Campbell Soup Sacks NFL Moms

Record-setting win leaves everyone gushing

(NEWSER) - Michael Vick eviscerated the Washington Redskins last night, throwing for 333 yards and four touchdowns, and running for another 80 yards and two more touchdowns, an unprecedented, record-breaking accomplishment. “He’s got my MVP vote,” Washington linebacker London Fletcher told the Washington Post after the game. Is the ex-con really that good? Here’s what people are saying:

• “It was one of the best single performances in league history,” gushes Matt Mosley of ESPN . “When Vick is on his game, I’m not sure there’s a team in the NFC capable of beating the Eagles.”

Plummeting temperatures lead to marketing opportunities

(NEWSER) - When the weather turns cold, retailers swing into action, targeting ads toward areas where the mercury's dropping—even in normally temperate markets like Florida. “Marketing into a situation that's favorable for your product” is the key, one analyst tells Advertising Age . Take Campbell’s Soup, which uses a “misery index” based on local temperatures, precipitation, and how those relate to past conditions. When people in a certain area are 5% miserable, they start seeing and hearing ads for soup. More»

Image of cracked windshield superimposed over truck accident victim

(NEWSER) - An unfortunate juxtaposition has the sports blogosphere abuzz: As Sports Illustrated was reporting the death of Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry this morning, the website's advertising apparatus was employing a special effect on behalf of Liberty Mutual's car insurance offerings. The effect? A shattered windshield. "The cracked windshield on the face of a man who just died from falling out of a pickup truck is probably the last thing anyone wanted to see," the With Leather blog observes, "especially the people that run that fine website." More»

Talk show host has repeatedly bashed players and culture of football league

(NEWSER) - Al Sharpton has urged the NFL to block Rush Limbaugh's purchase of the St. Louis Rams, calling him “anti-NFL.” Sharpton was particularly disturbed, Politico reports, by a “recent statement that the NFL was beginning to look like a fight between the Crips and the Bloods without the weapons.” Really? There are so many others:

• No one is likely to forget when Rush discussed Donovan McNabb back in 2003: "The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well...He got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve."

(NEWSER) - Good news for football fans: Now you can smell like your favorite player. In an odd corporate pairing, Procter & Gamble has signed a deal with the NFL to slap the league's logo on its toiletries and call them an "Official Locker Room Product of the NFL," the Wall Street Journal reports. The deal—which covers products ranging from Old Spice deodorant to Head & Shoulders to Dawn dish soap—is worth a reported $10 million per year and comes as sports leagues are trying to make up for dwindling ad revenue. More»