First up: the taxi cab as marketing tool trend.

A few months back, we wrote about Penhaligonâ€s scented taxi cab promotion that was happening in London as the latest in a string of brandâ€s using the taxi to push their products.

Today, we have news of the latest weird marketing idea.

Now that we think about it, if you double down a few times too often the comfortable sweatpants may come in handy.

KFC (a.k.a. Kentucky Fried Chicken) is offering $500 to college girls at selected universities to wear a pair of red sweatpants with the name of one of their sandwiches, “Double Down,” printed on the butt. {the gloss}

This is not just weird. Itâ€s stupid. Because scores of brands from Abercrombie and Fitch to Juicy Couture and Armani Exchange have successfully gotten women and men alike from all over the world to wear their brand name printed across some part of their body already. And these walking billboards paid the brand for the clothing, not the other way around. Then again, weâ€re not so sure “Double Down” butt sweatpants would exactly be the hottest commodity at any clothing store. Youâ€d certainly have to pay us to wear them.

Next topic: branded nail art.

Besides using your nails to show off the logos for your favorite Internet browser and junk foods (or an image of your fiancee), now you can pay tribute to your favorite rock band, as the gal here did with her KISS themed nail art. How hysterical is the red tongue bleeding up her finger?

Finally, we give you one new IEJ little tidbit.

“Haute Coffurier” and Lady Gaga hair stylist Charlie le Mindu showed at London Fashion Week a few days ago, and he sent models that were completely naked save for his hats and wigs and a few accessories down the runway. {the gloss} Expect to see a similarly themed challenge appear on America’s Next Top Model in 3, 2… (hey, a few photo shoots have already come close). We probably don’t have to tell you (yes ladies, even those of you who claim to not have any desire at all to look at any other naked woman) why the attempt at showcasing his designs without any other distractions didn’t exactly happen that way.

We donâ€t know yet if this will turn into a trend for accessories designers, but the absurdity of it was just too good not to share. It did grab attention though, so perhaps the results were exactly as intended.

Thatâ€s right folks! Perry had images of funnyman beau Russell Brandâ€s face painted on her finger nails for the occasion. {E! Online} She told Ellen DeGeneres in a post-show interview that she did it because he could not attend the VMAs with her since he was shooting an upcoming movie in New York.

What do you think? Awwwww! Or Whaaaaaaat?

We werenâ€t sure what to make of it, but Ms. Teenage Dream (and Rolling Stone’s September cover girl) did cause us to wonder what else you could have painted on your nails if you really wanted an original manicure.

Turns out the latest trends in nail art are a direct reflection of a younger generationâ€s obsessions – specifically, technology and junk food.

It seems the newest in nail art is having the icon for your favorite Internet browser painted on. Apparently blogger Mamipeko decided to request browser icons be painted on her nails, and the manicurist she went to delivered, using a nude polish as a base and detailing the icons for Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera. {Walyou}

Considering the information generationâ€s obsession with technology and the Web, we figure it’s not unlikely that this idea will catch on, especially since news has spread through the blogosphere. Many others have already followed suit, requesting the Apple icon, Super Mario Brothers images and the Twitter bird as part of their manicures. {Walyou}

This could take the "I'm a PC" thing in a completely new direction

And if you think that is crazy, get this: photos of a set of manicured nails painted with the logos for various snacks and sodas have been circulating the blogosphere of late as well. You can brand your hands with Doritos, Oreos, Goldfish, Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper if you so choose. {the gloss}

Since much has been made of the importance of appealing to generation Y for any business to remain relevant into the future, we canâ€t really say technology and junk food nail art is such a bad idea. And compared to Lindsay Lohan’s manicure meltdown, the latest nail expressions are pretty harmless. Besides being obsessed with snacks and the Internet, the current younger generation does seem to be particularly inclined toward wearing T-shirts, handbags, sweatpants and other apparel with brand logos plastered across them, which is another point in this type of manicureâ€s favor. We can, however, point out that if you are a grown, respectable woman this is one trend to highly consider skipping. Unless of course youâ€re Katy Perry.