in how the placement and airing of spots are handled. According to Kyle Roberts, cable just can't adapt to the scheduling needs of campaigns that can change spots in a heartbeat. The president of Smart Media Group says about $1.1 billion of the $2.1 billion in advertising in the last elections was spent in the final 30 days, and local cable must be prepared to deal with the flurry of traffic. At the …

Fox Sports will announce today a deal with fellow News Corp. unit MySpace and the National Football League that could give Super Bowl TV advertisers a bigger Web presence along with their time in the game. Fox--set to broadcast Super Bowl XLII on Feb. 3--and MySpace will promise extras like on-air promotions of the site during the big game. Meanwhile, advertisers will be able to offer online "calls to action" after their spots run, with coupons or links. Watching Super Bowl ads on the Web has already become a popular pastime, with many polls and viewing sites. Over the last …

While it has slashed the amount of space it buys in newspapers, General Motors Corp. still wants to talk about advertorials and other opportunities with the industry, says CEO Rick Wagoner. He tells the Newspaper Association of America conference that because GM vehicles are "no longer on sale all the time," it no longer needs to buy so many ads touting "the deal of the month." But, he adds, "one area where we're beginning to do more, and will want to work with newspapers to explore new options in, is advertorials." The company is also interested in working with publishers …

CW's drama pilot "Gossip Girl" has moved closer to a series pickup as it begins staffing, while another female-oriented show at the network--"Veronica Mars"--is close to renewal, according to insiders. "Gossip Girl" is about rich New York teenagers, and puts executive producer Josh Schwartz in the position of having two pilots--the other is "Chuck" at NBC--ready to start up before the networks make their series pickups. CW entertainment president Dawn Ostroff was impressed by a trailer "Mars" creator Rob Thomas did for an alternate fourth season of the show, which pushed ahead a few years and has the title character …

Top media execs are in combat mode against Internet companies, increasingly considering them enemies rather than partners. During a panel discussion at National Cable & Telecommunications Association conference in Las Vegas, many said the idea that traditional media is dead in the digital age is overblown. While things like the Web and mobile phones are eating into TV audiences, media companies argue that they also bring new revenue to them. And they harshly criticized what they see as copyright theft enabled by digital technology. "The Googles of the world, they are the Custer of the modern world. …

The National Basketball Association has tapped Goodby, Silverstein & Partners as its new ad agency as it hopes to use the current hoopla about the playoffs to build for the future as TV viewership flattens. The league also wants to boost merchandise sales and push its product across various media, while reaching out to Hispanics, says Carol Albert, the NBA's senior vice president of marketing. Ads featuring illusionist and stunt artist David Blaine broke last week and are meant to bring some magic back to the game. But some believe the NBA needs more to solve its problems, …

Sci Fi Channel is rolling out "Ani-Monday," a two-hour late-night block of anime programming aimed at younger viewers. To premiere June 11, the block puts the network in competition with Cartoon Network's Adult Swim and will run from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Content comes from Manga, an anime distributor, and Starz Media, which already produces Sci Fi's live-action "Painkiller Jane." Starz has a one-year pact with Sci-Fi and wants it to reach the 18- to 34-year-old male audience. If it works, the move will lower the net's median age -- currently 45 -- and attract more ad cash …

The Glenn Beck show on Headline News is routinely among the lowest-rated programs in prime-time cable news, pulling in fewer than 100,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo. One recent special -- "Exposed: The Climate of Fear" -- came in below that number despite a month of preparation, appearances on CNN by Beck and paid advertising on large Internet sites. Meanwhile, competitors including "The Fox Report," "The Situation Room," and "Hardball With Chris Matthews" garner much higher ratings than he does, with the first typically getting 4 or 5 times the viewership. The Glenn Beck experiment seems to have …