In the ad debuting Tuesday, Wild Turkey spreads its “Give ‘em the Bird” marketing campaign that first appeared in print and on billboards last year. The commercial shows a young bartender’s reluctance to obey a seasoned barman’s direction to “just give ‘em the bird” when a tough-looking customer walks in. The novice soon realizes it’s another term for serving up Wild Turkey.

“I come from Europe, where you normally order a gin and tonic and you don’t care what gin you’re drinking,” said Umberto Luchini, head of marketing for Campari America, which owns Wild Turkey. “You come into the U.S. and it’s all about calling brands. Hence, ‘Give ‘em the Bird’ is another way of calling Wild Turkey in a bar.”

The ad, running on such cable outlets as ESPN, Comedy Central, Spike, TNT and TBS, is the latest multimillion-dollar investment in Campari’s revamping of the storied Wild Turkey brand made at its distillery near Lawrenceburg in central Kentucky.

It also adds momentum to the trend among some bourbon makers to turn increasingly to television and digital advertising.

“The stories that bourbon has as its heritage are really difficult to tell on a billboard, and really difficult to tell on a flat, two-dimensional piece of paper in print,” said Kevin George, chief marketing officer for Beam Inc., parent of Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark bourbons.

Wild Turkey’s foray into television comes about a year after competitor Maker’s Mark uncapped its first national TV campaign. Maker’s Mark sales have risen consistently for years, and the TV ads are increasing brand awareness and demand, George said. So the brand has extended its pitch on more cable networks this year, he said.

Beam, based in Deerfield, Ill., also is running TV ads promoting its high-end Jim Beam Devil’s Cut, featuring whiskey extracted from the aging-barrel wood that is blended with Jim Beam bourbon. In June, the company plans to go on TV to promote its Red Stag brand, a specialty whiskey that infuses natural black cherry flavors into bourbon, George said.

Last year, the TV campaign focused on the company’s signature Jim Beam bourbon.

Heaven Hill Distilleries Inc. went on the air late last year to promote its Evan Williams bourbon and will be back with TV commercials in the second half of this year, said Susan Wahl, a senior brand manager for the company’s whiskey portfolio.

Wild Turkey, which dabbled on TV last year in Australia, its second-biggest market, expects more rounds of television advertising in the U.S., Luchini said. It comes amid an ongoing resurgence of bourbon, also thanks to the popularity of premium, and pricier, brands, the revival of cocktails and strong demand overseas.

Last year, just over 16 million 9-liter cases of bourbons and Tennessee whiskeys sold in the U.S., up nearly 9 percent from 2006 and nearly 23 percent higher than 2001 sales, according to the Distilled Spirits Council.

“We want to ride this trend,” Luchini said. “And that’s why we’re getting bolder, a bit more aggressive.”

Wild Turkey trails Jim Beam, Evan Williams and Maker’s Mark in U.S. sales.

Vodka and rum outpace bourbon in spirits advertising on television, but bourbon is staking out more air time. Last year, bourbon marketing was up 58 percent on TV from 2010, with Beam and Maker’s Mark the clear driving forces.

Now Wild Turkey is in the mix in the biggest marketing campaign in the brand’s history. It’s part of a big investment by Campari to expand sales.

Campari spent $50 million on a new distillery near Lawrenceburg that’s capable of doubling production. It recently broke ground on a new $44 million packaging facility set to open in the fall of 2013.

One of the constants amid all the changes has been Jimmy Russell, Wild Turkey’s longtime master distiller. In the early days when bourbon was first distilled on Wild Turkey Hill in Kentucky, he said, the most popular form of communication was shouting down the road.

“Now, after all those years, our brand can reach millions through … television advertising,” he said. “I guess some would call that progress.”

Humana cited favorable claims trends from prior periods in raising its forecast.

In essence, Humana set aside more money in previous quarters than was needed to pay claims during a slowdown in the use of health care services by consumers who felt pinched during the recession. That prior favorable claims trend amounted to 3 cents per share in the first quarter, compared with a 31-cent-per-share windfall in the same period a year ago, company said.

Several insurers have said they expect health care use to return to more normal levels this year, which means they would pay more claims. Humana said it paid more in claims in its retail and employer group segments in the first quarter.

The earnings period offered mixed results among some of the nation’s largest health insurers. Two of Humana’s largest competitors, WellPoint Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc., reported first-quarter results that beat Wall Street expectations and raised their annual forecasts. Another key competitor, Aetna Inc., missed Wall Street expectations and it failed to raise its 2012 earnings forecast.

Humana said Monday that it paid out more in claims in its retail and employer group segments during the first quarter.

