The price tag for some of the most iconic logos of all time vary drastically.

While some of the most iconic brands in the world cost hundreds of millions of dollars to create, others got away with a check for just $15. Some spent nothing.

A good logo is crucial for a company's branding strategy.

While Pepsi recently redesigned its bottle, it decided to keep its logo, which it redesigned in 2008 for $1 million. (Signing Beyonce as a multi-year brand ambassador cost the company $50 million.) 

Stock Logos—a site that offers, well, stock logos—has compiled a list that reveals how much Coca-Cola, Nike, BP, and other companies spent creating their logos.

But you'll be surprised which companies spent millions and which spent the cost of a movie ticket on their iconic images.

Microsoft: $0

The company used its own in-house design team to update its logo in 2012.

Google: $0

Although Google's famous, rainbow logo has gone through minor alterations over the years, the original design was created in 1998 by Google co-founder Sergey Brin on the free graphics program called GIMP. Then Ruth Kedar, a mutual friend of Brin and Larry Page from Stanford, got to work on other logo prototypes.

Coca-Cola: $0

Coke's famous logo was created by its founder's partner and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, in 1886. According to the soft drink's website, Robinson "suggested the name Coca‑Cola, thinking that ‘the two Cs would look well in advertising’. He wanted to create a unique logo to go with it, and experimented writing the company’s name in elaborate Spencerian script, a form of penmanship characteristic of the time."

The best things in life are free.

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Parents protesting the Victoria's Secret's Pink line and its marketing toward teens have taken over the internet.

While most of Pink's merchandise includes sweatpants, t-shirts, and hoodies, one item of clothing in particular has parents incensed. 

The culprit? A pair of thong panties that say "Call Me." 

This petition asking Victoria's Secret to pull its recent  "Bright Young Things" marketing campaign has more than 1,500 comments and cites the panties. A father wrote a letter to the brand about why it shouldn't be marketing to young people and also mentioned the garment.

The underwear are much more suggestive than anything else currently featured in the Pink line. The bulk of the collection is made up of sweats. Backpacks and major league baseball fan gear are also prominently featured. 

"Shame on you for your underwear line that has messages like 'call me' and 'feeling lucky,'" one mother wrote on the company's Facebook page. "This is blatant objectification of women, and sadly, younger girls will want to have these items, because they think VS stuff is cool." 

Victoria's Secret introduced its college-themed Pink line on the runways in 2006. 

Pink was so popular that Victoria's Secret began marketing to a generally younger audience. Justin Bieber performed at its annual fashion show last year, and the brand plans to open standalone stores with only Pink merchandise. 

In a statement, Victoria's Secret told us that "Bright Young Things" was marketed toward college spring breaks. The company recently started a Hawaii-themed promotion.

The petition mistakenly calls the marketing campaign a "line," but in reality, it's just a series of ads, according to the company.  In keeping with its Hawaii-themed promotion, the panties now read "Aloha." 

"Victoria’s Secret PINK is a brand for college-aged women," the company said. "Despite rumors, we have no plans to introduce a collection for younger women."

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Business Insider needs a reporter to write about advertising and to help build our coverage of marketing and media.

This will be the most fun job in journalism right now.

For instance, remember how Ford was forced to apologize for its bound-and-gagged women ads? We broke that first. Who published images of the factory Coke uses to remove the cocaine from its soda ingredients? That was us. Who uncovered the check-kiting scheme that collapsed Leo Burnett in Greece? Us again.

The job requires a mix of blogging, traditional beat reporting, commentary and analysis. We need a star:

• someone with a knowledge of the ad agency/adtech/social media marketing business;
• someone who can work quickly and independently;
• someone whose spelling, punctuation and headline-writing are impeccable;
• someone who can work without too much supervision and is comfortable cranking out several items per day.
• someone who knows how to use blogs, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook and other social media to attract and engage an audience.
• someone who thinks that the way advertising is usually covered in newspapers and trade mags is criminally boring.

You will also attend a lot of cool parties here in New York.

