Could Hyundai Avoid Epic Suicide Ad PR Crisis - Business Insider

Hyundai / YouTube

A shot from the commercial.

After releasing an ad that tries to find comedy in a man's failed suicide attempt ? the "joke" being that the new car's exhaust emissions are made of water rather than carbon monoxide and, thus, aren't toxic ? Hyundai has unsurprisingly found itself in the midst of a PR crisis.

After freelance copywriter Holly Brockwell's heartfelt blog about her father, who successfully killed himself by inhaling his car's exhaust fumes, went viral Thursday, both Hyundai Motor America and the company as a whole, released apologies for the European-made ads.

Hyundai is in trouble with the public, but could the company have done anything to prevent it?

The most obvious answer, of course, is that the ad should never have been made and certainly never approved. Barring public service announcements, suicide has no place in advertising ? especially as a joke.

(Pepsi got in trouble for ads that came out in Dusseldorf in 2008?which a personified calorie committed suicide in various graphic ways.)

But even after the green light, Hyundai dropped the ball in a way that contributed to its current PR crisis.

On April 19, a full six days before Brockwell wrote her condemning blog post, Adweek published an article criticizing the "suicide" commercial.

While the story didn't immediately appear on other major media sites or incite mass outrage, it laid out the problems and noted, "Neither Hyundai nor ad agency Innocean responded to queries."

And there's the problem.?

Reporter David Gianatasio directly reached out for comment. And it looks like he was ignored. Perhaps the company thought the issue would go away on its own, but they were mistaken ??and it resurfaced in a major way, six days later.

Of course there's a risk involved in drawing attention to an issue that might magically disappear before the mass public has become aware of the misstep. Maybe Brockwell would still have seen the video and written her passionate piece, even if the company had apologized in Adweek.

But failing to acknowledge the mistake can be worse, and make the company look more callous.?

Assuming that a problem will go away and people will stop watching the ad on their own is a fundamental misstep. Companies can't assume that the internet will just forget.

The ad was bound to gain attention, and an earlier apology might have lessened the blow.

You can watch the ad below:

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/could-hyundai-avoid-epic-suicide-ad-pr-crisis-2013-4

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Obama: Chemical weapons use in Syria would be "game changer"

By Jeff Mason and Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama warned President Bashar al-Assad on Friday that any use of chemical weapons in Syria's civil war would be a "game changer" but cautioned that intelligence assessments that such weapons had been deployed were still preliminary.

Speaking a day after the White House said for the first time that Assad's government had likely used chemical weapons on a small scale, Obama talked tough while appealing for patience as he sought to fend off pressure at home and abroad for a swift U.S. response.

Saying that confirmation was still needed to provide conclusive proof, Obama stopped short of declaring that Assad had crossed a "red line" he had warned earlier would unleash unspecified consequences, widely interpreted to include possible U.S. military intervention.

"Horrific as it is when mortars are being fired on civilians and people are being indiscriminately killed, to use potential weapons of mass destruction on civilian populations crosses another line with respect to international norms and international law," Obama told reporters at the White House as he met with Jordan's King Abdullah.

"That is going to be a game changer. We have to act prudently," he said. "We have to make these assessments deliberately. But I think all of us ... recognize how we cannot stand by and permit the systematic use of weapons like chemical weapons on civilian populations."

Obama said the chemical weapons threat had added "increased urgency" in the Syrian crisis but cautioned that it would time to sort things out.

In a shift from a White House assessment just days earlier, U.S. officials said on Thursday the intelligence community believed with "varying degrees of confidence" that the chemical nerve agent sarin was used by Assad's forces against rebel fighters.

The administration insisted, however, that Obama needed definitive proof before he would take action, making clear it he was mindful of the lessons of the start of the Iraq war more than a decade ago.

Then, the George W. Bush administration used inaccurate intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq in pursuit of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons that turned out not to exist.

While some more hawkish U.S. lawmakers have called for a U.S. military response, several leading congressional voices called for a calmer approach on Friday after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry briefed them.

"This is not Libya," said Nancy Pelosi, the senior Democrat in the House of Representatives. "The Syrians have anti-aircraft capability that make going in there much more challenging."

White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Friday the United States was continuing to study evidence and would not set a deadline for corroborating reports.

"We are continuing to work to build on the assessments made by the intelligence community, that the degrees of confidence here are varying, that this is not an airtight case," he said.

In response to a question, Carney said Obama would consider a range of options including - but not exclusive to - military force, should it be determined that Syria has used chemical weapons.

"He retains all options to respond to that, all options," Carney said. "Often the discussion, when people mention all options are on the table, everyone just talks about military force. It's important to remember that there are options available to a commander in chief in a situation like this that include but are not exclusive to that option."