It reported double-digit membership gains for its Medicare Advantage offerings and its stand-alone Medicare prescription drug plans.

“This growth trajectory has contributed solidly to our results for the first quarter and our continued confidence in our projected results for the full year,” said Humana board chairman and CEO Michael B. McCallister.

Humana ranks as one of the largest providers of Medicare Advantage plans, which are privately run programs offering comprehensive health coverage for seniors. Subsidized by the government, the plans offer basic Medicare coverage topped with extras like vision or dental coverage.

Humana said its individual Medicare Advantage membership grew to nearly 1.89 million as of March 31, up by 15 percent from the end of last year and 18 percent above the year-ago count. Group Medicare Advantage membership was up 21 percent from the end of last year to 385,800 as of March 31. The year-over-year gain in the category amounted to 25 percent.

Humana said it increased its investments in anticipation of the Medicare Advantage membership increases, and many of those costs were borne in the first quarter. For example, it hired more nurses to help care for members. Some nurses field health questions on the phone, and others visit the homes of some members with chronic conditions.

For the three months ended March 31, Humana reported net income of $248 million, or $1.49 per share, down from $315 million, or $1.86 per share, in the same period last year.

Revenue rose 11 percent to $10.2 billion.

Wall Street analysts had expected earnings per share of $1.52 on revenue of $10.14 billion.

Humana shares fell $3.82, or 4.4 percent, to $84 in premarket trading.

Humana’s pretax profit in its retail segment fell to $115 million in the first quarter from $217 million a year ago. Pretax income in its employer group segment was $121 million in the first quarter, compared with $139 million a year ago.

Membership in Humana’s individual stand-alone Medicare prescription drug plans stood at 2.86 million as of March 31, up 13 percent from the end of 2011 and 22 percent higher than the year-ago period. Humana has benefited from teaming with retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to offer a Medicare prescription drug plan.

Humana’s health and well-being services segment posted pretax income of $132 million, a 36 percent jump from a year ago. The increase mainly reflected growth in Humana’s pharmacy business, including its mail-order business, the company said.

“Don’t do it, not even once, because for me that’s all it took,” she said.

For people on the front lines in the fight against prescription pill abuse, it comes as no surprise that a new nationwide survey points to the homes of relatives or friends as key sources for people to start misusing powerful painkillers.

“Drugs left in home medicine cabinets are prime targets for prescription drug abuse,” Michele Leonhart, administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said in a conference call Wednesday.

Among new abusers, 68 percent obtained them from friends or relatives for free or took them without asking, according to the survey of 2009 and 2010 data released by the Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, 66 percent of occasional abusers — who used pain relievers less than once a week on average — obtained the pills in the same way from family or friends, it found.

Among both groups, just 17 percent obtained the painkillers through doctors’ prescriptions.

The reliance on family or friends dropped among chronic abusers of pain relievers. The survey found that 41 percent of them obtained pills for free or without asking from friends or relatives, while 26 percent got doctors’ prescriptions.

Addiction to prescription painkillers has skyrocketed in recent years in the U.S., with White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske calling it a “public health epidemic.”

Opioid pain relievers — the category that includes popular prescription painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone — caused about 15,500 overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

Oxycodone is the key ingredient in OxyContin, Percocet and Percodan. Hydrocodone is the key ingredient in Vicodin, Norco and Lortab.

In Kentucky, one of the hardest-hit states, pharmacies and homes in some areas have been robbed by people looking to feed their addictions, said Van Ingram, executive director of the state’s Office of Drug Control Policy.

Real estate agents warn people in some areas to lock up their medicines before showing their homes, he said.

Especially among teens and youth adults, the homes of loved ones or friends are prime locations to find prescription painkillers, he said.

“Most of us can’t go to our grandmother’s house and find cocaine, marijuana or methamphetamine, but we can find prescription painkillers,” he said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

The federal government and states have tried to counter the rise of prescription pill abuse by cracking down on “pill mill” clinics that dispensed mass amounts of painkillers and expanding state-based prescription drug monitoring programs.

Meanwhile, the DEA has planned its fourth “National Take Back Day” this Saturday, when more than 5,000 collection sites will be available nationwide for people to dispose of unused or expired medications.

“These are addictions and deaths that don’t have to happen, if we as a society would be more judicious and more cautious with our medications,” Ingram said.

In the three previous events, officials nationwide took in almost one million pounds of pills that were taken out of circulation.

At The Healing Place, which treats about 600 people at its substance abuse centers in Louisville and Campbellsville in Kentucky, addiction to prescription pills is a common problem.