This is NOT a traditional reporting job!

The pay is dependent on your experience.

To apply: Please send an email consisting of no more than three paragraphs about yourself, a link to your LinkedIn resume, and five clips to jedwards@businessinsider.com.

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Watching television while also using a smartphone or tablet is one of the most popular leisure activities of the mobile era. 

The mobile industry is working hard to create mobile apps and sites that relate to what's on TV, in order to capitalize on this behavior.  

This approach is often referred to as the "second screen," the idea being that the tablet or smartphone becomes a TV companion device, allowing for added levels of interactivity— whether on social networks or dedicated second screen apps and sites that complement on-air content. 

In a recent report from BI Intelligence, we examine how second screen apps, social networks, and mobile sites will ultimately succeed in drawing significant audiences, analyze how they will begin to see some advertising dollars, look at who second screen audiences are, explore the second screen opportunity from the broadcaster angle, and detail the opportunity represented by audience analytics and second screen commerce.

Access the Full Report By Signing Up For A Free Trial Today >>>

Here's why the second screen industry will ultimately succeed:

• Usage is growing rapidly: 85% of smartphone users reported second screen-linked behavior at least once a month, over 60% reported doing it on a weekly basis, and 39% did so daily. Over 80% of 18- to 24-year-olds told Pew they used their phone while watching TV, and 60% of Americans with annual incomes above $50,000 use their phones while watching TV.
• And mass acceptance isn't even necessary: All that matters is that a significant minority of viewers develop this habit (especially if they are highly engaged viewers). In the U.S. alone, TV ad spending was $18.4 billion in the third quarter of last year, a $74 billion annual run rate. If mobile can carve out even a small share of that pile of dollars via second screen channels, it would boost the mobile industry tremendously.
• Second screen isn't really a new activity: It's a natural update to the old ways of engaging with TV, like the old office water cooler conversations about last night's football game or popular TV drama. Moreover, second screen-type behaviors were already popular on desktops and laptops, before mobile came along and made it a lot easier to participate. 
• Second screen apps and sites are bridges: They bring together the powerful but increasingly fragmented world of television media, and the fast-growing but still undeveloped digital realm. For TV-centric advertisers and content producers, second screen provides a channel through which to test out digital strategies while still remaining tied to familiar territory. 

In full, the special report:

• Analyzes who second screen audiences are comprised of
• Examines how the second screen offers deeper and wider engagement
• Explores the second screen opportunity from the broadcaster angle
• Details the opportunity represented by audience analytics and second screen commerce
• Looks at a case study of how Twitter powers social TV
• Is full of illustrative charts and data

For full access to the report on Why The Second Screen is Ready For Prime-Time sign up for a free trial subscription today.

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A domestic violence PSA campaign by Lebanese non-profit KAFA strikes a powerful chord for the women's rights movement in the Islamic world.

The images feature women who have endured domestic abuse. Their wounds mimic the shape of the audio waveforms of words used against them: "whore,""slut," and "bitch."

"Words hurt," read the ads. The campaign calls light to the unseen scars left by verbal abuse. KAFA, which translates in Arabic to "enough," provides a helpline number on each image. 

In recent years, the Islamic world has been increasingly attracting flack for injustices against women. Honor killings and domestic violence are making headlines, and the rise of post-Arab Spring Islamism has not proved to be a strong ally to women's issues.

The ads are by Y&R Dubai.

See more of the provoking images below:

SEE ALSO: Canada Just Launched An Ad Campaign Against Sexting

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Nike, one-time sponsor to suspected murderer Oscar Pistorious and Oprah-approved doper Lance Armstrong, pushed out its latest Tiger Woods comeback ad last night on Facebook, where it's been shared more than 8,000 times, with messages of support and messages of disgust and general argument because, well, Nike's message is simple — and brazen: "Winning Takes Care of Everything." 

The slogan is pegged to the news that Nike is sticking by its poster boy once more after he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Monday. But it also comes in the neverending shadow of his affairs.

