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Walmart's Campaign Against Obesity Is Centered On This Little Green Sticker
NEW YORK (AP) — You may like the food you buy, but is it "Great for You"?
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to help its customers figure that out by adding a new green icon that reads "Great for You" to packaging of some of its house-brand foods.
The green and white seal, which shows the stylized outline of a human figure with its arms spread toward the sky, is part of a multiyear campaign the world's largest retailer is undertaking to promote healthier products and fight childhood obesity.
Food makers and sellers have come under scrutiny in the past for adding nutritional seals to the fronts of packages. The Food and Drug Administration said in 2009 that some companies used them misleadingly.
The FDA is developing standards for what health claims can be made on food packages, but Wal-Mart says its customers want the information now.
Wal-Mart's new seal, which echoes the name of one of its key house brands, Great Value, won't impart any actual nutritional information when it starts appearing this spring. But the company says the seal will be affixed to in-house products with lower levels of fat, sugar and artificial additives.
The seal also will appear on signs near bins of fruits and vegetables and on some of Wal-Mart's in-house products under the Marketside brand. The company said 20 to 25 percent of its Great Value-brand foods meet the criteria for the new seal, though it didn't say how many products will carry it.
"It helps customers see very, very quickly what healthier choices are for them," Andrea Thomas, senior vice president of sustainability for Wal-Mart Stores, said Monday in a conference call with reporters.
The criteria will be outlined at www.walmartgreatforyou.com and allow all-natural foods, as well as foods without added sugar or too much fat, including fresh fruits and vegetables and items such as whole wheat pasta and low-fat dairy products.
Foods that have too many artificial additives, or too much fat, don't make the cut, Wal-Mart said. Regular pasta, white rice and yogurt with added sugar will not carry the seal.
Nutritional guidelines always have gray areas. Eggs were debated because of worries over their high cholesterol, for example, but Thomas said they earned the seal because they are a low-cost source of protein.
The FDA in 2009 said it would develop its own standards for health claims on food package fronts, but it has yet to do so. The agency said then that the proliferation of different labels created by different food companies could confuse consumers.
Wal-Mart officials say they consulted with the FDA as it developed the "Great For You" seal and would comply with whatever standards the agency eventually sets. But customers are looking for information now, they say.
Wal-Mart, which is based in Bentonville, Ark., says it determined the guidelines after a year of meeting with health organizations, customers, its suppliers and others.
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AP Writer Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report.
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This Harvard Business School Grad Controls The Desires Of America's Teen Girls
You've probably never heard of Alloy Inc., but you've certainly heard of the things it's created: the TV shows Gossip Girl and Vampire Diaries, the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants novels turned movies, and books like “The A-List,” “Private,” “The Clique.”
Its 43-year-old CEO, Matt Diamond, is one of the most influential executives in youth and pop culture marketing.
Alloy, since the late 1990s, has perhaps exerted more influence over the minds of American teenagers (and girls in particular) than any other commercial entity.
Yet Diamond couldn't be a more unlikely looking candidate for a hyper-trendy, teen-oriented business: He's a graduate of Harvard Business School who spent his early 20s at General Electric in Tokyo before deciding there was a gap in the market for a business devoted entirely to monetizing youth culture.
Diamond's name rarely shows up in the business press. One explanation is that Alloy's business model is difficult to describe. The company functions like a mixture of an ad agency, movie studio, TV production house, and book publisher. It's such an unusual bunch of businesses to have under a single roof that few people outside its walls understand how it works. Audiences, of course, barely know it exists.
Diamond sat down recently with Business Insider to talk about his company's recent acquisition of Generate, the production and talent management firm of former CW CEO Jordan Levin; Alloy's acquisition by Zelnick Media in 2010 (which put Geraldine Laybourne on Alloy's board) and his plans to find the next Pretty Little Liars—another TV show that came out of Alloy.
He also let us tour his office.
Reception: There is a sort of minimalist chic going on here.
The mid-1990s: In the early days of the company, Alloy had two catalogs—Alloy and Delia's—and two corresponding web sites, selling T-shirts, clothing, and other teen-oriented stuff.
Diamond's central insight was that Alloy and Delia's would probably be the first piece of relevant mail delivered to a kid's house with their name on it. And, unlike their web sites, tweens could pass the catalogs around at school.
The magazines functioned as ads for the web sites, and the web sites promoted the merchandise in the catalog. It was self-funded marketing.
Venture capital funders looked askance at the business model. Diamond says, "We were not darlings of the venture world. They wanted everything to move online and we went backwards with the catalogs. But we had a very profitable businesses model and the public markets cared more about the profitability than the venture world."
Alloy went public in 1999.
The CEO's office.
Usually TV and movie production houses are headquartered in Los Angeles, but Alloy is located in an anonymous warehouse building on 26th Street in Manhattan.
