Promoters

At the headquarters of Boston Medical Group in Costa Mesa, six salesmen were working the toll-free appointment line on a recent afternoon, fielding calls from men around the country enticed by newspaper and radio ads promising a "proven" solution to erectile dysfunction in "one office visit. " The results are visible "right there in the office," one sales representative told a caller. "It's amazing. " Following a script, he answered a few questions and offered to schedule a $195 consultation at one of the company's 21 U.S. clinics.

When Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu opened their Bell restaurant 15 years ago, some customers wondered if they knew how to cook. Accustomed to Mexican food laden with sour cream, melted cheddar cheese and mild salsa that has long been served up in the Los Angeles area, patrons balked at eating La Casita Mexicana's enchiladas covered in pumpkin seed mole, cotija cheese and red onions. Many of the doubters, to the restaurateurs' surprise, were Mexican American. Regional Mexican cooking isn't a tough sell anymore.

If you're part of a reality TV show and might be famous for 15 minutes, tops, it's probably best to cash in while you can. But what if you're not a breakout star on the Kim Kardashian level? No worries. Blue-chip national advertisers, nightclub promoters and book publishers still want you. And they're willing to fork over real money — sometimes six figures and up — for your recognizable face. While the Kardashian klan is pulling down a reported $65 million annually and "Jersey Shore's" Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino banked as much as $5 million last year alone, lesser players in the reality show game are riding their relative popularity to notable financial gain.

Microsoft Corp. is partnering with Paramount Pictures on a promotional effort for the studio's "Star Trek Into Darkness. " It represents the biggest such undertaking ever for the software giant. The Redmond, Wash., company's campaign isn't short on whimsy: Bing, Microsoft's Internet search engine, was updated Tuesday to include the "Star Trek" language Klingon in its online translation service. But there also is strategic significance to the marketing venture, because it leverages so many Microsoft services, devices and platforms in a way not previously attempted by the company for a movie promotion.

The California State Athletic Commission has faxed a letter of apology to the promoters of a mixed martial arts card on which a fighter with a positive test for hepatitis C was allowed to compete. The commission also said it had been told, but had no documentation as of Tuesday, that the test had been a false positive and the fighter did not have hepatitis C. Al Joslin and Shelly Matlock, owners of PureCombat Promotions, which held a March 7 MMA card in Tulare, said they received the letter Sunday.

Online promoters of swift weight loss from acai berry diet pills have agreed to a multimillion dollar settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The agency had charged that the six promoters used fake news stories to dupe customers into purchasing the pills and other weight-loss products that failed to live up to marketing claims. The stories that appeared on their websites used provocative headlines, such as “Health Reporter Discovers the Shocking Truth,” the FTC said.

Promoters of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival raised eyebrows in the concert business last fall when they decided to clone the three-day gathering and make it a six-day, two-weekend affair, but doubters fell silent as tickets sold out shortly after going on sale earlier this month. And that's not the half of it. "There were enough buyers in queue online that we probably could have added two more Coachella weekends and another Stagecoach weekend," said Randy Phillips, president of AEG Live, the concert promotion giant that works in conjunction with Goldenvoice to put Coachella and its country cousin, Stagecoach, on each year in Indio.

In his column on Feb. 19, Allan Malamud seems puzzled by the declining popularity of indoor track and field in Southern California. I strongly believe that this loss of appeal is due to the bait-and-switch tactics of certain meet promoters. The fans want to see the true international stars of track and field, not a bunch of no-shows or second-level performers. DAVID NACY, Long Beach

Two former promoters for boxer Larry Holmes say they will appeal a judge's dismissal of their case in which they alleged that the former heavyweight champion breached a four-fight contract. U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts in Los Angeles dismissed the case in mid-trial because of a question about how the deal was structured, said Bob Rey, a Riverside fight promoter and one of the plaintiffs.

Boxing is back at the Warner Center--for now, at least. This time with some new faces and, perhaps, more pizazz. Oxnard promoter Robert Valdez, still on his feet trying to eke out a career in the fight game, climbed into a new arena this week when he announced his next program will take place Aug. 15 at L.A. Fitness Center in Woodland Hills.

Advertising company Lamar sued the city of Los Angeles two months ago, demanding the right to install new digital billboards in such neighborhoods as Sherman Oaks, Silver Lake, Glassell Park and the Fairfax district. Lamar's involvement in city politics did not stop there. Since it filed that lawsuit, the company has financed scores of billboards for candidates in the May 21 election - 100 for mayoral hopeful Wendy Greuel, 100 for city controller candidate Dennis Zine and 20 apiece for City Council candidates Curren Price, Nury Martinez and Gil Cedillo.

