Ethic Soup

Kids Smoke More When They See Other Kids Smoking Say Researchers

Young people who smoke daily light up more cigarettes if they see other young people smoking. Surprise!

NEW RESEARCH ?

Most of us have known this fact for years. That's why parents don't want their kids to associate with kids who smoke. They are a bad influence. Afterall, most kids desperately want to be just like their peers. Being different is awful for them.

Yet, Zeena Harakeh, a social scientist from Utrecht University, Netherlands, recently researched the subject of what encourages young smokers to light a cigarette. Surprisingly, she came up with an unexpected finding.

WANNA CIGARETTE OR WATCH ME ?

Dr. Harakeh investigated what encourages smokers aged 16 to 24 to light up. You would think, intuitively, that young people would smoke more when they are offered a cigarette. But, you'd be wrong. They actually smoke more when in company of a smoking peer, even when no one offers them a cigarette.

FCC Finally Fixes Earsplitting Volume of TV Commercials

FINALLY, yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission  unanimously approved rules that will require cable operators and TV stations to quiet those thunderous TV commercials.

More than a year ago, September 2010, Congress passed the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, or CALM Act, giving the FCC the job of ensuring that TV commercials aren't louder than TV programs. Next, we, the listening public, had to keep sticking our fingers in our ears at commercial-time because nothing changed.

WE CAN'T BE C.A.L.M. FOR YET ANOTHER YEAR

But, it's still not going to take effect for yet another year. Supposedly, the new rules start next December, in 2012. That's when cable operators and TV stations will have to make TV commercials no louder than the TV programs. What's with the hold-ups, deferrals? I think it's just part of the definition for government.

Consumers have been complaining about the excessively loud television commercials for decades -- decades.

 

Want Extra Sugar, Sugar? Police Arrest Dunkin' Donuts Worker as Prostitute

Melissa Redmond, 29, got a job as an overnight employee at a New Jersey Dunkin' Donuts. Perfect! She didn't have to stand on a street corner in a 'tenderloin' neighborhood to make some extra cash.

QUICK PARKING LOT BREAKS

Instead, Melissa just took ten to fifteen minute breaks to make her money in the parking lot, after propositioning customers -- including a plain-clothes officer -- via the drive-thru window. 

"Cops cleverly dubbed their investigation "extra sugar," gathering info and watching over the premises for six weeks," according to New York Magazine, which asked: "But were they allowed to expense their late-night surveillance snacks?"

Taco Bell Follow-Up Part Two: Sarcasm Unleashed

 

COMMANDER SEASONED BEEF and FLEX TORTILLA  fighting against BARON VON BLAND represent one way that Taco Bell is responding to a class action suit filed against it last week, which using lab test findings alleges that Taco Bell's "seasoned beef" is only 35 percent actual beef and 65 percent extenders, preservatives and additives -- along with a few seasonings. 

SPOOF ON MEAT INGREDIENTS

A video spoof called the "Super Delicious Ingredient Force" is just one of Taco Bell's ad campaigns described as "a spirited defense of its products" by National Public Radio (NPR), which adds:

"A tip of the hat to the company for having a little fun with its response, but food scientists, whip out your test kits. This one's gonna require a little analysis."

The lawsuit claims that most of the 'almost-meat' filling does not meet USDA standards to be called beef -- which is only 40 percent.

WHERE ARE THE REGULATORS?

Ye gads! Until this brouhaha, not many of us realized that our federal regulator allowed the majority of ingredients to be something other than real beef and still be called "beef." Something's seriously wrong here! It makes you wonder if the regulators aren't getting more money from the industry they regulate than from the taxpayers who pay their salaries for protection. Let me take that back, what's to wonder?

Taco Bell Spends Big Bucks To Fight Beef Lawsuit: 'Truth' Ads, Superhero Cartoons, Social Media

 

WHERE'S THE BEEF?

Earlier this week Ethic Soup told about a lawsuit here that claimed meat used in Taco Bell's products wasn't all beef -- wasn't even half beef, but only 35 percent, with additives accounting for the other 65 percent. Holy Cow! 

EATING BEEF IN INDIA?    

Uh, maybe this is in preparation for opening new stores in India, where eating beef isn't exactly popular. Right now, Taco Bell has only one location there -- India's first Taco Bell store at Mantri Square Mall in Bangalore. It opened in March last year and attracted 2,000 to 2,500 customer per day, reported the Wall Street Journal.

Taco Bell plans to open 100 outlets in India by 2015, aiming for $1 billion in sales.

TACO BELL U.S. SALES STRUGGLING

The move comes as the "...chain is struggling in the U.S. and sales in China, where Yum Brands Inc has expanded for 22 years, are slowing," the Wall Street Journal reported last spring.

