Blitzed by the SEC : Joe Montana has been sacked by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The San Francisco 49ers quarterback and past Super Bowl hero was featured recently in an ad campaign for the Franklin group of investment funds in San Mateo, Calif. The ads were to have run until around the middle of this year.
But the SEC called time out, citing language in a 1940 law governing investment advisers and products that shields consumers from misleading ads.
A spokesman for the SEC said commission officials believe that “testimonials are inherently misleading.” In other words, celebrities shouldn’t be out endorsing specific investment products. So Franklin benched Montana and the ad campaign five months early.
Some 49ers fans may be glad. Last year, a few of them called Franklin to complain about the timing of one ad appearing around the time Montana suffered a season-ending elbow injury. The ad read: “Even Joe Montana needs a game plan for his retirement.”
Picking Up the Tab
Last week saw an announcement from California Federal Bank that boasted of beating the competition in a survey measuring customer service at its branches.
The results came from a so-called mystery shopper survey by Market Trends, a Seattle-area research firm that sends people into branches pretending to be customers to rate new account representatives and tellers.
Nowhere did the announcement say who paid for the survey. The answer: California Federal Bank.
Spokesman James Hurley acknowledged that the Los Angeles thrift may have erred in failing to be more candid about who paid for the survey. Even still, both Hurley and Bill Young, who heads Market Trends, insist that the thrift had no influence over the results. They add that it was also prevented from warning employees that the survey was coming.
Bankruptcy Plan Hatched
You’d have to have your head in the sand not to know that all kinds of Southern California companies are seeking protection from creditors using federal bankruptcy laws.
A case in point came with the recent filing by Hatch Ostrich Farms, a Redondo Beach company that raises the exotic birds. The firm’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition lists $690,000 in assets and $325,000 in unsecured debts.
What kind of assets does an ostrich farm have?
Listed on the bankruptcy petition are 250 ostrich eggs. The listed market value: $350,000.
Briefly. . .
A Goldman, Sachs report on the continued sluggishness in the economy is titled “Waiting for the Dough.”. . . Television station KPIX in San Francisco has a designated “glass ceiling editor” who reports on issues related to women and the workplace. . . . How about Saks Rodeo?: New York retailer Saks Fifth Avenue, which just disclosed a $250-million make-over, has twice as many stores in California as it does in New York. . . . Sign of the times: A meeting organized by local Columbia University alumni to discuss Southern California’s battered economy is free for the “student/unemployed.”
