Monday, April 21, 2008

MORE EVIDENCE OF RUPERT MURDOCH'S IMPECCABLY HIGH JOURNALISTIC STANDARDS

Yes, thank you, Rupert Murdoch, for realizing what cable business news needed more of -- ex-pro wrestler business analysts who now moonlight as snake-oil salesmen:

By day, John C. Layfield is an investment banker and professional pontificator for Fox Business Network. By night, he peddles a love potion.

Mamajuana Energy, a berry-flavored liquid that Mr. Layfield developed, sells for $4.99 or less. He bills the two-ounce shots as an all-natural "sexual endurance drink" for men. A minister's son, Mr. Layfield says he first sampled the concoction in a dive bar in the Dominican Republic while on vacation and was hooked.

"It's more of a sex potion," said Mr. Layfield, who enjoyed a successful run as a professional wrestler before reinventing himself as a financial whiz and beverage impresario. "Think of it as liquid Viagra." ...

"Marketing hocus pocus" is how Dr. Andrew McCullough, director of sexual health and male infertility at New York University, describes the product. Dr. McCullough, who also served as a clinical investigator for Viagra, said herbal remedies were unlikely to have a significant impact on the libido and they certainly would have no impact on erectile dysfunction. "It's a bogus promise," he said....


But maybe the guy really does belong on the air -- after all, he knows enough about marketing to get his potion into the Vitamin Shoppe chain:

..."A lot of products come across my desk, but I saw a huge opportunity here," said Michael Carrubba, the category manager of Vitamin Shoppe....

Mr. Carrubba ... described Mamajuana Energy as "a great grab-and-go item." ...


I'm not going to touch that line with a ten-foot ... oh, never mind.

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