And, sure, Tiger has gotten back to where he was on the course before the bottom fell out on his personal life: He's once again the top-ranked golfer in the the world.

And plenty of the comments on Nike Golf's Facebook post were up for congratulating that:

Go Tiger! Rawr! Bbut ... wait. Isn't this the same guy with enough extramarital affairs to give HuffPo material to create a Tiger Woods Mistresses section on its website, to ruin his marriage, and change the lives of his young children? Oh, yeah. Right. 

And obviously the insinuation that "Winning Takes Care of Everything" is at least some sort of not so subtle nod to the everything-ness of those dalliances, and obviously the connected has been much frowned upon by people in the same Nike Facebook thread: 

All of which brings us back to the scabbed-over argument about whether Woods is and can still be a role model: 

Though that last user there is sort of missing the point — a lot fewer people are probably upset with Tiger Woods for having a potty mouth than for his 14 mistresses — he is bringing up a valid point that tends to surface whenever our athletes let us down: These people don't ask to be emulated. 

But it's Nike that invited those questions all over again, obliquely if not directly, in a pretty head-on statement about Woods that perhaps tries to veer him back toward role-model territory. This is the same Nike marketing department that stood by its man throughout the scandal even as other sponsorship deals vanished, that brought him back into the, uh, fore with this creepy video ad upon Tiger's return to competition, complete with Earl Woods voiceover and What It All Means:

And this is the same marketing department that has now chosen to take to social media with a coy message from the copy team that's angering a lot of people elsewhere:

All's forgiven by @nikegolf: “Winning takes care of everything.” @tigerwoods, World #1. bit.ly/YC4Wel"

— Janelle Rodriguez (@janelleCNN) March 26, 2013

Nike has a new Tiger Woods ad with the slogan, "winning takes care of everything." Don't start believing that,Tiger.cbssports.com/golf/blog/eye-…

— Lucianne Goldberg (@LucianneLinks) March 26, 2013

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JCPenney has lost another marketing executive.

JCPenney strategic marketing VP Lisa DeStefano-Orebaugh is heading for a new job as a VP of marketing and brand management at Home Depot, Sapna Maheshwari at Bloomberg News reported.

It's the third high-profile exit from CEO Ron Johnson's marketing team in the past 10 months.

Marketing chief Michael Francis left last June after just eight months on the job. He had been brought in by Johnson, but JCPenney's initial pricing strategy bombed and didn't resonate with customers. Francis has since been hired as a creative advisor at Gap.

Creative marketing SVP Greg Clark left in October. He recently signed up with Jones Group as its marketing head.

Right now, JCPenney is trying to turn things around under Johnson, as the department store chain tries to reclaim the core customers lost throughout its transformation.

SEE ALSO: 51 Companies Changing The Way We Shop >

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Parents are angry that Victoria's Secret customers keep getting younger. 

While the brand insists that its Pink line markets to college students 18 and older, comments from a Limited Brands executive suggested that even younger girls were shopping there. 

After that parents protested on blogs and petitions. 

"I don’t want my daughter to ever think that to be popular or even attractive she has to have emblazon words on her bottom," wrote Evan Dolive, a father whose letter to the brand went viral.

We took a look at some of Pink's offerings to see what all the fuss was about. 

This suggestive t-shirt reads "Enjoy the view."

Another one says "Take me to paradise."

Parents aren't happy about this thong that reads "Surf's Up."

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Doritos has gone unbelievably meta with its new chip flavor.

Behold, the Doritos Locos Tacos-flavored Doritos.

They're Doritos chips that taste like the Doritos Locos Tacos at Taco Bell that have shells that taste like Doritos. 

Umm... you follow? 

Let's break this down.

1. Frito-Lay invents Doritos chips.
2. Taco Bell and Frito-Lay join forces to create Doritos tacos.
3. Frito-Lay makes Doritos chips flavored like Doritos tacos.

The new chips come out on April 8. 

Frito-Lay's also holding a contest to see what people are willing to do to win a pallet of Doritos. Yes, that's a lot of Doritos.

