Why the Oprah Effect Can Take Down Supply Chains

It's the stuff of dreams for brand marketers everywhere.

Like this one-time struggling Florida cake maker, We Take The Cake, which was picked as a favorite thing in 2004 and now has a thriving and expansive business.

But Oprah's Midas-like Touch can easily overwhelm a fledgling company-just ask execs at Kashwere LLC, where operations were overwhelmed after Oprah declared her love for their robes.

She can also influence entire industries, as she did in 1996, with her episode on Mad Cow Disease and the cattle industry that led her to exclaim that she'd never eat another burger again. The next day, according to one account of the legal saga that ensued, beef futures plunged, leaving industry experts to call this the "Oprah Crash."

The woman can move markets.