Is it over yet? The whole Ed Hardy clothing trend, with its aping of traditional, Sailor Jerry tattoo designs, and status as the mandatory uniform for young adult partiers a la Jersey Shore? Gone? Well, not quite. Though people may be seeing less Ed Hardy clothing at bars and parties, the brand is making sure that it stays around, perhaps even becomes an addiction, as seen in its niche line of tobacco products and hookah pipes, Ed Hardy Hookah.

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For years researchers have confirmed that minority teens have consistently higher rates of tobacco usage than non-minority teens. On the whole, the imbalance between teens of different ethnicities as it relates to smoking has been attributed to socioeconomic factors. That being the case, the majority of supplemental research has focused on economic inhibitors and regional limitations to attempt to pinpoint the specific causes that increase a minority teens’ risk for falling into the tobacco trap.

While the rest of the research world continued mapping the highest risk areas for minority teen smoking rates, a few clever researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine decided to slow things down a bit and try to understand the problem on a simpler level. For the first time, they took a look at smoking rates in minority teens by gender. The results were surprising.

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A new study from researchers at Michigan University has shown that obesity causes later onset puberty in boys. While the opposite is true for heavier girls, who tend to develop earlier rather than later, this study suggests that increased levels of body fat in boys is associated with a later onset of puberty. 

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 In 2007, we blogged about how Rolling Stone published a comic spread dropping indie rock band names explicitly and implicitly via cartoons. Coincidentally or not, Camel ads were placed throughout this "Indie Rock Universe" spread, suggesting Camel's support of indie music, leading some of the bands to file suit against parent companies of Rolling Stone and Camel. Claiming "unauthorized use of artists' names, unauthorized use of artist names for commerical advantage, and unfair business practices," bands like Xiu Xiu and Fxcked Up shouldered the suit for 186 other indie groups, all understandably irked that Rolling Stone and Camel would commisserate to sell indie music followers cigarettes under the endorsement of the bands. Well, last week the final gavel was dropped, and sadly, indie rock took an "L" and Rolling Stone came out as the victor.

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True Story: When I was 15, my little sister (who was in middle school at the time) was just beginning her complicated, confusing and utterly aggravating journey from childhood to the pre-teen, media infused sex symbol that she, and every girl, is pressured to become by the time they hit high school. Although she was already thin, she became obsessed with losing weight and was willing to try any hair-brained, miracle diet that she came across. She eventually landed on the all ice cream diet. Seriously. She ate nothing but ice cream for every meal for weeks. To this day, I have no idea where she heard about this diet but needless to say, it didn’t work.

In a time when this country is measurably at its fattest, don’t think for one second that savvy marketing agencies working on behalf of fast food companies aren’t seeing the opportunity to combine people’s fears with people’s addictions.

Take for example, Taco Bell’s new Drive-Thru Diet. This is essentially Taco Bell’s rip off version of the Subway “Jared” campaign. The “Jared” for Taco Bell is Christine, the one person in history who actually lost weight from eating Taco Bell. Her results are completely atypical, which is acknowledged (in fine print) by Taco Bell, but that hasn’t stopped them from embracing her story and implementing their Drive-Thru Diet menu.

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It's just as easy to be numb to the barage of media messages we are hit with on the daily as it is to be critical and hyper-aware. Virtually every major motion picture is partially funded by corporations who insert their products onto the big screen for some not-so-subtle advertising via product placement, and magazines are stuffed with seemingly more full page ads than quality content. But there are limits, supposedly, to where certain companies, like those selling alcohol or tobacco, can place their copy. But um, well, not really. Recently, researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health, John Hopkins School of Public Health, and Virtual Media Resources published an article in the Journal of Adolescent Health that presents strong evidence that alcohol companies are purposely targeting youth through magazine advertising. 

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Ladies and Gentlemen, the electoronic cigar!

I suppose it was only a matter of time. Sly marketing has been the surprisingly spry crutch of the tobacco industry for decades despite a general knowing better. People get smarter - nay, more EDUCATED - but big tobacco also wises up as the sand trickles down the glass and they learn to combat new evidence with new marketing. But in recent years, compounding legislative blows have been landed on a bloody and battered industry, and although on the ropes, big tobacco just won't throw that towel. Nearly every city, state, ordinance, township, county, peninsula, and treehouse have restrictions on where and when you can smoke and big tobacco has suffered tremendously. By taking the convenience out of the act, more people decided against taking it up. That is, until the E-cig came along.

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I can’t handle coffee, and can barely stop my hands from shaking after a Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi. I am the lone iceberg drifting out to sea, while the off-brown colors of Starbucks and high-pitched neons of energy drinks surge through corporate America, high school locker rooms, and bohemian agoras. While caffeine through coffee is regulated by the FDA, caffeinated alcoholic beverages are not. And that type of caffeine is now under serious scrutiny for its marriage to alcoholic drinks, like the omnipotent vodka/Red Bull, the Flinstone-vitamin taste of Sparks, and the ultra-disgusting, (I know this because I had to try it) premixed Jim Beam Cola. The FDA is asking nearly 30 manufacturers of caffeinated alcoholic beverages to provide scientific evidence that their products are safe within 30 days. The ramifications of this could effect binge drinking, especially at the collegiate level, where such drinks are used to stay up later, thus consuming more alcohol.

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