Here's the announcement from Doritos' official Twitter account:

Doritos Locos Tacos will become chips 4/8! Your chance to win a #DoritosPallet: tell us how bold you'd go to try them pub.vitrue.com/tOZX

— Doritos (@Doritos) March 25, 2013

SEE ALSO: Here's The Upscale Taco Bell Menu That David Einhorn Thinks Will Cream Chipotle >

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With Twitter and Pinterest showcasing their new and updated analytics features recently, a lot of the focus has been on how to ensure your content reaches as large a group as possible.

While first party analytical services are improving and becoming more precise, there is always room for improvement and for ways for marketers to better digest this information. There is one method that would have really benefited Twitter especially. It’s something that’s been in existence for almost two years and it’s called Google Ripples.

Ripples In Action

For those who aren’t aware, Ripples is a visual graph showing you just how viral your posts are and how they spread across the network. Not only does it show who is sharing your content and how it connects to other people, it also highlights how the sharing process began, when people posted, and who shared it, providing you with a visual and useful overview of where your main influencers are.

Here’s a great example of it in action: a post we published back a fortnight ago relating to our 50 social media case studies, which got a lot of traction as you can see by this screenshot:

Granted, a lot of that traction was generated by Mari Smith sharing said post, but just from looking at the overview, you get a great idea as to how your post spread and who was behind its success. It also tells you whether your own sharing has an impact upon its success or whether it’s an outside source that has attributed to it.

Also, you can see how shares are connected to each other and the relationship between different users and the content they share. Are there certain types of content that some people share?

Now imagine what that would be like if a similar system was incorporated into Twitter. Consider that Twitter is based upon retweets and favorites, and that not every retweet is going to be done directly from your account. Many people will tweet a link themselves, and trying to track just how a tweet spreads is only done by seeing immediate tweets. You don’t know if something has been retweeted because everyone has been following the same account or whether it’s a knock-on effect.

Seeing how these relationships work and what people to target could give marketers something to aim for. Perhaps rewarding them for being loyal customers or brand advocates or discovering what moments trigger said shares. It’s a simple, but ingenious way of showing virality and considering it’s been around so long, it almost makes you wonder why it hasn’t been copied yet by any of the competition.

Making Sense Of Data

When you think about it, however, a few problems come to mind. There are two reasons why Twitter or any other site can’t really pull this off. The first is morals; blatantly copying an idea isn’t the done thing by Twitter, or at least it’s not as noticeable as say Facebook, so ripping off an existing idea mightn’t be the best thing to do, especially if it’s facing a juggernaut like Google.

The second, and more likely reason, is that Twitter doesn’t have the capabilities to properly graph its tweets in this way. Google’s biggest strength is finding and making sense of all the information that is out there — considering that represents the core of its entire business, this needs to be the case. On the other hand, Twitter and Facebook has only begun to make sense of all the data it has access to. When you’re not graphing it from the start, it can be difficult to begin a new service especially if the numbers of new posts generated range in the hundreds of millions.

While it’s making the move into social TV, a move signed by its acquisition of Bluefin Labs, Twitter needs to create a service that makes it easy for marketers, advertisers and everyone else in between to make sense. It’s beginning to head down that path, but considering that the service is built entirely on quick sharing, it’s the perfect platform for this type of analytics to flourish.

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From drug trafficking scandals to poisonous air purifiers, big companies have stumbled into all sorts of suicidal mishaps that have killed top brands.

General Motors and Sharper Image are among the companies that failed to save some of their own huge brands.

Here are 10 examples of corporate missteps that could have been avoided.

Atari, Inc.

In 1972, Atari released Pong, thereby pioneering the video game. By the end of the decade, it was the fastest-growing company in the US, its Atari 2600 gaming console shaping up to be the world's best-selling console.

Then the 80s happened.

In 1982, Atari majorly hyped up two video games that flopped on release. One of the games was E.T., which is today considered to be the worst video game ever made. Atari buried millions of unsold E.T. game cartridges in the desert, and in 1984, Warner Communications sold the problem-riddled home gaming division of Atari Inc. to Tramel Technology.

