Red, White and Revenue

The last time America threw a birthday party this big, Gerald Ford was in the White House, Saturday Night Live had just premiered, and the hot food marketing play was a Bicentennial Minute on CBS. That was 1976. This time, the stakes — and the shelf space — are considerably higher.

Let's be direct: the American flag on your cereal box is a marketing strategy, not a civics lesson. Limited-edition releases serve multiple commercial purposes simultaneously, and the brands doing it best know exactly what they're after. READ The Lempert Report on Substack.