Yet Another Clueless National Media Company

NBC runs a news segment called "America's Correspondent," a grass roots news program.  Unfortunately, the graphic that they use in the segment is a map of the United States.  Well, not exactly a map of the United States.  It's a map of the 48 contiguous states.  There are two other states ... and they have been in the union since 1959.  The graphic includes the line "Your voice.  Your vote.  Your town."  I guess NBC doesn't realize that it is offensive to leave people out of this message. 

NBC's Graphic for America's Correspondent

How long does it take to figure this out?  You would think 50+ years would be enough.

Sometimes the excuse for using an incorrect graphic is that it's easier.  For a news organization, especially, that is a poor excuse.  Either use the correct version of the U.S. map or find a different graphic.  There's Lady Liberty's torch, one of the monuments in Washington, a Minuteman, Uncle Sam, etc. etc. 

How to confuse a customer ...

Taco Bell recently introduced breakfast as a new daypart for the chain.  Marketing breakfast is a tall order for Taco Bell since McDonald's spends a fortune in marketing that daypart and owns an established position as a fast food breakfast spot.  Taco Bell also has to convince customers that a Mexican concept is the right choice for breakfast.  So, Taco Bell needs a very strong and coordinated program to succeed with this new venture.

Unfortunately, it seems that their efforts are half-hearted.

One problem:  not every Taco Bell unit offers breakfast.  A recent ad for breakfast at Taco Bell included a list of restaurants that had the breakfast menu.  That means the customer has to remember who does and doesn't offer breakfast.  Not the case with McDonald's.

Just recently I came across a banner on a Taco Bell announcing that this location had breakfast.  Oddly, the banner read "Open for Breakfast 7 a.m. or earlier."  What does that mean?  If I go earlier, will I get breakfast or not.  Apparently, to save money, banners were created for all stores and hedged on the breakfast hours.

Will Taco Bell succeed in the breakfast category? Not unless they go all in.  As they say ... "go big or go home."