Who knew the coffee business could be so controversial? Rachael Ray, the average person's Martha Stewart and Dunkin' Donuts spokes-eater, recently appeared in an iced coffee ad for the company sporting what she and her stylist thought was a fine looking scarf.

In a culture lacking taboos, one that persists is "the N-word." Hip-hop star Nas promised to stir that pot when, back in the fall, he proclaimed that his upcoming album would be titled "N*****."

At a time when gas hovers at an astronomical $4 per gallon, $2.99 would seem like a gift. Chrysler wants to give this present to its customers - for three whole years - through its Let's Refuel America campaign.

The land of Disney is not the happiest place on Earth these days. A photo of its teen princess Miley Cyrus (a.k.a. Hannah Montana), shot for the May issue of Vanity Fair, has been making the rounds on the Interwebs and causing an uproar with parents, some who threatened to build Hannah-Montana-paraphernalia bonfires.

Caramba! A RARE advertising blunder by Absolut, which perhaps has garnered more praise for its iconic marketing than its vodka, has opened the door for a cheeky Skyy campaign.

Spring-training games don't mean much, many opine, unless something occurs that has an impact on the regular season. Last Tuesday in Blacksburg, VA, baseball's most storied team shattered that theory.

Making popular video games is something Valve, a 12-year-old Bellevue, WA-based software and tech company, has down cold.

Last week, the Jay-Z-co-founded clothing line, Rocawear, unveiled a new ad campaign featuring Nicole Paultre-Bell, the former fiance of Sean Bell, who was gunned down in a hail of police bullets outside of a nightclub in Queens, NY.

It used to be selling cars involved nothing more than selling cars. You talk up the engine, the paint job, and the tires. You toss in some chrome tailfins and fuzzy dice, and you have a deal.

Who says the media and PR are so different? If you consider "pundits" to be part of the media - and they damn sure consider themselves as such -then both sides are full of self promotion, factual manipulation, and an eager willingness to say any old crazy thing in order to get on television.