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-chemical-weapons-syria-game-changer-193841854.html

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U.S. suspects Syria used chemical weapons, wants proof

By Phil Stewart and David Alexander

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Thursday that the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad has probably used chemical weapons on a small scale in the country's civil war, but insisted that President Barack Obama needed definitive proof before he would take action.

The disclosure created a quandary for Obama, who has set the use of chemical weapons as a "red line" that Assad must not cross, and triggered calls from some hawkish Washington lawmakers for a U.S. military response, which the president has resisted.

In a shift from a White House assessment just days earlier, U.S. officials said the intelligence community believed with "varying degrees of confidence" that the chemical nerve agent sarin was used by Assad's forces against rebel fighters. However, it noted that "the chain of custody is not clear."

While Obama has declared that the deployment of chemical weapons would be a game-changer and has threatened unspecified consequences if it happened, his administration will move carefully - mindful of the lessons of the start of the Iraq war more than a decade ago.

Then, President George W. Bush's administration used inaccurate U.S. intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq in pursuit of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons that turned out not to exist.

On top of that, polls show most Americans, weary and disillusioned by the wars just ended in Iraq and now winding down in Afghanistan, have little appetite for another U.S. military engagement in the Muslim world.

"Given the stakes involved and what we have learned from our own recent experiences, intelligence assessments alone are not sufficient - only credible and corroborated facts that provide us with some degree of certainty will guide our decision-making," Miguel Rodriguez, White House director of the office of legislative affairs, said in a letter to lawmakers.

One senior U.S. defense official told reporters: "We have seen very bad movies before," where intelligence was perceived to have driven policy decisions that later, in the cold light of day, were proven wrong.

The term "varying degrees of confidence" used to describe the assessment of possible chemical weapons use in Syria usually suggests debate within the U.S. intelligence community about the conclusion, the defense official noted.

The White House said the evaluation that Syria probably used chemical weapons was based in part on physiological samples, but a U.S. official declined to say what kind of evidence it had, like soil samples or blood or hair from victims.

The scale of the use of sarin appeared limited, with one U.S. intelligence official noting that nobody was "seeing any mass casualties" from the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria.

The United States has resisted being dragged militarily into Syria's conflict and is providing only non-lethal aid to rebels trying to overthrow Assad. Washington is worried that weapons supplied to the rebels could end up the hands of al Qaeda-linked fighters.

However, acknowledgement of the U.S. intelligence assessment appeared to move the United States closer to some sort of action in Syria, military or otherwise.

A White House official told reporters "all options are on the table in terms of our response" and said the United States, which has been criticized for not doing enough to halt the bloodshed, would consult with its allies.

The official said the U.S. military was preparing for a range of "different contingencies" but declined to give specifics. Options available to Obama could include everything from air strikes to commando raids to setting up a Libya-style "no-fly" zone, either unilaterally or in cooperation with allies.

SURPRISE ANNOUNCEMENT

Still, Washington appeared intent on deflecting pressure for swift action by stressing the need for a comprehensive United Nations investigation on the ground in Syria - something Assad has blocked from going forward.

Syria's deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, in an interview with Reuters, dismissed Western and Israeli claims that government forces had used chemical weapons and said it was a "big lie" that Syria was preventing the U.N. probe.

Assad has clung to power despite repeated U.S. calls for him to step down. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the revolt against his family's decades-long autocratic rule. A military stalemate has set in but Assad has still been able to rely on support from Russia and Iran.

"The reality is that as a country we can't declare red lines and then do nothing when they are crossed. Eventually we have to do something," said Ariel Ratner, a former Middle East adviser in the State Department and now a fellow at the Truman National Security Project.

The Obama administration's sudden disclosure caught many off guard. It came just two days after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and other U.S. officials appeared to play down an Israeli assessment that there had been repeated use of chemical weapons in Syria.

France and Britain have also concluded that evidence suggests chemical arms have been used in Syria's conflict.

"The intelligence community has been assessing information for some time on this issue and the decision to reach this conclusion was made within the past 24 hours," Hagel said.

The White House said it wanted to provide a "prompt response" to an April 24 query from lawmakers about whether Syria had used chemical weapons. The legislators' letter to Obama cited the assessments by Israel, France and Britain.

Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, one of the leading advocates of deeper U.S. involvement in the Syrian conflict, said the intelligence assessment demanded a response.

"The president of the United States said that if Bashar Assad used chemical weapons, it would be a game changer, that it would cross a red line," he said. "I think it's pretty obvious that red line has been crossed."

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, voiced concern that the public acknowledgement of the U.S. intelligence assessment could embolden Assad and may prompt him to calculate "he has nothing more to lose."

"Syria has the ability to kill tens of thousands with its chemical weapons. The world must come together to prevent this by unified action," she said.

In Brussels, the NATO alliance was "concerned by reports of the possible use of chemical weapons," an official said.

