McDonald's (MCD) shares dropped a whopping 1.29% Friday on news that Paris Hilton is setting aside her fast-food habit in exchange for a bikini-ready body. Paris is quoted by Starpulse.com as stating: "I've been really working out. I'm not eating fast food anymore. No more McDonald's. (I'm) getting my bikini body, so I'm about that." This must come as a serious blow to McDonald's.

Well okay, perhaps Paris Hilton's declaration isn't really all that important to McDonald's shareholders, but the truth remains that MCD shares are again showing signs that they have peaked. The question is why? The company's share price is currently hitting strong resistance in the range of $71, and the three key reasons are fierce competition, international monetary exchange instability, and operating expense volatility.

This post is part of our Ads Gone Bad series. Share your thoughts and memories of this ad in the comments, and be sure to check out our other posts on marketing gone wrong.

In 2005, CKE Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: CKR) outraged both social conservatives and lovers of music at the same time when its Carl's Jr. chain hired Paris Hilton to shill its new Spicy Burger. It set a new standard of tastelessness that will be difficult to equal.

Conservatives -- most Americans actually -- find the fact that Paris Hilton is famous at all to be a offensive. Her main claim to fame comes from her appearance in a now-infamous sex tape. The appeal of her one-time hit show The Simple Life eluded me, but hey, I was not the target demographic. I am a 40-year-old married guy so I can't speak to her numerous other enterprises, such as the perfume Heiress. Her single "Stars Are Blind" was not as awful as I thought it would be, but maybe I have gone tone deaf listening to too many Elmo songs. Parents of toddlers will understand.

On RottenTomatoes.com, recent Warner Brothers release Fool's Gold earns a rating of 10% (out of a possible 100%) and a consensus review: "Full of humorless gags, a predictable storyline and flat performances." Nearly 750 users of The Internet Movie Database give the stock a grade of 4.8 on a 1-10 scale.

And still, the romantic-adventure led by Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson (and featuring Malcolm-Jamal "Theo Huxtable" Warner) scored big at the box office, drawing nearly $22 million to nab the number-one spot for the typically slow weekend. With Valentine's Day on Thursday, the Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) unit is hoping Fool's Gold continues to lure couples into the theaters this upcoming weekend (unless they place a lot of weight in Internet reviewers).

Box-office expert Paul Dergarabedian told The Wall Street Journal that the release date is shrewd marketing indeed. "A great marketing campaign, two appealing stars, and reviews be damned... heading into Valentine's week, it's sort of a natural."

Elsewhere on the charts, Martin Lawrence vehicle Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins opened at number 2, pulling in $17.1 million. In its second week, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS)'s Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert (phew) took in $10.5 million, moving into third place after topping the box-office charts last weekend.

And in case you missed it, The Hottie and the Nottie, starring Paris Hilton, was released in 111 theaters and earned an average of $225 per site, for a pitiful total draw of $25,000, according to estimates. Write your own joke here.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

News Corp (NYSE:NWS) today announced that it will revamp its Fox Business Network lineup in response to recent viewership reports showing that Americans would rather undergo a cavity search than watch the shows.

Drawing upon inspiration from its successful Fox Entertainment division, we hear that a number of new programs are under consideration:

• Homer Nose Business -- a "Simpsons" take on making 'd'oh' in the food and beverage industries, with field reporters Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Jr. and Moe Szyslak.
• 24:00 Stocks -- Kiefer Sutherland hosts a new studio show in which CEOs of tanking corporations are subjected to waterboarding and other amusing non-torture interview techniques in order to extract crucial investor information.
• American Idle --The 'idle rich' report by Paris Hilton, featuring the latest exposés directly from the wellspring of the trickle-down economy.
• Prison Break-- Five-minute updates hosted by Andrew Fastow, Conrad Black and Lou Pearlman, live from their offices in U.S. Federal government facilities.

Paris Hilton, who rose to fame as an heiress, is less than 3% the heiress she could have been. Her grandfather, Hilton Hotels patriarch Barron Hilton is leaving 97% of his $2.3 billion personal fortune to charity, leaving approximately $69 (what an appropriate number!) million available for everyone else, including Paris.

