Response to Nick's post on Infomercials

'What is your take on infomercials? Are they a good marketing tactic for a company?'

I do not see infomercials being a very successful marketing tactic. I find them more annoying than useful. They all try to push across the same message, about how great their product is in the most obnoxious way possible. They can be very difficult to take seriously at times. I never end up paying any attention to them, because they can be so repetitive. The prices are always the same too. No matter what the product, it always seems cost $19.95; plus you get a second one free or some other related product free. I just don't understand how anyone can really fall for these ads.

Have you ever bought a product from an infomercial, or know anyone who has?

Adidas's Kevin Ware T-shirts

Adidas has stopped selling T-shirts featuring the jersey number of injured Louisville guard Kevin Ware, calling it a "logo issue." The shirts read "Rise to the Occasion" with Ware's number 5 substituted for the "s" in "Rise.

Louisville had stated that they waived the royalties for the shirt so it would not be profiting from Ware's injury. Adidas agreed to make donations to the schools scholarship fund. 

The bigger element of this story is that an on-going lawsuit against the NCAA and Electronic Arts over the rights to use player's images without compensation claims that Louisville should not be able to sell the shirt. The money from the T-shirt sales going to the scholarship fund does not change things. If they did not ask Kevin's permission, then they can not sell the shirt. If they did ask Kevin permission and he said yes, then Kevin would be ineligible. The whole thing seems a little bit out of hand and more complicated that it actually should be. Louisville should be able to sell the shirt with the profits going to charity or their scholarship fund in my opinion. However, with that lawsuit going on and the debate on whether college athletes deserve to be paid for their efforts, situations like this will remain complicated. 

Who do you think has more right to sell the Kevin Ware T-shirts, Adidas or Louisville?