"As NATO has said in the past, any use of these weapons would be completely unacceptable and a clear breach of international law, and if any side uses these weapons we would expect a reaction from the international community," the official said.

Patriot missile interceptors that NATO has sent to Turkey, a member of the alliance which borders Syria, would "help ensure the protection of Turkey against any missile attack, whether the missiles carry chemical weapons or not," the official added.

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Roberta Rampton, Patricia Zengerle and Tabassum Zakaria. Writing by Phil Stewart and Matt Spetalnick. Editing by Alistair Bell and Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-believes-syria-used-chemical-weapons-says-facts-180547990.html

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Newfound hormone holds hope for diabetes treatment

NEW YORK (AP) ? Scientists have identified a hormone that can sharply boost the number of cells that make insulin in mice, a discovery that may someday lead to a treatment for the most common type of diabetes.

People have their own version of this hormone, and the new work suggests that giving diabetics more might one day help them avoid insulin shots.

That would give them better control of their blood sugar levels, said Harvard University researcher Douglas Melton, senior author of a report published Thursday by the journal Cell.

Experts unconnected with the work cautioned that other substances have shown similar effects on mouse cells but failed to work on human ones. Melton said this hormone stands out because its effect is unusually potent and confined to just the cells that make insulin.

An estimated 371 million people worldwide have diabetes, in which insulin fails to control blood sugar levels. High blood sugar can lead to heart disease, stroke and damage to kidneys, eyes and the nervous system. At least 90 percent of diabetes is "Type 2," and some of those patients have to inject insulin. Melton said the newly identified hormone might someday enable them to stop insulin injections and help other diabetic patients avoid them.

As for its possible use to treat Type 1 diabetes, Melton called that a "long shot" because of differences in the biology of that disease.

Insulin is produced by beta cells in the pancreas.

Melton and co-authors identified a hormone they dubbed betatrophin (BAY-tuh-TROH-fin) in mice. When they made the liver in mice secrete more of it by inserting extra copies of the gene, the size of the beta cell population tripled in comparison to untreated mice. Tests indicated the new cells worked normally.

Melton said it's not known how the hormone works. Now the researchers want to create an injectable form that they can test on diabetic mice, he said. If all goes well, tests in people could follow fairly quickly.

Dr. Peter Butler, a diabetes researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, who had no role in the new work, cautioned in an email that no evidence has been presented yet to show that the hormone will make human beta cells proliferate.

But Philip diIorio, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, said he found the work to be "quite promising" because it offers new leads for research, and that it might someday help in building supplies of human beta cells in a lab for transplant into patients.

___

Online:

Cell: http://www.cell.com/

International Diabetes Federation: http://www.idf.org

___

Malcolm Ritter can be followed at http://www.twitter.com/malcolmritter

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/newfound-hormone-holds-hope-diabetes-treatment-161620482.html

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Geoscientists predict new compounds could change our view of what planets are made of

Apr. 24, 2013 ? A team of researchers led by Artem R. Oganov, a professor of theoretical crystallography in the Department of Geosciences, has made a startling prediction that challenges existing chemical models and current understanding of planetary interiors -- magnesium oxide, a major material in the formation of planets, can exist in several different compositions. The team's findings, "Novel stable compounds in the Mg-O system under high pressure," are published in the online edition of Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. The existence of these compounds -- which are radically different from traditionally known or expected materials -- could have important implications.

"For decades it was believed that MgO is the only thermodynamically stable magnesium oxide, and it was widely believed to be one of the main materials of the interiors of the Earth and other planets," said Qiang Zhu, the lead author of this paper and a postdoctoral student in the Oganov laboratory.

"We have predicted that two new compounds, MgO₂ and Mg₃O₂, become stable at pressures above one and five million atmospheres, respectively. This not only overturns standard chemical intuition but also implies that planets may be made of totally unexpected materials. We have predicted conditions (pressure, temperature, oxygen fugacity) necessary for stability of these new materials, and some planets, though probably not the Earth, may offer such conditions," added Oganov.

In addition to their general chemical interest, MgO₂ and Mg₃O₂ might be important planet-forming minerals in deep interiors of some planets. Planets with these compounds would most likely be the size of Earth or larger.

The team explained how its paper predicted the structures in detail by analyzing the electronic structure and chemical bonding for these compounds. For example, Mg₃O₂ is forbidden within "textbook chemistry," where the Mg ions can only have charges "+2," O ions are "-2, and the only allowed compound is MgO. In the "oxygen-deficient" semiconductor Mg₃O₂, there are strong electronic concentrations in the "empty space" of the structure that play the role of negatively charged ions and stabilize this material. Curiously, magnesium becomes a d-element (i.e. a transition metal) under pressure, and this almost alchemical transformation is responsible for the existence of the "forbidden" compound Mg₃O₂.

