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Krispy Kreme's Failings Tough To Glaze Over

She said hot doughnuts now

I was in a dream."

"Doughnut Girl," recorded by Brace's band, Last Train Home, is part of the mythology that Krispy Kreme has so masterfully exploited. It's a fantasy about a hot babe and a hot car and the Hot Doughnuts Now sign flashing in the window of the Krispy Kreme shop in Alexandria.

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"I fell in love

Out on Highway 1

In my midnight world

With my doughnut girl."

Lots of people have fallen in love with Krispy Kreme, letting the company generate free movie and television plugs, which cost other companies big bucks, to publicize its store openings without spending a dime on advertising.

The opening of its Dupont Circle store last week was on the front of the Metro section of The Post and was all over Washington television. I confess to reporting it on my daily NBC 4 Washington Post business report.

But companies that live by the media, die by the media. "A sticky mess" proclaimed CBSMarketWatch.com. after Thursday's earnings announcement. "Krispy Kreme crashes and burns," said The Street.com. "Another doughnut to drop?" asked analysts at CIBC World Markets. The Wall Street investment firm cut its rating on the stock to the equivalent of "sell" and predicted the stock could drop to $10.


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