An ad for Mountain Dew created by the founder of hip-hop group Odd Future  has been pulled after critics lambasted its violent undertones and one called it ”arguably the most racist commercial in history.”

(Image credit: PepsiCo)

The video was created by Odd Future’s co-founder, Tyler Gregory Okonma, who is known by the stage name, Tyler, the Creator.

PepsiCo, which owns Mountain Dew, said it was pulling the ad.

“We apologize for this video and take full responsibility,” read a statement provided by a PepsiCo spokeswoman. “We have removed it from all Mountain Dew channels and Tyler is removing it from his channels as well.”

The ad stars a character, Felicia the Goat, in a police lineup among members of Odd Future.

Boyce Watkins, a finance professor from Syracuse University and social commentator, wrote a blog post about the ad, entitled, “Mountain Dew Releases Arguably the Most Racist Commercial in History.”

“Of course, in the world of Mountain Dew, every single suspect is black,” wrote Watkins, who previously published a lecture series called, “Commercialized Hip-Hop, the Gospel of Self-Destruction.”

In the video, a woman is trying to identify the suspect while being threatened by the goat, which tells her, according to Watkins, “I’m going to get out of here and do you up.”

“It appears that Mountain Dew is right on board with the degradation and disrespect for the entire African American community being pursued by the worst in the hip-hop community,” Watkins wrote. “This ad has to be one of the most irresponsible pieces of trash in the history of corporate advertising.”

(Image credit: Gabriel Chapman)

Anthony Lolli, founder and owner of Rapid Realty, is giving his employees a chance to show their team spirit and earn some extra cash by getting a tattoo of the company logo on their bodies.

Rapid Realty, based in Brooklyn, N.Y., with 62 locations from New Jersey to Boston, has 1,100 employees.

Lolli said about 40 have taken him up on his offer for a 15 percent raise if they get a tattoo of the company logo.

It all started about a year and a half ago, when one of Lolli’s top agents worked with a tattoo artist to find commercial space.  After the artist suggested he get a tattoo, the agent decided on the company logo.

(Image credit: Courtesy Gabriel Chapman)

That inspired Lolli to implement a company-wide program that allows workers to get a 15 percent raise if they do charity work, produce certain benchmarks, mentor a new employee, or if they get inked.

Tyler Evenson, 25, is a licensed real estate agent with Rapid Realty in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. He said he was the second person to get a tattoo of the company logo almost two years ago.

“When I did it, we were very proud of our company and where we worked and it was fun for us,” said Evenson, who has the tattoo on his right arm.

Evenson said he has numerous tattoos, so it “wasn’t a new thing for me.”

“When I did it, it wasn’t a big deal for us. I would consider myself a pretty good agent. I had been here for a while and established myself with the company,” he said.

The tattoos are on all sorts of places on the body, Evenson said, mostly on arms, ankles, and backs.

When asked if some employees might feel pressured into getting a tattoo, Evenson said he didn’t think so.

“It’s a tattoo, so it’s a pretty serious thing. You’re getting something permanently inked on you, so you definitely want it,” he said.

After this week’s upbeat reports on surging home prices and reasonably solid consumer spending, ADP, the payroll firm, released gloomy numbers on job creation just two days before the Labor Department’s April employment survey.

According to ADP, private employers added just 119,000 new jobs in April “which is a meaningful weakening in job creation,” says economist Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics. The number of new jobs was the fewest in seven months.

“I think the key reason for the slowdown is the fiscal headwinds that’s the tax increases the expiration of the payroll tax holiday, for example, and the spending cuts the government spending cuts and sequester,” says Zandi. He predicts that the sequester will take a bigger bite out of the economy in the months ahead.

“Right now the Defense Department has been very aggressive in cutting. Big declines in defense outlays and so that’s starting to ripple through the economy.”

The people who do the buying for American businesses say factory orders rose at a slower pace last month as manufacturers cut back on hiring and their stockpiles. The index from the Institute for Supply Management was down.

Spending on construction projects fell in March as the biggest drop in government projects in more than a decade overwhelmed strength in home building. The report is from the Commerce Department.

On the plus side, Ford, GM, Chrysler and Nissan are all reporting double-digit U.S. sales increases last month, signaling the best April for car and truck sales in six years. The only laggard was Volkswagen, with a sales decline of 10 percent. The gains are another sign that Americans continue to buy cars and trucks despite high unemployment and mixed economic signals.

