Today's Wall Street Journal story, headlining the "Marketplace" section, on the attempts of companies like Hershey, Mars, Walt Disney and ConAgra to distribute their branded products to soldiers in the Middle East, opens, "There is nothing like a war to build brand loyalty."
posted by Arne at 4:32 PM

The local Sunday paper includes two comics, Over the Hedge and Get Fuzzy. Over the Hedge features a raccoon and a turtle living in the suburban landscape, and Get Fuzzy features a cat, a dog, and their owner, a 20-something man. This Sunday, Get Fuzzy's cat puts on "the hat formerly known as 'turtle'"-the dog says, "Bucky, that's crazy! Somebody is going to spray-paint 'shell is murder' on you."

Over the Hedge opens with the turtle, Verne, discovering turtle soup in a home's pantry. The raccoon says he tasted turtle "once...I was curious..not bad...needed sugar." Verne the turtle puts on a coonskin hat in response, and the raccoon says, "you know, wearing fur makes your head look fat." Both these comics are syndicated by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.-is this a bizarre coincidence, or some misguided attempt at corporate synergy?

posted by Arne at 2:40 PM