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“You Kin’ Do It” the new Dunkin’ Donuts integrated advertising campaign is being promoted via the Dunkin’ Donuts’ Twitter Page. The message of the campaign is that consumers can accomplish everyday tasks even in tough times—ostensibly while drinking Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and is a take off on the current “America runs on Dunkin’” campaign.
“Prevailing over life’s daily challenges deserves acknowledge and appreciation, especially in difficult time“, Frances Allen, brand marketing officer at Dunkin’ Donuts said in a recent statement. “’You Kin’ Do It’ shines the spotlight on the accomplishments of hardworking Americans, while reinforcing that Dunkin’ Donuts will continue to fuel their busy day and provide a bit of happiness without blowing the lid off their budget.”
The campaign features videos that have been posted on YouTube, including a snowed in man digging his way out of his driveway, and an office worker with a mountain of paperwork to accomplish.

In what one industry trade group is calling a
“stupid” idea, New York Gov. David Patterson
recently announced this tax, dubbed “the iPod tax”
or iTax” by the media, as one of 137 proposed tax
increases in an attempt to allow the state to recover from a
$15.4 billion short fall.
According to the state budget website, “with the passage
of this bill, a book, song, album, or movie would be subject to
sales tax no matter if it was bought at a brick and mortar store
or downloaded online.” This also includes downloaded
photos, games, software, and movies.
Several consumer advocacy groups have spoken out against this
proposed tax, citing, among other complaints, the fact that
consumers who download media rather than purchase it are
reducing the overall carbon footprint and should not be
penalized for doing so.
If this tax is passed, New York will join several other states,
including Louisiana, New Jersey, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas,
Washington, and Hawaii, where similar taxes are imposed on
electronic downloads.

Diamond mega-conglomerate, South Africa-based De Beers, is doing its best to shut down the domain Joker.com, a spoof website, which recently published a fake De Beers ad. Joker.com is similar to The Onion in that is a parody news and pop culture website, and also publishes free newspaper-style inserts.
One such insert, a 14-page insert that featured such made up stories as the end of the Iraq war, the passing of a maximum wage law by Congress, and similar, also included other parody ads in addition to the one for De Beers, but so far, the diamond giant is the only one complaining.
Not that libel is not a serious thing, but the question of whether or not parodies constitute libel is one of those issues that has existed for a long time, and has always been decided on a case by case basis. When it comes to legalities, there is a provision in the federal Communications Act that protects domain name registrars and Web hosting providers from being held legally liable in most cases, but De Beers is not the only company that has tried to have a website shut down, it is just one of the most recent.
As the Internet rapidly eclipses traditional media outlets as the main source of information for many users, the question for corporations and website owners ultimately becomes: when it comes to a joke, how far is to far?