Richard Davies Business Correspondent ABC News Radio abcnews.com Twitter: daviesabc

Gas prices usually head higher during the spring and summer but not this year. The American Automobile Association’s new forecast says drivers are likely to pay less this summer, with prices dropping to below $3.40 a gallon in most states by July, down from today’s average of $3.55. As long as there aren’t what AAA calls “refinery problems or significant international news events,” the trend of lower prices is likely to continue. Ample refinery production and weak demand are reasons for the expected price drop. April gas prices are at their lowest since 2010. West Texas crude is close to $93 a barrel on oil futures markets. The decline in gas costs could lead to a busier summer driving season.

Apple is selling $17 billion in bonds – the biggest corporate bond sale in history. It’s part of Apple’s effort to raise money it plans to give to shareholders through dividend payments and stock buybacks. Apple is sitting on $145 billion in cash, more than enough for the $100 billion cash return program it announced last week. But most of its money sits in overseas accounts, and the company doesn’t plan to bring it to the US unless the federal corporate tax rate is lowered. Raising the money through a corporate bond sale gives Apple a tax benefit, since interest payments on corporate debt are tax-deductible. Market participants say the $17 billion is spread across six types of bonds, including a three-year note and a 30-year bond.

Six years after the iPhone went on sale, Apple is declaring the original device virtually obsolete. From next month most owners of first-generation devices will no longer be able to get them repaired or serviced. The original iPhone will be labeled “vintage” by Apple, according to the blog site 9to5 Mac. Introduced in June, 2007, the first iPhones led to a revolution in mobile computing.

The housing recovery is accelerating right across the country. Average prices are rising at their fastest rate since 2006. According to S&P/ Case-Shiller and other surveys some of the local markets with the biggest bounce are cities where prices plunged 50 percent or more during the slump. One reason for the rise in house prices is more expensive rents, says Craig Lazarra of Standard & Poor’s. “Rents in many cities are quite high so as the cost of renting goes up that people gives people an incentive to think about buying houses.” If you have a good credit score home loan rates are very low and that can make buying cheaper than renting. “The cost of financing is at lows for my lifetime,” says Lazarra.

One week after hackers broke into The Associated Press‘ Twitter feed and shook financial markets, federal regulators say they need to find ways to deal with the impact of social media. No action has been taken yet by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Commissioner Bart Chilton suggested that regulators should consider imposing tougher cybersecurity rules for investment firms and others that trade.

Richard Davies Business Correspondent ABC News Radio abcnews.com Twitter: daviesabc

For the first time since 2007 – before the recession – the US Treasury is planning to make a down payment on the federal debt. The budget deficit has been shrinking more than expected. Thanks to government spending cuts, and higher tax receipts The Treasury says it expects to pay off $35 billion of debt in the second quarter. That compares to an earlier forecast that it would have to borrow $103 billion. Usually this time of year is the best for government cash flow because annual tax returns flood into the Treasury in April. But the return to at least one quarter of debt paydown is a clear sign government spending cuts and tax increases have helped lower the deficit.

Twinkies and Ho Ho’s are on their way back. The new Hostess Brands says it will open bakeries in Indiana and Illinois, following announcements last week that it will reopen bakeries in Georgia and Kansas in its effort to bring back the popular snack brands. Private equity groups Apollo Global Management and Metropolis & Co. – now doing business as Hostess Brands – paid $410 million to buy the Hostess and Dolly Madison snack cake lines from the previous owners of Hostess Brands. The investment firms are now trying to revive operations to get Twinkies, Ho Ho’s and other popular snack cakes back on shelves by the end of July.

A Las Vegas-based social gambling company says it will launch the first legal, real-money poker website in the United States. Ultimate Gaming will only accept wagers from players in Nevada for now, but the site may represent the shape of things to come for gamblers across the country. Internet poker has been banned in the United States since 2011. More recently, the federal government softened its stance on Internet betting and three states — New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada– have legalized some form of online wagering. With today’s launch, Nevada wins the race to bring Texas Hold ‘em back to the Internet.

Despite repeated claims by many skeptics, the stock market continues to climb higher. The S&P 500 – the market’s broadest gauge of big stock performance – is now at an all- time high of 1593. The Dow Jones index gained 106 points yesterday. Two tech stocks Microsoft and IBM were among the best performers, rising more than 2 percent each.

Richard Davies Business Correspondent ABC News Radio abcnews.com Twitter: daviesabc

(Image credit: Jessica Gildersleeve Photography)

Spoiler alert: His name is Alex Mizrahi, from Brooklyn, N.Y., and his Twitter handle takes the gas out of Huffington Post’s own Twitter headlines by beating the news site to the punch line.