Circuit City

Circuit City flopped for many reasons — failure to manage its inventory and website are two major causes of the electronics retailer's decline.

What makes the Circuit City case unique, however, is the lesson in the value of one's best employees.

In March of 2007, Circuit City set itself on a slippery slope when it fired 3,400 of its highest paid workers. The company said that replacing these employees with those willing to work for less was part of an effort to improve the bottom line.

Analysts were quick to note an almost immediate decline in Circuit City's business. About 60 percent of the employees fired held in-store positions: "...this is clearly why April sales were worse,"said Tim Allen, an analyst with Jefferies & Co. "They were replaced with less knowledgeable associates."

The Washington Post reported that the job cuts were "backfiring."By early 2009, all of Circuit City's stores were closed.

The XFL

The XFL was a highly televised sports league that combined football and professional wrestling. Organized in 1999, it was a joint venture between NBC and the World Wrestling Federation. Setting records for the lowest primetime ratings in television history, the league was discontinued after just one season.

Dubbed the biggest sports bust of all time by ESPN, the XFL brought NBC and the WWF to a combined $70 million loss. Nevertheless, NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol reflected on the league as "one of the most fun experiences of my life." Very, very expensive fun.

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Velti, one of the larger mobile ad companies, is filling a gap in its business by launching a new ad network, called Velti Media.

It will compete head-to-head for advertiser dollars with Google's AdMob and Millennial Media, the company tells us.

Velti took in $270 million in revenue in 2012, an increase of 43 percent from fiscal 2011. Of that, mobile advertising revenue was $54.3 million. The remainder came from Velti's various marketing services.

Heading up the sales side of Velti Media will be svp/sales Michael Hess, who was previously at SAY Media and Conde Nast.

Velti already has a "sell-side" platform, Mobclix, in which app developers and publishers can offer their inventory in a real-time bidding auction to advertisers who need to buy media.

Velti Media, by contrast, is a "buy side" platform, in which buyers can bid on real time on inventory being offered across an array of networks (including Mobclix). The company thus has a piece of both sides of the action, so to speak.

Velti Media's advantage is its size and depth in the business, according to Krishna Subramanian, Velti's Chief Marketing Officer. "We can bring a lot of marketing data [that other networks do not have], which is very valuable," he tells us.

The new network tightens the race for largest mobile ad business on the planet.

• Google is probably No.1 in that space, with a business booking billions in revenue.
• Pandora is probably No. 2, with $255.9 million in mobile ad revenues.
• Velti is probably No.3, with $270 million.
• Millennial Media booked $178 million in ad revenue last year, making it fourth.

Somewhere in that mix, however, is Twitter, which is privately held and does not disclose numbers.

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We've seen a multitude of uses for Twitter's video app Vine.

In the three months since its launch, the app, which allows users to share six-second looping videos, has become a lucrative location for food porn and recipes, sports clips, and journalists to cover news events. 

However, it looks like Hollywood may have found the best use for Vine yet. 

Marketing. 

Monday, "The Wolverine" director James Mangold tweeted the first footage for the new movie through Vine.

Dubbed a "tweaser" by Mangold, the director debuted a teaser for a teaser out today. 

In six seconds, the clip shows roughly 16 different clips set to an overture and, who we presume to be, Hugh Jackman yelling. 

The tweaser. vine.co/v/bDExaiMjJ1F

— James Mangold (@mang0ld) March 25, 2013

The first full trailer for the film won't be out until today. 

Though there's no way of knowing how many times the Vine has been viewed, the "tweaser" has been retweeted directly from Mangold more than 1,000 times. 

We doubt it will be the last we see of this.

This is the second time in a week that a film has put out marketing content on Vine.

FilmDistrict released video reactions last week to early screenings of its new Gerard Butler film, "Olympus Has Fallen" in hopes the videos would help draw buzz for the movie. 

It certainly didn't hurt.