Josh Lyvers, 24, said it was his mother’s outdated supply of prescription pills that deepened his drug dependency. He later stole and robbed for money to feed his addiction. He spent years in and out of jail before seeking help at The Healing Place.

“It completely took over my life,” he said. “It became the only thing that I worried about.”

Now, after a year of treatment, he’s working to get his high school equivalency diploma. He hopes to go to college and find work as an alcohol and drug counselor.

Yum Chief Financial Officer Rick Carucci predicted sales growth in the high single digits or low double digits.

Taco Bell’s introduction of Doritos Locos Tacos in early March has been “enormously successful,” Carucci told industry analysts Thursday, one day after Yum reported sharply higher first-quarter earnings on the strength of robust overseas sales and a rebound in its U.S. performance.

Rollout of tacos that use shells made of Nacho Cheese Doritos came late in the first quarter, so their full impact will be felt in the current quarter. Taco Bell also said at the time of the rollout that Cool Ranch flavored shells are in the works.

Louisville-based Yum also owns KFC and Pizza Hut, which also had sales gains at established stores in the first quarter. Yum’s operating profit in the U.S. jumped by 27 percent in the first quarter as it looks to reverse its recent domestic struggles.

Taco Bell accounts for about 60 percent of U.S. profit for Yum, so its slump put a dent in the company’s performance.

Taco Bell was knocked on its heels by the bad publicity generated by a lawsuit early last year that alleged the meat filling served at its restaurants didn’t have enough beef to be called that. Taco Bell denounced the claim as false and spent millions to defend its filling and shore up its image.

The suit was dropped about three months after it was filed by an Alabama law firm. But the chain’s sales struggled for months afterward.

Now, the California-based chain known for its hip advertising and late-night snacking aimed at young men seems to have its mojo back.

It’s expanding its menu and entering the highly competitive breakfast business.

The chain introduced its breakfast menu early this year at about 800 restaurants, mostly in the Western U.S. It plans to expand breakfast to 200 more stores in the second half of 2012, Yum Chairman and CEO David C. Novak said Thursday. The chain has said previously that if the launch goes well, it hopes to begin selling breakfast burritos and hash browns at its more than 5,600 locations nationwide by 2014.

The chain also is testing a Cantina Bell line of more upscale foods created by celebrity chef Lorena Garcia.

“We’re looking to broaden the appeal of the brand,” Novak said. “We think this is going to extend the breadth of the appeal of the brand, make us more mainstream with both male and female target audiences.”

The long-term strategy, he said, is to expand Taco Bell’s reach in the U.S. The goal is to raise the number of U.S. restaurants to 8,000, he said.

“We think we can be a significant new unit developer in the United States as we improve our unit economics,” he said.

Meanwhile, Yum continued its fast-paced international expansion in the first quarter, adding 297 new restaurants. It opened 168 new stores in its key China market, a record for the quarter.

Yum expects to open more than 1,500 new international units in 2012, including at least 600 in China, Carucci said.

Strong growth in overseas sales, especially in China, has been a key growth driver for Yum along with rapid restaurant expansion.

Operating profit in China rose 14 percent in the first quarter, adjusted for currency fluctuations. In the international division, which excludes China and India, operating profit rose 9 percent, adjusted for currency fluctuations.

A slowdown in China’s economic growth hasn’t shown up in Yum’s stores, Carucci said.

Besides the rapid expansion, Novak said, the company has strong potential for volume growth at its existing restaurants in China, where KFC is a leading fast-food brand and Pizza Hut has developed a strong foothold.

Yum’s shares were down $1.34, or 1.8 percent, at $71.60 in midday trading.

“I don’t see where that advances anything,” he said of the questions. “Maybe it’s the Southerner in me. Maybe it’s the introvert in me, I don’t know. I think that when somebody’s talking, somebody ought to listen.”

His remarks drew applause from the audience that heard Thomas’ insights on the court during a 90-minute appearance at the University of Kentucky.

Thomas has gained a reputation for staying silent during oral arguments before the high court.

He said the lawyers presenting their cases are capable and don’t need guidance from the justices: “I don’t need to hold your hand, help you cross the street to argue a case. I don’t need to badger you.”

Thomas was asked specifically about the plethora of questions during three days of oral arguments as the justices decide whether to kill or keep President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. But Thomas said it’s become habit for justices to interrupt lawyers.

“We have a lifetime to go back in chambers and to argue with each other,” he said. “They have 30, 40 minutes per side for cases that are important to them and to the country. They should argue. That’s a part of the process.

“I don’t like to badger people. These are not children. The court traditionally did not do that. I have been there 20 years. I see no need for all of that. Most of that is in the briefs, and there are a few questions around the edges.”