"warner bros" news and stories

Decorative prints are not having a good week. Not to mention superheroes. After a scare involving reusable bags, the Associated Press, yesterday, reported that drinking glasses -- specifically, those displaying Superman and Wonder Woman, as well as the Tin Man from "The Wizard of Oz," and sold at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, CA -- "contained between 16 percent and 30.2 percent lead," while "the federal limit on children's products is 0.03 percent."

Worried that toxic metals could rub off their surfaces onto children's hands -- which, if then ingested, could "raise a 5- to 6-year-old's blood-lead level by 11 percent" -- the AP investigated other companies through the ToyTestingLab of Rhode Island. And, indeed, there's a trend.

Coca-Cola, Walt Disney, Burger King and McDonald's all went under testing after 12 million "Shrek" glasses were recalled by McDonald's this summer. Even more surprising were the high levels of cadmium, another known carcinogen, found on the glasses, though "there are no federal limits on that toxic metal in design surfaces," the AP reports.

Earlier this summer, Nicole posted about Disney's partnership with UK's Tesco supermarkets to sell their Disney-branded fruit.

Well, it's not just in the UK, and it's not just Disney, either. While Disney might be the biggest player in the fruit-branding game with a partnership with 15 large growers across the country via Indianapolis-based produce distributor Imagination Farms LLC, other cartoon characters are making their way into the garden. Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants will leave his pineapple under the sea and appear on spinach. Dora the Explorer will be hawking oranges. Warner Bros. has partnered with Ready Pac produce for Tweety Bird grapes and Tasmanian Devil apples.

At least the entertainment companies are being more responsible with their gross marketing by trying to sell fruits and vegetables to kids rather than French fries.