The movie's opening weekend of $30.4 million was the largest debut ever for a FilmDistrict movie—more than double the opening of last year's "Red Dawn" ($14.3 million). 

Deadline speculated Vine may be the next big viral movie marketing tool after FilmDistrict first announced promotion of its film through the app earlier this month.

And, they're not the first movies to experiment with the video app. 

Indie film distributor Oscilloscope took a different approach to Vine.

Last month, they released an entire movie, "It's A Disaster" in six-second clips on the video app. 

#itsadisastervine.co/v/b65lI9jTeTz

— Oscilloscope Labs (@OscopeLabs) February 19, 2013

SEE ALSO: How media outlets are using Vine to deliver the news >

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Good morning, AdLand. Here's what you need to know today:

Viral kings Rhett and Link, responsible for that I-can't-believe-it's-real ad for Ojai Valley Taxidermy, joined forces with The Martin Agency to make the most ridiculous ads for FreeCreditScore.com ever. There are four spots. They involve bubble wrap, llama rodeos, and picnic baskets of doom. Watch some here:

CBS wants to get a tax break for its Super Bowl coverage.

These are the most unintentionally awful ad placements ever.

Google has a new opt out tool.

People aren't happy about this Nike social media post starring Tiger Woods.

Are these the funniest beer ads of all time? Mashable thinks so.

Mario Diaz is PointRoll's new CEO. He was previously at the New York Times.

Jonathan Levine, the director of "50/50," is now on the commercial roster for Caviar, Los Angeles.

Previously on Business Insider Advertising:

• What Twitter Can Learn From Google About Tracking Tweets That Go Viral
• Gillette Has Paid Kate Upton To Persuade Men To Shave ... Everywhere
• Here's Why Nobody In Social Media Marketing Is Making Big Money — Yet
• Here's What Domestic Violence Ads Look Like In The Middle East
• How Much The World's Most Iconic Logos Cost Companies To Design Them
• Canada Just Launched An Ad Campaign Against Sexting
• Domino's Is Offering Slower Delivery Service [THE BRIEF] 

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On paper, it's a compelling concept: Carly Foulkes, T-Mobile's longtime girl in pink, pitching the new iPhone 5 as part of the company's big new campaign.

But Foulkes doesn't appear in two new T-Mobile ads, nor as part of the branding on its web site.

Nor will she, a T-Mobile spokesperson tells us. "The current campaign will not feature the character of the T-Mobile Girl, however she is still a part of the company’s brand family," a spokesperson says.

• SEE ALSO:Carly Foulkes' life story in pictures.

That's what companies usually say when they bid goodbye to brand icons — that the character will not be used in "current" ads, but they reserve the right to bring them back.

Most often, it's a death sentence, as Esurance's Erin — a pink haired spy — found out a few years ago.

Foulkes debuted as the girl in the pink dress in fall 2010.

One possibility is that Foulkes is being put out to pasture because the company really wants consumers to focus on the iPhone 5 and the pricing part of the company's offer. She could, of course, return once the campaign is beyond its initial launch stage. But we noticed that Foulkes wasn't at the big press launch for the new strategy, either, even though she is believed to live in New York where the event was held.

Separately, the new front page of the T-Mobile web site calls the company's past strategy "clueless." Here's a screengrab:

The headline, "T-Mobile has left the clueless-cellular-company building," refers to the company's new pricing strategy.

T-Mobile has been wanting to offer the iPhone for years and later in April it will finally be able to sell the Apple phone to customers. In addition, T-Mobile is introducing a new pricing structure, offering the iPhone 5 without a contract.

Foulkes + iPhone 5 + simple pricing could have been a killer, "sells itself" marketing prospect.

Yet instead, the company went with launch ads — from Publicis Seattle — that feature a bunch of cowboys who resolve to stop pushing people around (as other wireless carriers do with their lon-term contracts). Another ad features The Daily Show's Jason Jones, delivering a faux report on what people don't know about phone contracts (see videos below).