Diamond's office is modest and cluttered with a surprising amount of paper, considering his longstanding commitment to web and digital media.
Alloy's current big project is Dating Rules From My Future Self, a web-only TV show that allows Alloy to launch its own series, bypassing cable and broadcast TV networks.
The view from the CEO's office looks out into an alley.
2005: Diamond wanted to focus on his core media business, so Alloy eventually spun off its catalog businesses into separate companies. The company's current media brands include Channel One, the school TV program provider; gURL.com; Teen.com; Takkle (for high school sports); and Smosh.com.
At their peak, Alloy's revenues were around $200 million a year.
One of the reasons Alloy remains so anonymous is that unlike other media companies such as NBC or Disney, it doesn't own a gigantic tentpole property like a cable channel or a movie studio.
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10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell (DIS, KO, TM, GLEN, XTA)
Good morning. Here's what you need to know.
- Asian markets were mixed in overnight trading, with China's Shanghai SE Composite shedding 1.7 percent. European shares are mostly lower while U.S. futures point to a negative open.
- Time is running out in Greece, which must secure its second bailout package of €130 billion, or $171 billion, to avoid default. Today Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is expected to call politicians to discuss the implementation and details of the cuts leaders have already agreed to in principle. Here's who gets hurt if Greece defaults >
- U.S. regulators are on the verge of proposing new regulations for the $2.7 trillion money-market fund industry over the coming two weeks, the Wall Street Journal's Andrew Ackerman and Kirsten Grind report. The new rules would require the short-term money instrument funds to reserve capital through one of three ways, including stock or debt offerings. However, fund managers are vastly opposed to the new regulations.
- German industrial production fell 2.9 percent in December, an unexpected loss as most economists saw the country posting flat production. It also marks the largest drop in two years, accelerating November's 0.6 percent decline. All sectors saw lower activity, with investment goods down 3.6 percent, and construction activity off 6.4 percent.
- India's economy is forecast to grow by 6.9 percent for the year ending in March, below economist expectations for a 7.0 percent rise. If growth declines to 6.9 percent, it would be the slowest expansionary rate in three years. India has had difficulty battling high inflation this year, and its central bank has been focused on trying to tame that number. This is what will happen in emerging markets this year.
- Glencore, one of the world's biggest commodity trading houses, agreed to buy mining company Xstrata for £39.1 billion, or $62 billion. That number is much lower than earlier estimates that pegged the deal at £50 billion. The transaction will be completed entirely with stock, and the combined company will have annual sales over $209 billion. Meet the mysterious commodity brokerage firms that control prices of the world's goods >
- Toyota raised its annual profit forecast to ¥200 billion, or $2.6 billion, from ¥180 billion. However that figure is substantially below analyst estimates for ¥285.4 billion. The Japanese automaker said cost cuts helped protect profitability, as the yen's surge cut profitability by ¥200 billion.
- Australia's largest investment bank, Macquarie, slashed its full-year profit guidance 25 percent as trading revenues remain weak. A drop of 25 percent would mean earnings of slightly more than $765 million. The bank noted improvement in its fixed income and currency division, but that capital markets and its annuity business remained severely impacted.
- U.S. economic announcements begin at 10:00 a.m., with JOLTs Job Openings and economic sentiment. Job openings are seen expanding to 3.25 million from 3.16 million. Meanwhile, optimism as measured by Investor's Business Daily is seen jumping to 48.6 from 47.5. A level above 50 indicates a positive outlook.
- Earnings season continues with major reports out from Coca-Cola and Walt Disney. Analysts polled by Bloomberg expect earnings per share of $0.77 and $0.72 for Coke and Disney, respectively. The House of Mouse will be watched closely to see how advertising is holding up at the start of 2012. Click here to see what we've already learned this earnings season >
Bonus: 'Extra' host Maria Menounos went on air in a Giants' colored bikini to pay up for a losing Super Bowl bet.
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CITI'S BUITER: There's A 50% Chance Of A Greek Exit From The Eurozone And Here's How It Would Happen
Citigroup economists Willem Buiter and Ebrahim Rabhari revised their predictions of a Greek exit from the eurozone—or "Grexit"—in the next 18 months up to 50 percent from 25-30 percent in November.
That's not only because Greece's failure to meet spending and austerity goals has angered the rest of the euro area and made other countries less willing to extend aid, but because the risks to the rest of the eurozone have been moderated as investors priced in this possibility.
However, halting tail risk is dependent on a few criteria, the most important being swift and strong action from EU leaders:
Clearly, the Grexit scenario that we describe here is subject to major downside risk, namely that exit fear contagion following Grexit could be much stronger than anticipated, leading to a sequence of sudden stops in the external financing of periphery sovereigns, banks and other private entities. Unless an official ECB/EFSF/ESM/IMF firewall/ big bazooka can deter or negate such a withdrawal of market funding, there could be a sequence of forced exits from the EA, reducing the euro area to a greater DM zone.