According to the Los Angeles Times, "The contribution to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, to come from the sale of Hilton Hotels Corp. and the pending sale of Harrah's Entertainment Inc. after the money is placed in a trust, is the largest in the foundation's history and will bring its value to about $4.5 billion."

But don't feel too bad for Paris. Even if she won't really be much of an heiress, she has already built her own empire based on her grandfather's wealth -- well, that and going to jail and such.

But still, it's refreshing to see Barron Hilton giving his money to people who deserve it. It's hard to imagine anyone less deserving than Paris Hilton, and maybe this will encourage her to stop acting like such a spoiled brat.

This post was part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst of 2007 feature. Voting has now closed and readers have chosen Oprah Winfrey as the most overpaid celebrity of the year. Be sure to let us know in the comments if you are pleased with this result.

Oprah Winfrey returns to our Most Overpaid Celebrity category after having lost the title to Paris Hilton last year. For 2007 she is joined by overpaid celebrities Madonna, George Lopez, and Russell Crowe.

Winfrey, Madonna, and Lopez all made the Forbes Celebrity 100, a ranking of Hollywood players by pay, influence, and popularity. Winfrey, of course, comes in at number one, both in terms of pay and power. Madonna's earnings placed her at number nine on the list, while Lopez came in at number fifty-one.

Forbes estimates Winfrey's earnings at $260 million last year, and her net worth in the area of $1.5 billion, making her the nation's wealthiest African American. She'll be adding two new reality shows to her media empire, which already includes a blockbuster daytime talk show, satellite radio show, magazine, and Broadway musical, as well as stakes in hit shows by Dr. Phil McGraw and Rachael Ray. The school for girls she founded in South Africa has drawn much media attention this year, and she's recently endorsed Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Winfrey has been called the world's most powerful woman, the most influential woman in the world, one of the most influential persons of the 20th century, the world's first black woman billionaire, and the greatest pop culture icon of all time. Can any mortal person live up to all that hype?

It's been three weeks since our Money Face-Off feature ran here at BloggingStocks and on AOL, offering you the opportunity to share who you though had the financial edge in a series of twenty head-to-head match-ups. So I thought I'd take another look and see how things have worked out.

It's hard to pick just one big winner. In terms of the largest lead over a rival, Ivanka Trump easily beats Paris Hilton with 89% of the vote. Others holding big leads over their opponents include Tiger Woods, Warren Buffett, Steven Spielberg, and Rupert Murdoch.

In terms of receiving the most votes, the clear leader is the Oprah Winfrey vs. Martha Stewart match-up, with just short of 150,000 votes. Other big vote getters were Tiger Woods vs. David Beckham, Rudy Giuliani vs. Michael Bloomberg, and Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs. In terms of the liveliest discussions in the comments, the winners are Oprah Winfrey vs. Martha Stewart, Erin Burnett vs. Maria Bartiromo, and Bono vs. Angelina Jolie. Also check out the comments for the J.K. Rowling vs. J.R.R Tolkien, Tiger Woods vs. David Beckham, and Ivanka Trump vs. Paris Hilton posts.

As for the face-off posts here that got the most attention, the clear winner is Erin Burnett vs. Maria Bartiromo, with more than 13,000 hits. Lindsay Lohan vs. Britney Spears and Oprah Winfrey vs. Martha Stewart also attracted lots of readers.

Results for all the face-offs follow below, but keep in mind that the voting is still open. It's not too late to add your vote or let us know what you think.

It's been a week since our Money Face-Off posts ran here on BloggingStocks, and less than that since the Money Face-Offs were featured on the AOL welcome page, and the response has been terrific. Many of the face-off polls have had more than 50,000 votes, a couple of them approaching 100,000.

The biggest response came to the Oprah Winfrey vs. Martha Stewart match-up. So far, about 75 percent of respondents feel that Oprah is the more successful media magnate. Not that much surprise there, as Oprah's fans are legion. Interestingly, though, of the twenty-some comments the post has received, most of them are pro-Martha.

