When firms stop advertising, it is a sure sign of distress says Adam Lass. He says General Motors (NYSE:GM) and FedEx (NYSE:FDX) will be conspicuous by their absence at this year’s Super Bowl. As they struggle to survive the crisis, Adam says both companies a ripe for shorting right now.

It’s a sign of the times for an American icon to fall into the hands of a cash-rich foreign buyer. There is a lot of emotion here, as the harsh words of 30-year employee Dave Liszweski show. But there are some pragmatic lessons for investors, too.

Editor’s Note: Iconic American brands will perish unless they focus more on emerging markets, says Inwin Greenstein in Taipan Daily. A case in point is the hostile takeover attempt on Anheuser-Busch (NYSE:BUD) by Belguim-based InBev (PINK:INBVF). A-B brews Budweiser, the ‘king of beers,’ in America. But a lack of penetration in emerging markets has left the company dependent on one of the world’s slowest economies — the US.