There is also some circumstantial evidence in historical bond yields and GDP growth which suggests that investors do consider Greece to be a distinct case from Portugal, Ireland, Spain, and Italy.
Still, Grexit is not Citigroup's baseline scenario—Buiter and Rabhari expect that a Greek default will indeed provoke a credit event, and that future debt restructuring will have to happen, but that it will stay in the eurozone.
Grexit will only happen when Greece publicly flouts troika recommendations and has no chance of receiving aid.
"Grexit would likely take place in a context where Greece is no longer willing to make the minimum efforts necessary to be judged to be in compliance with the fiscal and structural reform demands of the Troika. Greece would not just have to fail to comply in substance, but would have to be sufficiently blatantly non-compliant to deprive the Troika of the fig-leaf of an ‘honest-albeit-insufficient effort to comply’."
Source: Citigroup Global Markets
Greece will pass a currency law setting exchange rates and limiting those who can file suits against the Greek government in foreign courts.
"Grexit would effectively start with the urgent passage of a currency law through an emergency decree by the Greek government of the day. This law would stipulate one or more conversion rates between the old and the new Greek currency (which we will call the ‘New Drachma’)...
Besides one or more rate(s) of conversion, the currency law would likely also specify that the new currency is legal tender for payment and settlement of debt in the ‘relevant country’, i.e. Greece, including for the payment of public and private debt obligations (including bank loans, deposits, and securities) and other contracts, including wage and pension contracts."
Source: Citigroup Global Markets
It will simultaneously impose strict capital controls to prevent capital flight.
"In our view, it is highly likely that Grexit would be accompanied by the imposition of strict capital controls. True, the Treaty (Art. 63) forbids any restrictions on capital or payment flows between EU member states, but we think that an exiting country, facing massive disruptions in its international capital account transactions would need to impose strict capital and foreign exchange controls following exit if some semblance of financial order is to be maintained."
Source: Citigroup Global Markets
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The 12 Crucial Issues Haunting The Eurozone Right Now
Although markets have been kind to Italy and Spain recently, most economists agree the crisis is far from over.
Greek politicians are still trying to hammer out a deal without jeopardizing their popular support, economy, and bailout funds. Yet troika officials are still vehemently supporting austerity, regardless of signs that more spending cuts are unsustainable.
And despite tentative agreement to move up implementation of a new, permanent eurozone bailout fund and institute a fiscal compact, rough waters are still ahead for the crisis effort.
We've compiled a list of all the issues still threatening to derail the monetary union. Read and weep, folks.
Private sector involvement in Greece.
Since this crisis seems to be exacerbated by a lack of market confidence, EU leaders need to act in a way that will restore faith in sovereign borrowing. Doing this is difficult when EU leaders also want creditors to take 70% haircuts on their holdings of Greek debt (since it turned out to be a poor investment choice).
EU leaders want Greece's creditors to participate voluntarily so as to avoid provoking a credit event, which would result in payouts of credit default swaps—insurance contracts on purchases of sovereign debt. However, there's little chance they'll get a sufficient number of bondholders to go all in.
If EU leaders pull a high-handed maneuver to to avoid a credit event, then this would undermine the entire CDS industry and make it incredibly difficult for financial institutions to make a certain hedge against sovereign debt. On the other hand, the effects of a credit event are uncertain—Citi's Willem Buiter estimated late last year that exposure to contagion would be minimal ($74bn gross, less than $4bn net) in the event of CDS payouts, but the problem is that no one really knows.
Official sector participation in the Greek debt restructuring.
The most recent terms of the deal between Greece's creditors and its government reportedly hinge on whether or not the European Central Bank will take cuts as part of the debt restructuring. The ECB holds €50 billion ($65.7 billion) in Greek bonds that it bought at a discounted €38 billion ($49.9 billion)—a full 15% of the country's debt obligations.
Involvement of the ECB in the bailout would assure investors that European leaders are willing to do what's necessary in order to save the euro, even if it involves essentially monetizing debt.
Greece's massive debts.
Even with the prospect of huge haircuts for the private sector, there is little hope that the country will be able to return to the markets for funding in the foreseeable future. In fact, Greece will probably have difficulty bringing its public debt-to-GDP ratio under 120% for the next decade or so.
Drastic austerity measures have taken an axe to growth and have caused massive strikes and riots in Athens. Now EU leaders want Greece to impose a new round of still deeper spending cuts, and Germany has even threatened a proposal that would take away the Greek government's power to control the budget and place it in an EU budget commissioner.
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