Mizrahi launched @HuffPostSpoilers last August with the intent of tweeting the meat of Huffington Post stories that were tweeted by the site’s official Twitter handle.

“I followed Huffington Post for a long time on Twitter and was frustrated by their tweeting style,” said Mizrahi, 30, who recently freelanced for The Shorty Awards, which honors achievements in social media.

“This is their business model: to get as many clicks as they can and that’s how they survive as an organization. It’s not that I want to steal clicks from them,” he said.

One of Mizrahi’s recent tweets read: “1. San Jose 2. SF 3. DC 4. Chicago 5. San Diego RT @HuffPostBiz The happiest city for a young professional revealed.”

He now has more than 12,485 Twitter followers.

He had never revealed his identity through Twitter and was amused when his own friends began following his tweets without knowing he was behind them. But a recent article in The New York Times revealed Mizrahi’s identity.

“Some people might be interested in a subject and want to read the article, some people just want to know the five-second version,” Mizrahi said. “Sometimes, they’ll know that someone wants to know a good tidbit. All I do is fill in those gaps.”

Mizrahi said his Twitter handle is not malicious. He thinks many of Huffington Post’s tweeted headlines are “fine the way they are.”

“I do like Huffington Post. It was never a way to say, ‘Screw you, HuffPost,’ but a lot of times it can be annoying,” he said.

The Huffington Post did not respond to a request for comment, but on Thursday the news site featured a short article about Mizrahi’s Twitter handle, capturing the attention of its own nearly 3 million Twitter followers.

Another one of Mizrahi’s projects is tweeting fun facts that he hears on National Public Radio via @NPRfunfacts, such as one tweet that stated: “In 1990 @VanillaIce became the 1st rapper to ever hit #1 on the @Billboard chart…”

“I’m a big NPR nerd boy or fan boy,” he said.

(Credit: Stephen Yang/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Mobile phone users who purchased T-Mobile equipment and financed the purchase using T-Mobile’s Equipment Installment Plan may be eligible for a refund after the company settled alleged a suit over “deceptive advertising” of its “no-contract” plans.

On Thursday, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a court order agreement with T-Mobile to correct advertising that promised consumers no annual contracts but which had hidden charges for early termination.

The agreement was signed by T-Mobile and is effective nationwide, ensuring the company “clearly communicates the limitations” of its new “no-contract” wireless service plans. The agreement also allows customers “duped” by the deceptive ads to end their contracts in which they financed their phones with no penalty, according to Ferguson’s office.

READ MORE: T-Mobile’s New No-Contract Plans Explained

Jeff Blyskal, senior editor with Consumer Reports, said he was surprised by the agreement because T-Mobile has positioned itself as the “un-carrier” phone company that did not have contracts. But still, Blyskal said T-Mobile has better terms than other phone carriers because they eventually halt phone subsidy repayment fees after about two years.

“The whole bit about contracts, cell phones and cell phone service is very confusing, because it’s been made confusing by cellular service carriers,” Blyskal said.

T-Mobile agreed to pay $26,046  in attorneys’ fees and costs to the Washington Attorney General’s Office.

T-Mobile USA, based in Bellevue, Wash., recently launched a wireless service plan that claimed to offer “no restrictions,” “no annual contract” and no requirement that the consumer “serve a two-year sentence,” the Washington State Attorney General’s office said. The plan does not include a phone but T-Mobile gave the option for consumers to use their own phone, pay for a phone up front, or buy a phone at a monthly rate over a two-year term.

“After an investigation of the company’s practices, the Attorney General’s Office learned that the company failed to adequately disclose that customers who purchase a phone using the 24-month payment plan must carry a wireless service agreement with T-Mobile for the entire 24 months–or pay the full balance owed on phone if they cancel earlier,” the AG said in a statement.

Customers who purchased T-mobile service plans and equipment under this plan between March 26 and April 25, 2013 may be able to obtain a full refund by calling T-mobile at 1-877-746-0909 or dial 611 from their T-mobile phone for more information.

“While we believe our advertising was truthful and appropriate, we voluntarily agreed to this arrangement with the Washington AG in this spirit,” said T-Mobile in a statement to Consumerist.com.