Fox and Twitter have entered into a partnership to promote the broadcaster's programs and help advertisers reach TV audiences as they discuss shows on the social network. Twitter Inc., which has established itself as the water cooler where America dissects the latest developments on NBC's "The Voice" or AMC's "Mad Men," is expected to strike more deals with broadcasters. On Tuesday, ESPN and Twitter plan to announce they are expanding their partnership. Last year the sports network, majority owned by Walt Disney Co., incorporated video highlights directly into Twitter feeds related to its coverage of the BCS championship game.

WASHINGTON - Congressional Republicans have opened a new line of attack on President Obama's healthcare law, charging that the administration has improperly sought help from the healthcare industry and other outside groups to implement the landmark statute. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for months has been asking foundations, consumer and business groups, insurance companies and others to help enroll uninsured Americans in health insurance this fall, a key goal of the Affordable Care Act. Administration officials say those actions were entirely appropriate.

WASHINGTON - When Bolivian President Evo Morales expelled the U.S. Agency for International Development from his impoverished country last week, he complained that Washington "still has a mentality of domination and submission" in the region. It was a familiar charge for the State Department's principal foreign aid agency. In the last two years, it has been booted out of Russia, snubbed in Egypt and declared unwelcome by a bloc of left-leaning Latin American countries. USAID "threatens our sovereignty and stability," the eight-nation Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas fumed in June in a resolution that accused the United States of political interference, conspiracy and "looting our natural resources.

When Tesla Motors reports its first-ever profit Wednesday, much of the money will come courtesy of the state of California. In its zeal to push electric cars into the market, the state has created a system in which Tesla can make as much as $35,000 extra on each sale of its luxury Model S electric sports sedans. That's because the Palo Alto company qualifies for coveted state environmental credits that it can turn into cash. These Zero Emission Vehicle credits could put as much as $250 million in Tesla's coffers this year, according to one Wall Street analyst, and they are a key reason the 10-year-old automaker has survived this long.

In one of the stranger plot twists in Hollywood, BitTorrent Inc., the technology company whose name was once synonymous in the creative community with Internet piracy, is now doing business with the film industry. The San Francisco company is partnering with Cinedigm, a leading Los Angeles distributor of independent films across digital platforms, to promote its newest release, "Arthur Newman," starring Colin Firth and Emily Blunt. Starting Monday, BitTorrent will help promote the film by inviting the 170 million users of its software - which helps facilitate the transfer of large data files - to watch the first seven minutes of the film prior to its theatrical release Friday.

A federal jury has awarded $1.5 million to a promoter who said a concert he organized to foster racial harmony was illegally disrupted by sheriff's deputies. The U.S. District Court jurors found that the San Diego County Sheriff's Department violated the constitutional rights of Shawn Green of Chula Vista by searching people who attended the concert and disrupting the event, attorney Michael Marrinan said Wednesday.

A year after making a bid to expand into the Los Angeles concert market by purchasing the Raymond Theatre in Pasadena for $2.5 million, pop music promoter Gary Folgner has given up his hold on the 70-year-old former vaudeville house. The Orange County-based Folgner, who operates the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano and the Ventura Theatre in Ventura, said that he has had to turn the Raymond back to its former owners because he fell $100,000 behind in loan payments.

Mark Wahlberg stands to make some money for all of his pain and gain -- and in more ways than one.  The actor's own line of fitness supplements, called Marked Nutrition, is being used to promote his new movie, Paramount Pictures' "Pain & Gain. " Wahlberg developed the products with Pittsburgh health and nutrition company GNC Holdings Inc., which since August has sold them at its stores and online. In interviews and in promotional materials, Wahlberg has touted his use of Marked in preparation for playing a bodybuilder in the Michael Bay-directed film.

Whether it leads to one of boxing's great careers remains a point of intrigue, but the boldness Saul "Canelo" Alvarez carries into the ring is something the sport doesn't often witness from a 22-year-old. "It speaks volumes that at 22 - this fighter who is Mexico's favorite champion and boxing's next superstar - he wants to fight the very best out there," Alvarez's promoter and mentor Oscar De La Hoya said. Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 knockouts) won the World Boxing Council super-welterweight title in March 2011, and he'll defend his belt for the sixth time Saturday night against World Boxing Assn.