Another clear leader is Bill Gates over rival Steve Jobs. About three quarters of poll votes have gone his way, despite all the buzz recently about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and the popularity of its products. Maybe readers are just happy that Gates is stepping down. Let us know what you think.

Alan Greenspan seems to be everywhere these days, promoting his new book, including Comedy Central's The Daily Show and NPR's Fresh Air. In our match-up of the current and former Fed chairs, Ben Bernanke vs. Alan Greenspan, more than 70 percent of respondents have voted for Greenspan. Comments to the post are mixed, but seem to me to focus on Greenspan, whether pro or con.

This post is part of our Money Face-Offs feature. Let us know who you think comes out ahead in this head-to-head match-up, and check out our other Money Face-Off posts.

How does one go about drawing a comparison between Paris Hilton and Ivanka Trump? In my estimation, although there a some mildly reasonable parallels between the two ladies, they are two significantly different people. It's difficult in this format to strip the comparison down to bare facts and then to build a picture of each woman's character and experience from there. So, what I shall try to do is give you just the basics to help you and then I'll leave you to determine which of these women you'd prefer to spend some time with. I'd be pleased if you would comment about which woman you would choose as a business associate, an employee, a national leader, or a life partner.

Paris Hilton has reportedly sued Hallmark for a greeting card that uses a photo of her and her trademarked catch-phrase "That's hot."

Hilton is seeking at least $500,000 in damages and a permanent injunction barring Hallmark from further use of her name, likeness, and catchphrase. She accuses the company of invading her privacy and misappropriating her image.

Yes, it isn't the sex tape that has hurt her privacy. Oh, and what about the innocent people who could have been harmed when Paris drove drunk? What about their rights to privacy/life? No, it's all a Hallmark greeting card.

Paris Hilton is being an idiot with this lawsuit. She's a public figure -- in fact, that's all she is. She's famous for being famous, and has been among the most shameless self-promoters this side of Don King. Given that, she should expect to be satirized, and that's exactly what Hallmark has done.

When Hilton went on Larry King after her release from the slammer, Paris talked about her "new outlook on life," and later mentioned her desire to do some good in the world and devote time to philanthropy.

She appears to be back to her old stunts: feeling sorry for herself as a result of her own self-inflicted celebrity. Hey Paris, get on with the charity work you waxed about, and stop being lame.

Since relocating to New York about a year ago, one of the more surprising realities I can't get over is the sheer ubiquity of celebrities -- they're simply everywhere! Walk through any subway train -- from an Inwood-bound A train to a Z train headed for JFK -- and you'll find those stars and starlets shining down on you. Lindsay! Britney! Paris! Lindsay! Brangelina! TomKat! Lindsay! All gloss and glory, beaming at you from the pages of the ever-present In Touch Weekly.

Power lunchers, design majors, single moms, goth queens -- even your own friends and families -- they're all reading these magazines. And don't think it's just women -- fellas are just more sly about it, brandishing blurbs about A-Rod's latest effort while sneaking peeks at Page Six.

Hey, I'm not making this up -- the Audit Bureau of Circulations confirms this celebrity fetish. Figures released yesterday show the gossip glossies are flying off the checkout stands.

OK! Weekly, put out by Britain's private Northern & Shell -- which also publishes some of London's sauciest fishwraps -- saw circulation bound 54% higher during the first half of the year, selling 809,000 copies per issue. Also reporting jumps in circulation were US Weekly (did you know it was founded by The New York Times (NYSE: NYT)? Thanks, Wikipedia!), In Touch Weekly and Life&Style, the latter two both owned by Germany's Bauer Publishing, Europe's largest private publisher. Alas, BloggingStocks' distant Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) relative, People, slipped 2%, though it remains proudly at the top of the heap, with more than 3.7 million copies of each issue sold.

Time, another corporate cousin, saw its genre-leading circulation drop by 700,000 -- apparently owing to its excision of promotional tie-ins that weren't pulling their weight and a redirection away from waiting room subscriptions. Circulation for newsweekly challengers and financial magazines stood pat, with the curious exception of the enigmatic London weekly, The Economist, which posted a 15.5% jump!

