Should the NCAA pay student athletes if their images are used commercially? Then, we discuss the best ways to go about a mid-career reinvention. Later, we look into how scents affect your retail shopping habits.
NCAA antitrust lawsuit to have huge implications for college athletes’ compensation
Should college athletes be paid if their image is used for profit? That’s the question former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon and 20 former college athletes are raising in an Oakland courtroom today.
The plaintiffs argue that upon graduation, a former student athlete should become entitled to financial compensation for NCAA's commercial uses of his or her image. But the NCAA counters that these are amateur players and that any compensation elevates them.
Both sides agree that the outcome could have major ramification for the future of college sports.
Guests:
Michael A. Carrier, professor of law at Rutgers School of Law, expert in antitrust, copyright, patent, and innovation law
Anthony Sabino, professor of law at St. John’s University in New York, expert in antitrust law
Does the LeBron / Gatorade beef prove that real time marketing isn’t worth all the headaches?
The Spurs dispensed with The Heat handily in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. But that was merely a sidebar to the heat, aka the malfunctioned central air conditioning system at the AT&T Center in San Antonio that caused LeBron James to cramp up. James felt so bad he asked to leave the game during the critical fourth quarter. Not everyone was sympathetic. Gatorade, which has no sponsorship ties to James, tweeted the following in response to a message: ''We were waiting on the sidelines, but he prefers to drink something else.''
Fans quickly slammed Gatorade for the inappropriate tweet, leading the sports drink brand to apologize on Friday.
Is real time marketing over social media worth it, especially with so many instances of faux pas, and then the inevitable retraction and apologies. Is the instantaneity afforded by social media engagement and marketing worth the damage control?
Guests:
Alex Kantrowitz, staff writer at AdAge covering marketing and advertising technology
Sasha Strauss, founder and managing director of Innovation Protocol, a marketing and branding firm in Los Angeles
Prospects for job mobility, advice for your mid-career reinvention (poll)
The current steady job growth - albeit with caveats - and stability of the unemployment rate should spark labor mobility for American workers.
On Friday, AirTalk looked at how specific industries are faring since the Great Recession. Numbers from the Labor Department (jazzed up by The New York Times) break down which sectors workers would be wise to pursue, including wage expectations.
In light of the continuing economic recovery, are you considering changing careers or getting back into the workforce? Do you follow your heart or look at hard numbers? What is the best strategy to employ? Is education and training the only way to rework your career?
KPCC's online polls are not scientific surveys of local or national opinion. Rather, they are designed as a way for our audience members to engage with each other and share their views. Let us know what you think on our Facebook page, facebook.com/kpcc, or in the comments below.
Guest:
Nance Rosen, Faculty, UCLA Business and Management Continuing Executive Education; NanceSpeaks.com
Las Vegas violence: Police officers and bystander killed in ambush
Police have identified the shooters in a Las Vegas attack that left two officers and a bystander dead. Las Vegas police say Jerad Miller, 31, and wife Amanda Miller, 22, walked into a Vegas pizzeria yesterday gunning down two cops, then walked to a neighboring Walmart where they killed a man, then carried out an apparent suicide pact, with Amanda Miller shooting her husband then herself.
After the Millers killed the officers, they draped a “Don’t tread on me” flag on the officers and a swastika. Today, Las Vegas Assistant Sheriff Kevin McMahill downplayed media speculation linking these suspects to white power movements.
McMahill said, “We believe at this point with the swastika, we don't necessarily believe that they are white supremacists or associated with the Nazi movement. We believe they equate government and law-enforcement fascism [sic] and those who support it with Nazis. In other words, they believe that law enforcement is the oppressors and they’re associated with the Nazi movement.”
Neighbors said the Millers were known to be anti-government and bragged about a gun collection and spending time at cattle rancher Cliven Bundy’s ranch during a recent standoff there between armed militia members and federal government agents.
Guest:
Brian Nordli, Breaking News Reporter, Las Vegas Sun
Brian Levin, Director, Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino
New documentary explores the life and legacy of Gore Vidal
No twentieth-century figure has had a more profound effect on the worlds of literature, film, politics, historical debate, and the culture wars than Gore Vidal.
Vidal's professional life spans more than 50 years of American politics and letters. Featuring candid vérité footage of Vidal in his final years, "The United States of Amnesia" explores his enduring global impact on art, politics, and everything in between.
Guest:
Nicholas Wrathall, director, “Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia.” The documentary is screening this week at the Nuart Theatre
Marketing so good you can smell it
Abercrombie & Fitch, notorious to mall shoppers everywhere for its musky “signature scent,” is reigning in its odor. According to new research from Concordia University, that may be a good thing: researchers there determined that scent can heavily factor into successful marketing.
Customers who feel anxious in Abercrombie’s loud, dimly lit, heavily perfumed stores may be picking up on a claustrophobic vibe. Smaller stores benefit from “open space” smells that hint at the outdoors, while stores with lots of open space, like Apple, do better with “closed space” scents. Outside of retail, the food industry uses scent in marketing constantly and consciously.
At franchises like Panera or Cinnabon, where smell is a huge part of reeling people in, experts decide on bake times and oven locations to keep good smells wafting through the space.
Starbucks, famous for an in-store coffee bean odor, is careful about cooking temperatures for its food -- it doesn’t want to mix the smell of coffee with a breakfast sandwich. How are you impacted by scent marketing? Are there stores that make you feel anxious, or restaurants that reel you in with great smells?
KPCC's online polls are not scientific surveys of local or national opinion. Rather, they are designed as a way for our audience members to engage with each other and share their views. Let us know what you think on our Facebook page, facebook.com/kpcc, or in the comments below.
Guest:
Sarah Nassauer, reports on retail and consumer trends for the Wall Street Journal