Consumer Affairs & Relations

NEWARK, Del. — The Produce Marketing Association has appointed Cathy Green Burns as the association’s president, effective December 1, as part of its continued restructuring of the senior leadership team. 

In her new role, Green Burns will focus initially on leading board and staff team development as well as lending her insight to business development activities. She will report to PMA CEO Bryan Silbermann, who previously held both president and CEO positions.

New York -- Guitar Center has named Christopher Ian Bennett as the company's first-ever VP communications and corporate affairs.

In his previous role, Bennett led Best Buy Canada's corporate communications department under Mike Pratt, who is Guitar Center's new CEO.

In his new role, Bennett will be responsible for the overall internal and external communications strategy of Guitar Center and affiliated brands, and will be charged with driving a clear and singular message.

Woonsocket, RI – CVS Caremark Corporation has reached an agreement in principle to pay a fine of USD $20 million to resolve an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into certain public disclosures, securities transactions and aspects of the purchase accounting adjustment related to the October 2008 Longs Drug Stores acquisition the company made during the third and fourth quarters of 2009.

New York – The long-running legal dispute over whether J.C. Penney has the right to sell Martha Stewart Living products appears to be nearing a conclusion. The Wall Street Journal reports that lawyers for Macy’s, which is suing Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia alleging a breach of contract giving Macy’s exclusive rights to sell Martha Stewart Living, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and Penney, which may face fines and/or a ban on selling Martha Stewart Living products, all gave closing arguments in New York State Supreme Court yesterday.

Walmart pulled a dietary supplement from its Web site this week following a report by USA Today that called into question the product’s safety and the track record of the supplier.
 
The product in question was a pre-workout supplement called Craze from supplier Matt Cahill who USA Today said has a history of putting risky supplements on the market. Walmart spokeswoman Dianna Gee said the product was pulled to, “allow us time to look further into not only the safety of the product, but also the integrity of the supplier.”

“Retail sales” ranked fourth on this year’s list of the top consumer complaints compiled by the Consumer Federation of America. That’s good news for Walmart.
 

Left-leaning individuals in large urban areas find lots of reasons to dislike Walmart, so it is noteworthy when someone in a liberal stronghold forcefully sides with Walmart and personal freedom.
 
That was the case in Boston this week when the Boston Globe ran an article by Shirley Leung with the headline, “It’s time to say yes to Walmart.”

She acknowledged the familiar narrative put forth by those who seek to block Walmart’s expansion.

Surging home prices and 401K balances have millions of Americans feeling better about their personal balance sheets and the state of the economy, but Walmart’s core shoppers remain under duress and that could spell trouble for second quarter sales.
 

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Guitar Center is trying out a new communications strategy and media policy and has appointed Christopher Ian Bennett as the company's first-ever VP of communications and corporate affairs.

In his previous role, Bennett led Best Buy Canada's corporate communications department under Mike Pratt, who is Guitar Center's new CEO.

New York -- J.C. Penney on Thursday said that reports claiming CIT Group Inc., the largest lender in the apparel industry, had stopped funding some shipments to Penney were untrue. The retailer said it has plenty of cash on hand and all major suppliers were still shipping.

“J.C. Penney continues to have the support of all of its key vendors, who have maintained their shipments to the company," the company said in a statement on Thursday.