The findings were made using unique methods of structure prediction, developed in the Oganov laboratory. "These methods have led to the discovery of many new phenomena and are used by a number of companies for systematically discovering novel materials on the computer -- a much cheaper route, compared to traditional experimental methods," said Zhu.

"It is known that MgO makes up about 10 percent of the volume of our planet, and on other planets this fraction can be larger. The road is now open for a systematic discovery of new unexpected planet-forming materials," concluded Oganov.

This work is funded by the National Science Foundation and DARPA.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stony Brook University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Qiang Zhu, Artem R. Oganov, Andriy O. Lyakhov. Novel stable compounds in the Mg?O system under high pressure. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2013; DOI: 10.1039/C3CP50678A

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/biochemistry/~3/e0dYr5OduAk/130424125444.htm

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Stocks surge after fake tweet scare

Dow briefly plunges 143 points after fake AP tweet about explosions at the White House. But the market recovers and the Dow closes 152 points higher. Strong quarterly earnings boost stocks.

By Steve Rothwell,?AP Markets Writer / April 23, 2013

Glenn Kessler, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange last week. Stocks, which plunged briefly on a fake AP tweet, quickly recovered and then surged.

Richard Drew/AP/File

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Companies that do the best when the economy is improving led the market higher Tuesday after several of them reported strong quarterly earnings.

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Coach, a maker of luxury handbags, and Netflix, which streams TV shows and movies over the Internet, were winners after announcing profits that impressed investors. Financial?stocks?rose after Travelers' earnings beat the expectations of financial analysts who follow the company.

That's a change from earlier this year. The?stock?market's surge in 2013 has been led by so-called defensive industries such as health care, consumer staples and utilities. Investors buy those?stocks?when they're unsure about the direction of the economy and want to own companies that make products people buy in bad times as well as good. Until now, they've been less enthusiastic about?stocks?of companies that provide discretionary goods and services and do best in good times.

"For a change we are actually seeing more cyclical parts of the economy lead the market," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial Group.

How To Grow Your Business? Fast! - E-junkie.info

It doesn't seem two minutes since we were bringing in the start of 2013 with balloons and buzz, and yet I'm still going to ask you an interesting question. Have you thought where you may be in 2014? If I mention the date to you, do you stop and frown, wondering why I'm asking you to consider your whereabouts at a time when you've only just found your feet in the current year?

2014. It feels like forever away. And yet, in business, it's the next logical step to consider. It's just around the corner when we think about our strategic approach, direction, and the future success of our online venture.

The importance of future planning for blogging and business

More than in any other industry, looking ahead for online entrepreneurs is critical to shaping the success of what we do. We need to position ourselves well amid all of the new technologies, social networks, strategic approaches of our competitors and online developments to make sure we stay current, relevant and useful to our customers.

There's a really powerful tool used by psychologists with their patients, where they get them to close their eyes and imagine what and who they will be in the future. This includes asking questions such as 'what is your hairstyle like'? 'what are you wearing?' 'where are you sitting, and what is your job?'. These questions serve to cement goals in the mind of the person being questioned. So, for example, someone suffering with depression can think ahead and imagine a time when they will be laughing, free of the illness.

Using the power of projected thinking to cement your goals

Life coaches do the same thing to get people to picture themselves in the future, even down to the colour of their clothing, so that the client can start to place themselves, in their minds, at a positive position in the future. This imagining really helps to focus the mind, accept that things will be different and better at some point at a later stage, and serves to cement a positive, enduring image which helps goals to be realised more quickly, as the alternative future looks possible and achievable.

So what would happen if I asked you to do the same for your business? It's important to be able to close your eyes and see exactly what your position in 2014 will be. How many customers do you have? What products are you?focusing?on? What are your primary tools for marketing? Which aspects of your business do you outsource? What does your site look like, what new developments have you made?

How visualising the future of your business will make your goals?materialize

This exercise may seem a bit pre-emptive, but without having a firm idea of where your business is headed, you'll find yourself in the thick of 2014 having made no new strides forward to achieve your goals. By positioning your business where it will ideally be next year, you're automatically kicking off a thought process which then works back to the present day and forges activities and plans for achieving those strategic aims.

You'll suddenly find yourself broadening your outlook to bring in new developments. You'll question some current activities to see if they are really contributing to your vision of 2014. Best of all, by the time 2014 actually rolls around, you'll be so well established on your path to success that you can spend time planning a party, taking a few days out and seeing in the New Year safe in the knowledge that your online venture has evolved and there is no last-minute planning to do!

Author Bio
Andrew is a full-time Internet Marketing Specialist and blogger from the UK. At his blog he shares all his knowledge and experience on how to make a blog.

Source: http://www.e-junkie.info/2013/04/how-to-grow-your-business-fast.html

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