Advertising

NEW YORK - New York City's diet of culture and entertainment is so rich that many residents are hard pressed to sample even a small part of the exhibitions, concerts, readings, walking tours and must-try restaurants that vie for attention. And now they have Philadelphia to consider.Philadelphia has begun a television advertising campaign in the New York market to woo people within driving distance to visit the city and its countryside. Each colorful spot features a different celebrity: the comedian Bill Cosby, the actor Kevin Bacon, the fashion designer Nicole Miller, the basketball player Julius Erving, and the filmmaker Ken Burns.

It shouldn't be long before commercials for gambling are a familiar part of the air time mix on local radio stations, now that the Maryland attorney general's office has said such advertising is not prohibited by state law. A local attorney had asked for the interpretation of state law on behalf of a broadcasters trade association, in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that said the federal government couldn't limit free speech about gambling. "It's a good piece of news," said James B. Astrachan, an attorney who represents the Maryland, D.C., Delaware Broadcasters Association.

WASHINGTON - Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drug maker, said yesterday that it will not advertise new prescription drugs for at least six months and will spend that time informing doctors about the products. The company said it also has retooled its print advertising for consumers to include information about alternative treatments to drugs and more detailed explanations of drug risks, and to promote products such as Viagra, its impotency drug, only on TV programs with predominantly adult, or "age-appropriate," audiences.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court probed deeply and skeptically yesterday into the power of states and cities to curb advertising as a way to help people avoid overindulging in liquor, tobacco and maybe even fatty foods.At a one-hour hearing, most of the justices took a lively interest in a liquor advertising case from Rhode Island that could have an impact in Baltimore. The outcome could affect the constitutionality of the city's 1994 ordinances that ban liquor and cigarette billboards in order to protect minors.

Hurt by fiercer competition for the advertising dollar, Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. has hired an investment banking firm to restructure its loans, the Cockeysville-based broadcaster disclosed yesterday. "We recognize that the national market for advertising has softened due to increased competition from other forms of media, such as cable and the Internet, as well as a general slowdown in the economy," Sinclair stated in its annual fiscal report filed yesterday with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

In one fashion ad, which appeared in Gentlemen's Quarterly, a lithe young model stands provocatively, his eyes closed, his arms raised so that his sweater rises just enough to show a hairy stomach; his jogging pants hang off his hips.If that sounds a bit racy, consider Tanline's thong bikini print ad, which ran in men's exercise magazines. The ad includes three men posed so that their muscles ripple; each wears a thong shown from a different, but equally sensual, angle.Or open the current issue of Details magazine and take a look at the pensive male model in the ad for the Cross Colours hip-hop collection.

Tribune Co., publisher of The Sun, posted a 57 percent jump in second-quarter earnings on lower costs and said third-quarter and 2002 profit will be at the high end of analysts' estimates. Net income rose to $114.2 million, or 33 cents a share, from $72.6 million, or 21 cents, a year earlier, the company said in a statement yesterday. Sales rose to $1.38 billion from $1.37 billion. Tribune said advertising declines have eased, with ad revenue showing a gain in the last month of the quarter.

Baltimore business consultant Joshua Reiter has always been an inventor. First it was his idea for peanut butter slices, similar to processed cheese in cellophane. Then he thought: Wouldn't it be a good idea for a business to put an ad on telephone lines so consumers could hear it every time they dialed a number, before the phone actually starts ringing? Neither idea panned out for Reiter, 38, who owns two consulting businesses. Reiter Consulting Group International offers business management consulting.

"Rodricks for Breakfast," Sun columnist Dan Rodricks' Sunday morning live talk/variety show on WMAR, Channel 2, will air its final program Sept. 5."I'm naturally disappointed but not surprised that Channel 2 has decided to drop `Rodricks for Breakfast,' " Rodricks said. "It's been a lot of hard work and a fun run."News that ABC affiliate WMAR is canceling the show, one of the few locally produced non-news shows on Baltimore television, comes within days of the announcement that the Scripps-Howard-owned station will be trimming its work force through a voluntary buyout package.

THEY WILL BE in the spotlight on Sunday, the culmination of strategies forged in war rooms last summer. Their performances will be judged harshly by armchair critics that evening and again by media pundits Monday morning. The Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots? Yes, but also the TV commercials.The de facto national holiday known as "Super Sunday" is the climax of the National Football League season, but it is also the biggest day in the realm of television advertising. "Show me the money," said Rupert Murdoch, whose Fox network is charging )