So what's on the uptick? Stoic, faceless financial analysis and paparazzi pap! Wrap your head around that.

Magazine sales in general held steady year over year, which is more than the Audit Bureau can say for the newspaper industry, unfortunately. Predictably, among the few major papers to post higher sales in the most recent newspapers report were the tabloid New York Daily News and its rival, The New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (NYSE: NWS), the new guardian of The Wall Street Journal.

Perhaps fearing Jessica Simpson pinups in Rupert's new plaything (Item!), fans of the Journal's gravitas are flocking to The Economist's stuffy pastures.

When Paris talks, people listen. Or at least branding executives do. And let's be clear, Paris doesn't know much, but she sure knows Hummers.

I'm talking about the other kind of Hummer here, boys. The big, garish gas-guzzling ones on wheels. But Paris is eco-savvy. Paris wants a hybrid. A hybrid Hummer. And a cute one, too. Maybe in green.

Of course, as our sister blog AutoBlog Green points out, that kind of car doesn't exist. Yet.

What do you think, General Motors (NYSE: GM)? Gonna make it happen? Think of the publicity. Or heck, think of the commercial! It would, pardon the pun, blow that Carl's Junior commercial right out of the water. Tongues would wag!

After all, now that more Americans prefer foreign made cars, the Big Three had better bring out the big guns and prove they're really back on track. Maybe GM can design and roll one out just in time for $100 oil, too.

Although on second thought, maybe a Paris Hilton Hummer wouldn't be such a branding success story. Maybe it would be right up there with Cerberus hiring former Home Depot (NYSE: HD) Bob Nardelli to fix what ails Chrysler.

What do you think?

The Michael Vick dog chew toy is so brilliant in its simplicity that I am kicking myself for not having thought of it myself.

I mean, what better way is there for dogs and their owners to register their disgust over the dog-fighting allegations against the Atlanta Falcons quarterback. My hat's off to the anonymous entrepreneurs, who the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says are based in Jacksonville, Florida.

Apparently, the people behind the toy were going to donate the proceeds to the Jacksonville Humane Society but somehow that got messed up because of what the website describes as "squabbling over charitable donations." The toy's makers are promising to donate their proceeds anonymously. I've contacted the website and will let you know if I get a response.

The toy sells for $7.99 and is made out of "state-of-the-art dog material," whatever that means. It also promises to withstand "the most playful of dog destruction."

By the way, there's little if anything that Vick could do to stop the toy since it's satire and clearly doesn't imply his endorsement. The NFL star is learning what many celebrities, including Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan already know: Fame is a bitch.

And you thought you got a lot of annoying phone calls from telemarketers and the like. UCLA student Shira Barlow received a new phone number from her wireless provider after she broke her phone, but there was just one problem: It wasn't a new number. It was a recycled number and not too long ago, it had belonged to Paris Hilton.

According to E! News, Ms. Barlow received text messages and phone calls from Paris's friends asking for information about parties, and they also offered their support for her during her upcoming stay in jail. Once the heiress was in jail of course, the calls tapered off. After her appearance on Larry King, Barlow received a text saying that "It's disgusting how they treated you in there, but once again you have showed the world that you can do anything."

Interestingly, Barlow has opted not to change her number, according to the Los Angeles Times, because the messages from Paris's friends have been more entertaining than annoying.

I wonder how many people would opt not to change their numbers. I'm guessing most young people would get a kick out of "being" Paris Hilton, at least on the phone. It's fun to feel like a celebrity.

Hilton (NYSE: HLT) volatility and volume elevated prior to Blackstone paying $26 billion. HLT announced Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) will acquire all the outstanding common stock of HLT for $47.50 per share. HLT closed at $36.05. I reported near the close of trading on 7/3/07 "option volume & volatility Elevated as HLT rallies 6%." HLT total volume of 32,490 contracts and HLT July option implied volatility of 39 was aggressive, above its 26-week average of 31 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Daily Option Update is provided by Stock Options Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.