Foulkes was last seen as "No More Mr. Nice Girl," a campaign in which she ditched her pink summer dresses in favor of pink-and-black biker leathers. She zoomed around the country on a sports bike and in a helicopter to emphasize T-Mobile's coverage quality.

But in an ad posted on YouTube Feb. 25 (Foulkes' final appearance?) she disappears on her bike down a long city street, into the night.

Never to be seen again ...?

Here's the new cowboys ad:

And here's the Jones ad:

Finally, here's Foulkes' last appearance:

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The creatives from JWT India responsible for making and then leaking a headline-inducing Ford Figo ad— in which controversy-laden Silvio Berlusconi flashes a "V" for victory in a car with tied, gagged, and crying women are trapped in the trunk — have been fired.

The ad occured despite two gang rapes in India that have put the way women are treated in that country into the spotlight.

Business Insider found the since-removed ads on Ads of the World last Thursday and informed a surprised Ford and JWT, based in the US.

By the next day both Ford and holding company JWT sent us their official apologies. A young creative team had made the ad and then released it to the echo chamber of the internet without approval. Ad Age reports that it was even submitted to India's biggest ad awards show.  (PR disasters in which foreign agencies release unapproved, controversial ads for wholesome brands are actually quite common.)

Ford spokesman Chris Preuss told Ad Age, "The investigation over what happened is ongoing. Obviously, appropriate actions will be taken up to and including the dismissal of individuals who were found to be culpable."

That translates to the firing of staff members involved in the snafu. Indian Cars Bikes released the names of those on the chopping block as chief executive officer and managing partner Bobby Pawar and Vijay Simha Vellanki. ICB reports that Pawar was fired and Vellanki is at risk.

JWT India released the statement: "After an internal review, we have taken appropriate disciplinary action with those involved, which included the exit of employees at JWT. These were necessary steps owing to the direct accountability of the individuals as we work to ensure that both the right oversight and processes are strictly enforced so that this never happens again."

At this point, JWT India is still Ford Figo's agency of record.

SEE ALSO: 15 Unapproved Ads That Got Top Brands In Trouble

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About three years ago, when Facebook marketing suddenly became popular, a number of studies attempted to quantify how much, on average, a single "Like" on Facebook might be worth to a marketer.

The numbers varied wildly, of course, depending on the variables you use to calculate the value.

As time went by, marketers became less interested in simply amassing likes and followers. One of Facebook's biggest ad clients,  TBG Digital CEO Simon Mansell, once famously said, "The mindless pursuit of likes on Facebook is stupid."

But with the launch of Graph Search likes have become newly valuable. Graph Search is powered in part by your friends' likes. The more likes a brand has among your friends, the more prominently its search results will be.

This made us curious about the historic dollar value of a like. So we collected all the results here and ranked them in descending order:

$214.81

Blackbaud, NTEN, and Common Knowledge, in their 2012 Nonprofit Social Networking Benchmark Report, said the average value of a like for non-profits seeking to attract donations, calculated based off total revenue received from a supporter over the 12 months following acquisition, was $214.81.

$136.38

A study by Syncapse, an enterprise social media marketing management company, quantified fans' and nonfans' product spending, loyalty to a company, propensity to recommend a company, brand affinity, media value, and acquisition cost, according to eContentmag. On average, a Facebook fan is worth $136.38 more than a customer who is a nonfan.

$22.93

Syncapse's research also found that a single recommendation from these influencers can generate $22.93 in "earned media value" (i.e. publicity) for a brand.

$8.00

ChompOn, a platform for companies that need a group buying/flash sale platform, analyzed its traffic and found that each like could be worth $8.

$3.60

Vitrue, another social media marketing management firm, found that a fan base of 1 million translates into at least $3.6 million in equivalent media over a year, Adweek reported.

$1.34

Eventbriteanalyzed its ticket sales traffic and found a like drives on average $1.34 in ticket sales.

$1.07

Diamond Candles, a Durham, North Carolina-based company with more than 143,000 Facebook likes, found each engagement on the social network was worth 1 cent, and every “advocacy,” in which someone actually recommended the product, was valued at $1.07.

