Advertising

A single winning ticket for a record Powerball lottery jackpot worth $590.5 million was sold in Florida, organizers said late Saturday, but there was no word about who won. The winning numbers from Saturday night's drawing were: 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52, with a Powerball number of 11. The odds of winning were put at one in 175 million. The winning ticket was sold at a Publix supermarket in Zephyrhills, a suburb of Tampa, according to the Florida Lottery. The prize tempted many Marylanders to buy tickets for the lottery game before the 11 p.m. drawing.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. expects first quarter earnings of 27 cents to 30 cents per diluted share, down from 53 cents per share in the first quarter of 2012, the Hampstead-based retailer said Monday. Sales for the quarter that ended May 4 dipped 3 percent, with unseasonably cool weather hurting spring business, the company said. The men's apparel seller was able to control expenses and improve advertising efficiency but had higher inventory sourcing costs during the quarter, the company said.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. expects first quarter earnings of 27 cents to 30 cents per diluted share, down from 53 cents per share in the first quarter of 2012, the Hampstead-based retailer said Monday. Sales for the quarter that ended May 4 dipped 3 percent, with unseasonably cool weather hurting spring business, the company said. The men's apparel seller was able to control expenses and improve advertising efficiency but had higher inventory sourcing costs during the quarter, the company said.

You do not have to look far to understand why U.S. health care is so expensive and uneven in quality. A recurrent offender advertises walk-in ultrasound testing of blood vessels and whatever other asymptomatic part you may choose to pay for. Worried older folks can feel lucky that it appears that Medicare would reimburse for the tests. But in fact, the whole course of tests and treatments encouraged by these ads will not improve your life expectancy - and could even have some chance of decreasing it. Shouldn't we read these solicitations as symptoms of a very readily eliminated illness that plagues our health care system?

The fallout of Rush Limbaugh calling a law student a "slut" and a "prostitute" for advocating insurance coverage for birth control continues: AOL pulled its advertising money from his radio show, according to a Facebook update by the technology company . (AOL has a major division, Advertising.com, in Baltimore.) Per AOL, two hours ago on its FB page, which has 279,000+ followers: At AOL one of our core values is that we act with integrity. We have monitored the unfolding events and have determined that Mr. Limbaugh's comments are not in line with our values.

The Maryland Court of Appeals has approved new rules for print, radio and television advertising by lawyers. When the rules go into effect July 1, celebrity endorsements by non-lawyers will not be allowed, attorneys will not be able to mention their won-lost records, and ads saying clients won't have to pay if their lawyer loses the case will be prohibited.The Evening Sun would like to know what you think. Are the new rules fair? Or, should lawyers be free to advertise without any restrictions?

If you pitted "Got Milk?" against "You're Fired!" it'd be tough to judge which phrase is better known. For better or worse, advertising is as much a part of pop culture as anything else in the media. Yet while film and television critics abound, there are few who make a career out of scrutinizing advertisements for content, theme and stupidity. That's where blog Adrants (adrants.com) comes in. The site gives short, punchy descriptions and saucy opinions about new ad campaigns, as well as news and commentary on the industry itself.

Fallout over the racially insensitive comments by radio talk-show host Don Imus intensified yesterday as MSNBC announced that it will immediately cease simulcasting the Imus in the Morning radio program. Meanwhile, two major sponsors suspended their advertising from the show, and a former NAACP president who is on the CBS board joined those who have urged Imus' dismissal. A week after Imus referred to the mostly black Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos" following the team's second-place finish in this year's NCAA tournament, opposition to the longtime radio personality continues to mushroom.

Franklin Rae Foster, an advertising executive whose clients ranged from the banking industry to politicians, died of heart failure Friday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The Roland Park resident was 75. A partner in the Foster & Green advertising agency in the Mount Vernon neighborhood, he specialized in national industrial accounts. He also handled advertising for Mercantile-Safe Deposit & Trust Co., the Maryland Lottery and several Democratic political campaigns. He retired in 1990.

NEW YORK -- Google Inc., owner of the most-used Internet search engine, will test selling advertising for 50 newspapers starting this week, part of the company's latest effort to extend its reach beyond the Web. Google will take bids for advertising space in newspapers owned by New York Times Co., Washington Post Co., Gannett Co. and Tribune Co., Google spokesman Mike Mayzel said yesterday in an e-mail. Advertisers' offers for available space will be relayed to publishers, who will accept or reject them.