A weird thing happened to the stock market last week, and now financial regulators want to know if something much worse could cause a crash in the future. Someone hacked the Associated Press Twitter account and tweeted that President Obama had been injured in an explosion at the White House. Seconds later the Dow Jones index – which had been up during the day – plunged 136 points. The market recovered minutes later but the New York Times reports “the episode has heightened concern among regulators about the combination of social media and high-frequency trading.” The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has scheduled a public meeting this week with high-frequency traders to discuss whether there should be more safeguards to protect against the effects of social media on markets. In recent years the volume of high frequency trades, triggered by algorithms, has rapidly expanded and could be a source of dangerous instability in financial markets.

The bottom line at most large corporations is in good shape with stronger-than-expected results during the current quarterly reports season. But the top line is another matter. Sales are flat at many big companies, hurt by the recession in Europe and cautious spending by US consumers. Thompson Reuters projects that first quarter revenue declined 0.3% at the companies in the S&P 500 index.

Is US economic growth slowing down this spring, or are housing and auto sales helping to warm things up? Some answers may come this week with a series of economic reports. This morning the Commerce Department releases its survey of incomes and spending. In the past few years middle class living standards have been flat. But many people at the lower end of earnings have seen their incomes decline. Also today, the National Association of Realtors will release the pending home sales index for March. Automakers release their monthly sales numbers of Wednesday. The Federal Reserve gives its view of the economy on Wednesday and The Labor Department will release the April employment survey on Friday.

The Environmental Protection Agency has dramatically lowered its estimate of how much of the potent heat-trapping gas, methane, leaks during natural gas production. The shift could have major implications for a debate that has divided environmentalists: Does the recent boom in fracking help or hurt the fight against climate change? There have been differing scientific estimates of the amount of methane that leaks during production and delivery. Methane is the main component of natural gas.

Richard Davies Business Correspondent ABC News Radio abcnews.com Twitter: daviesabc

It’s not a typical suspect’s attire: pajama pants, a deep v-neck and pantyhose over his head.

That’s possibly why footage of a man’s failed burglary attempt of a Northern California grocery store went viral, and now the owner is looking to reap the benefits.

“Kent’s Meats and Groceries’ award-winning New York-style pastrami: So good, some people will do just about anything to get more,” says the advertisement (watch it here). Then, the suspect is shown throwing a rock at the store’s window and stumbling away from the scene.

The store has been doing business in Redding, Calif., for almost 35 years, selling organic produce, meats and sandwiches.

“We decided we might as well reap the benefits,” Kent Pfrimmer, owner of Kent’s Meats and Groceries, told ABC News. “The main thing was as long as people still enjoy watching it and get a laugh out of it, that’s great. We can promote with the advertisement.”

The video has gained much momentum since the crime happened more than a month ago, gaining more than six million views on YouTube and hundreds of laughs on late-night television shows.

“I wouldn’t call him a world’s meanest criminal, by any means,” Pfrimmer told ABC News. “To me, it was comical.”

Pfrimmer decided to roll out his advertisement several days ago and it has generated an overwhelming response from the community.

“For $500 – that’s what I spent to fix the glass – I got about $500,000 in publicity for it. How could you be unhappy?”

While calls to the Redding Police were not returned, Pfrimmer said they have yet to identify the suspect.

“I really feel that have many more important things to try to take care of,” said Pfrimmer.

As for the advertisement, Pfrimmer said he doesn’t plan on having it up forever, just as long as the public gets a laugh.

“Once people get tired of it,” it will come down, he said. “I don’t want to ride a good horse to death.”

The one-minute video was made by a German ad agency, and brought to the attention of CNET by a woman whose father had committed suicide by that method.

In a statement, Hyundai Motor Europe said, “Hyundai Motor deeply and sincerely apologizes for the offensive viral film. The film runs counter to our values as a company and as members of the community. We are very sorry for any offense or distress the video caused.”

In Photos: Controversial, Racy Celebrity Ads

The video advertises the new hydrogen-powered Hyundai ix35 cars, which have 100 percent water emissions.

In the ad, a middle-aged man breathes in what appears to be car exhaust fumes in his car that is parked in a garage. But hours later and without any words, he emerges from the garage. The words displayed at the end of the ad are: “The New ix35 With 100% Water Emissions.”

At least one commentator on YouTube pointed out the effectiveness of the advertisement’s message.

“I know how controversial this advert is becoming and whether you agree with it or not it’s worked,” the comment read. “You cannot deny that. The job is done and everyone now knows about the new Hyundai with 100 percent water emissions. Advertising at its best.”