Marketing

They cheered Manny at Yankee Stadium on Thursday. No, not the guy with the dreadlocks and the Boston Red Sox legacy. Never that Manny. Not here. No, this was Manny Pacquiao, and the day was about boxing, not baseball. On Nov. 14, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the fast-moving career of the Filipino hero will make another stop with a battle against the dangerous welterweight Miguel Cotto. Thursday marked the first of a five-stop media tour -- New York, Puerto Rico, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego -- and Yankee Stadium made a nice backdrop.

Before the recession, Andrew Puzder, who heads the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's burger chains, liked to joke about how sharp-priced competitors were "giving food away." As the recession deepened and the number of 79-cent taco and 99-cent hamburger offers exploded, Puzder realized it was "no longer a joke; they are giving food away." Literally. On Monday, KFC gave away a free piece of its new grilled chicken just for the asking.

The makers of Sunny D, long known as a children's drink, are looking to reach a more mature and health-minded consumer -- and they're going to use a West Los Angeles drink maker to do it. Beverages Holdings purchased Bossa Nova Beverage Group Inc. Wednesday for an undisclosed amount, said Lloyd Greif, chief executive of Greif & Co., the Los Angeles investment-banking firm that represented Bossa Nova in the transaction. Bossa Nova is best known for its acai juice drink.

Barbie turns 50 this month, and to shake off a midlife crisis she's getting tattooed and opening the doors to her first megastore in China. The developments are causing a stir on two continents, not bad for a plaything whose global cachet has been sagging of late. We begin in Southern California, where, just in time for spring, Mattel Inc. has released Totally Stylin' Tattoos Barbie. The doll comes with a set of more than 40 tiny tattoo stickers that can be placed on her body.

When "Chicago" and "Hairspray" producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan were looking for their next big movie musical last November, the two ended up in what would seem like an unlikely place: the El Segundo headquarters of Mattel Inc. The duo found their inspiration in the prototypes for an as-yet unreleased line of monster dolls from the toy manufacturer. Welcome to Hollywood's latest gold rush. Movie studio development slates are rapidly filling up with projects based on well-known toys and games.

Nearly 1,000 service members and their families at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland got to see something Friday night that very few people in Hollywood have seen -- "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra," the last big-budget action movie of the summer.

Citing his own experience as a teenage smoker, President Obama on Monday predicted that a new law giving the Food and Drug Administration sweeping power to regulate tobacco will help young people avoid the smoking habit he has struggled with for years. The measure, which Obama signed into law Monday, will ban candy-, fruit- and spice-flavored cigarettes and prohibit use of tobacco-product logos and brand names in sponsoring athletic and entertainment events.

Super Bowl Sunday arrived in China's capital at daybreak Monday, but by kickoff it was standing room only at the Goose 'n' Duck, a British-style sports pub near sprawling Chaoyang Park in east Beijing. The vast majority of the nearly 350 football fans who braved the frigid morning temperatures were expatriate Americans, many already with beer in hand despite the hour.

Hoping to keep its 119 rooms filled, Hotel Erwin on Venice Beach is offering an unusual promotion for its countercultural clientele: an Ink and Stay package that includes $100 toward a tattoo and a bottle of tequila to numb the pain. Down the coast at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego, guests who get the Hard Rock and a Hog deal can roll through the All-American City on a Harley Davidson motorcycle that comes complimentary with a two-night stay. But for hotel perks, it's hard to beat the deal offered at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, where your stay comes with a free rental of a Mercedes, Porsche or BMW convertible.

The full blaze of the midday sun shone down on Dodger Stadium, and heat waves danced on the infield dirt. But the Dodgers weren't poised to take the field. In fact, the only Dodger present was Andre Ethier, and he was sprawled on a yoga mat in pigeon pose. All around him, about 100 fans were similarly contorted -- having paid $100 a pop for the privilege. In the brave new world of sports marketing, it's not always enough to sell game tickets or offer high-priced trips to spring training.