DON'T MESS WITH SACRED COW

Listen up, Taco Bell. We're talking about Hinduism's sacred animal and 83 percent of India's population (1.16 billion people) are Hindu and see the cow as an animal to be esteemed, not eaten. You know this, right? Few people revere the cow like the world's adherents of Hinduism, reports PBS.

Where's the Beef Taco Bell? Whatcha Been Hiding, Huh?

 
"Red Meat" Copyright by Sharon McEachern

 

 WHERE'S THE BEEF, TACO BELL? 

That's the big question of the week, ever since the Beasley Allen Law Firm based in Montgomery, Alabama, filed a class action lawsuit claiming that most of Taco Bell's "taco meat filling" and "seasoned ground beef" is anything but beef.

Taco Bell serves more than 36.8 million consumers each week, according to its website, in nearly 5,600 restaurants in the U.S. That could mean a lot of bucks for expensive beef. A corporation could make a whole lot more money if they didn't use so much meat and just called it real meat.

Taco Bell, a subsidiary of Yum Brands Inc. , has been accused of false advertising. The lawsuit was filed in the Federal Court in California, on behalf of Taco Bell customer and California resident Amanda Obney. She does not seek any monetary damages, but asks the court to order Taco Bell to be honest in its advertising. Whoa! No moola? Just tell the truth?

The Taco Bell meat paste stuff contains close to 35 percent beef says the law firm, after having Taco Bell products tested. The firm reports that results found the beef that the Mexican fast food chain uses is only 35 to 36 percent beef. That's not good.

FLESH OF CATTLE

The USDA insists that beef is the "flesh of cattle" and any food labeled as "meat taco filling" should at least have 40 percent fresh meat. Geez, that's less than half, yet Taco Bell still can't 'meat' the requirement. 

 

Loud TV Commercials Banned: President Signs CALM Act

 Finally, those screaming TV commercials are illegal and broadcasters will have to turn down  the volume. Hallelujah!

SHHHHH --- IT'S LAW

President Obama signed the CALM Act into law this week. The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, however, won't become effective for another two years. First the FCC has a year to prescribe a regulation for limiting the volume of TV commercials. Then the television broadcast industry has yet another year to comply and modulate audio levels to prevent those way-way-too-loud commercials -- as if they don't already know exactly what to do.

WIGGLE ROOM?

With another two years before the CALM Act is effective, advertisers and broadcasters will have time to work on wiggling-out of compliance. Sorry, I can't see to keep my skepticism at bay. Or, is it cynicism? We'll talk in two years. 

E-Cigarette Distributors Target Minors: California Says "Oh, No You Don't"

 

 

 IT'S ABOUT TIME -- The largest distributor of electronic cigarettes in the U.S., Smoking Everywhere, has agreed it will no longer claim e-cigarettes are a safe alternative to smoking and it will not continue to aim its marketing at minors -- at least not in California.

A week ago, Smoking Everywhere reached these agreements in a settlement with the California Attorney General.

The settlement comes just two months after the state reached a similar agreement with  Soterra, another electronic cigarette maker. The settlement also comes just weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced plans to regulate e-cigarettes.

Senate Votes: Turn Down Volume on Loud TV Commercials

 
"Too Loud" copyright by Sharon McEachern

Finally, all of those obnoxiously-loud TV commercials will soon be illegal -- actually against the law. The U.S. Senate passed the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act this week, putting the FCC in charge of TV commercial regulations about volume. 

CALM MEANS NO MORE STARTLE RESPONSES

I can hardly wait. No more leaps for the remote, after you've already spilled the bowl of popcorn and made the cat leap three feet straight up from your lap. A person will be able to actually relax on the sofa and watch TV, instead anticipating the next commercial so you can hit "mute" before the abrasive volume jumps to 'screaming' range. You can't legitimately call yourself a 'couch potato' if you're really exercising -- all that leaping up is aerobic.

The CALM bill was approved by the House of Representatives last year, where it will return for a final vote before President Obama signs it into law.(Read Ethic Soup's first post on the bill here.) 

United Airlines Bags Most Bucks for Fees: $1.9 Billion Last Year

Airlines around the world are grabbing cash from ancillary revenue like baggage fees. Oh yeah, it's a whole hell-of-a-lot of money. Altogether, carriers worldwide collected $13.5 billion in fees last year, a jump 43 percent higher than the previous year.

UNITED'S ANCILLARY REVENUES ARE HIGHEST

At the top of the heap was United Airlines. Still the third-largest carrier in the U.S. behind Delta and American, United made a total of $1.9 billion in ancillary revenue -- $400 million coming from fees for checked bags alone, according to a new study.

Overseas, the airline with the largest revenue from fees was Quantas. For comparison to United's $1.9 billion, the Australian airline took in around $963 million last year, about half of what United racked up.

Today, flying is like going to the movies. You gotta pay to get in, but the theater-owners make more money from selling popcorn and candy.