James C. Constable, a retired businessman and World War II veteran, died March 7 of heart failure at his Essex, Conn., home. He was 96. James Cheston Constable, the son of the founder of the Baltimore law firm Wright, Constable & Skeen and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in Roland Park. One of his ancestors, James Black Groome of Elkton, had been a U.S. senator and was governor of Maryland from 1874 to 1876. Mr. Constable, who was known as Cheston, attended Gilman School and graduated in 1935 from the old Tome School in Port Deposit.

Looking for St. Paddy's day plans? Gov. Martin O'Malley's Irish rock band, O'Malleys March, has already sold out the early show for Saturday night in Baltimore, and by Thursday they'd sold three-fourths of the 200-person floor space in the Creative Alliance for the late show, the venue said. Earlier in the day, his political action committee O'Say Can You See sent out an invitation to the St. Patrick's Day show, which costs $25 a head.  Proceeds benefit the Creative Alliance, which advertised the show as " some Celtic fury.

I enjoy the Howard County Times. It keeps me up to date on local goings on. At rare times I even find something in the enclosed advertising inserts useful. Mostly though these go directly to the recycle bin. The recycle folks will be happy this week because in the Feb. 14 edition I had six copies of the Mr. Tire insert to put in the bin. Six. Why six? Why more than just one for that matter? Does the Howard County Times expect me to distribute these ads to my family, friends and neighbors?

Shares of Baltimore's Millennial Media Inc. on Wednesday lost nearly 38 percent of their value, closing at $8.95. Fourth-quarter earnings announced Tuesday disappointed analysts and led to a sharp decline in after-hours trading. The stock closed Tuesday at $14.33 and opened Wednesday at $9.81. The mobile device advertising company reported it had a profit of 3 cents per share - $2.6 million in all - in the quarter ending Dec. 31, falling short of expectations. Projections for this year - the company said it expects revenue to range from $270 million to $280 million - also disappointed some analysts.

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler said Wednesday he has filed a lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline, LLC for falsely saying three of its diabetes drugs were better than others on the market. The company also withheld data that showed the drugs - Avandia, Avandamet and Avandaryl - increase a patient's chance of suffering a heart attack, liver damage, excessive fluid retention and other adverse effects, the lawsuit alleges. The company promoted the drug as safe, sometimes using doctors in marketing efforts.

AmericanStyle magazine, a quarterly publication catering to consumers and producers of fine crafts, has suspended publication and is seeking a buyer, its Baltimore-based publisher announced this week. The magazine has had trouble maintaining advertising sales, said Jean Thompson, a spokeswoman for the magazine's publisher, The Rosen Group, a marketing firm focused on helping North American artists expand their businesses. Many of the magazine's advertisers are art galleries, Thompson said.

Just when you thought there was no place left to plaster advertising, someone has come up with one: grocery checkout dividers.The dividers are those black or gray rubber tubes you put between your lettuce and corn flakes and those of the next person in line at the supermarket.A California company, Alpine Promotions, has come up with the idea of using them to advertise not only in-store products like Wrigley's gum, but also things like new films and theme parks."All we've done is turn these unsightly rubber sticks into something attractive to both shoppers and advertisers," says Glenn Hogle of Alpine.

Picture the museum of the 22nd century. After you've gone through the ancient Romans and Greeks, the Byzantines, the Gothic, the renaissance, the baroque, rococo and realists, on through the Impressionists, painting would virtually disappear from the walls after, say, the abstract expressionists.Instead, you would enter a room featuring technology. Video screens would be on the walls in place of the paintings. And at each you would pause and watch 30- or 60-second television commercials, the highest and most important art form of the second half of the 20th century.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. said profits soared in the fourth quarter, capping a presidential election year in which the Hunt Valley TV station owner saw record levels of political advertising, a rebound in auto advertising sales and rapid growth through acquisitions. Net income rose to $59 million, or 73 cents per share, from $22.7 million, or 28 cents per share, in the fourth quarter that ended Dec. 31, the company reported Wednesday. Earnings beat analysts' expectations of 59 cents per share.

Super Bowl commercials are nearly as anticipated as the game, and local companies grabbing some of that attention Sunday included Royal Farms and Union Memorial Hospital. Advertisers know the Super Bowl is one of the best-watched programs of the year — and they're willing to pay for the opportunity, as much as $4 million this year for a 30-second spot. For area advertisers, it's arguably an even better opportunity when the local team is playing. "It's a chance to reach well over a million of their clients or customers," says Jay Newman, president of WJZ. "There's no event that will air on television that will come close to the numbers the Super Bowl will reach.