21 cents

Ecwid, an e-shopping cart provider and the self-proclaimed "second largest store-building application on Facebook," found that its e-commerce storefronts on Facebook generate 21 cents per like. For the top 10 percent of stores by sales volume, the value of a "Like" increased to $1.20 a pop, soaring to $21.49 in the top one percent of stores.

$0.00

Forrester, the research group, says each like is actually worth zero. Likes are more akin to "potential energy" in an object that's being held aloft. None of the energy is valorized until something engages the object, which may then fall to earth expending kinetic energy as it goes.

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Gillette made headlines recently for an ad starring Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Kate Upton and the gimmick people love to hate: a QR code.

Click here to see the worst QR codes ever>

When people read Upton's mind by scanning the QR code displayed in her thought bubble, they find that the model thinks it's "very important" for men to shave "down there."

While is actually a pretty smart way to get people to actually scan the dreaded QR code, the phenomenon is often so poorly executed that it has become a joke in the industry. There's even a Tumblr titled "Pictures of People Scanning QR-codes" that boasts zero images.

Brad Frost and Craig Villamor, friends and a mobile web strategist and a principal architect at Salesforce.com, respectively, started a blog called "WTF QR Codes" that is entirely dedicated to the worst of the worst QR codes. From QR bikini bottoms to requiring people to cross the dangerous third rail of a subway track to scan the code.

"It turns out we weren't the only ones that thought that a lot of these codes are ridiculous,"Frost told BI.

Sometimes scanning a QR code is inadvisable.

Or physically impossible.

Scanning the weapons section probably gets you a fast pass to some one-on-one time with the TSA.

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Kate Middleton wore a royal blue Issa dress when she and Prince William announced their engagement. 

Soon after her appearance, the dress sold out and requests began flooding in. 

But instead of being good for the brand, insane demand for the dress almost destroyed it, Issa chairwoman Camilla Al Fayed told Vogue UK.

"It absolutely sky-rocketed the brand on a global scale, but it was too much," Al Fayed told the magazine. "Demand was so huge the business couldn't cope. If Kate wears a Zara dress, these huge companies have the backing to follow through. Issa was basically run by interns, students and Daniella [Helayel, the label's founder and designer]. There was no business model."

But the company made it over the bump and just opened its first store in Japan. 

Middleton's influence on the fashion world is a polarizing topic. While some designers say that her garments result in crazy sales increases, others claim that stars like Kim Kardashianare more influential. 

SEE ALSO: These Are The Victoria's Secret Items For Teens That Parents Are Furious About >

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Super Bowl network CBS is asking Louisiana, the seventh poorest state in the US, for a $700,000 tax break. And the television behemoth is likely to get what it's after.

CBS applied for the credit to cover costs for broadcasting its chat show "The Talk" in the runup to the Super Bowl, which it also aired.

(Its Talk promos also earned local ire when CBS covered a statue of President Andrew Jackson with a sign.)

CBS said it was seeking the break because "a live, daily entertainment talk show on location is a considerable expense." Taxpayers are furious: The Louisiana Budget Project, a research group based in Baton Rouge, called it "corporate welfare." 

Louisiana is known as "Hollywood South" because of its state tax credit program for broadcasters and film companies. The program is designed to incentivize movie and TV show production in the state, creating business and opportunity in an economically depressed region.

So why are people so mad?

The tax credit is designed for companies that wouldn't otherwise film in Louisiana. Because CBS was already putting on the Super Bowl in New Orleans, critics say, "The Talk" was already coming to the city, with or without the tax incentive.

The program, which cost Louisiana taxpayers $223 million last year, also specifically excludes televised news and sporting events.

"The tax credit shouldn't be icing on the cake,"said state Senator J.P. Morrell. However, it looks like CBS will get the money back after all, because talk shows aren't classifed as news.

CBS aired about 65 half-minute commercials in this year's Super Bowl. At an average cost to the advertiser of $3.75 million per commercial, CBS earned over $240 million on its Super Bowl ad space.

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