Many consumers — and investors — are attracted to companies and products that prioritize products that minimize ecological harms. Corporate marketing that makes empty eco-promises is so common that there’s a name for it: Greenwashing. A Wall Street Journal video.
Update:
“‘A sea of misinformation’: FTC to address industry greenwashing complaints,” Tom Perkins, The Guardian
While Republicans are historically known for their support of business, Florida’s GOP Governor Ron DeSantis is locked in battle with his state’s largest employer, Disney World. Disney spoke out against the DeSantis-encouraged laws meddling in women’s health and persecuting sexual minorities. In retaliation for these corporate views, Mr. DeSantis targeted the mechanism used to develop and maintain Disney’s huge Cental Florida resort since 1967. That testy move could put Florida taxpayers on the hook for more than $1 billion.
Enter Donald Trump, current frontrunner in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Ron DeSantis is obviously set to formally enter the fray after his symbolic world tour. As far the The Donald is concerned, the enemy of his enemy is his friend. Expect to see him leave Mar-a-Lago for an Orlando mouse-hugging daytrip soon.
Fun Fact: Ron DeSantis got married at Disney World in 2009.
More:
“Donald Trump posts scorched-earth rant against Ron ‘DeSanctus,’ blasts gov’s ‘political stunt’ against Disney,” Mark Moore, New York Post
“Trump attacks DeSantis by suggesting Disney could leave Florida because of the governor,” Antonio Fins, Palm Beach Post
“Man vs. Mouse: Ron DeSantis Finds Taking On Disney Is a Dicey Business,” Charles Homans, New York Times
“The feud between Ron DeSantis and Disney, explained,” Nicole Narea, Ian Millhiser, and Alex Abad-Santos, Vox
Japan’s national culinary treasure, sushi, was automated in 1958, when Yoshiaki Shiraishi, the Henry Ford of sushi, opened the first kaiten sushi (回転寿司 “revolving-sushi”) restaurant in Osaka. Today, the $5.1 billion business of conveyer belt sushi is dominated by four giant chains: Sushiro, Kura Sushi, Hama Sushi, and Kappa Sushi.
Competition between the big 4 firms is keen as a sashimi bōchō knife, and led to some bluefin-tuna-sized scandals this year. Last month, Tokyo police smelled something fishy, and arrested the president of Kappa Sushi for stealing corporate secrets from rival Hama Sushi. He later resigned. And in June, Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency reprimanded Sushiro for promoting a sea urchin sushi 90 percent of their outlets didn’t actually carry.
You won’t See a Tesla commercial on TV. Celebrities and influencers (including Elon Musk) do the work of ads for free. The company puts money into research and development instead of PR. A Newsthink video by Cindy Pom.
In 2021, U.S. vinyl albums outsold CDs for the first time in 30 years, even though CD sales increased, too.
According to data from the MRC and Billboard, 38.3 per cent of all album sales in the country last year were in vinyl format, accounting for over 50 per cent of all physical album sales (41.72 million sales out of a total of 82.79 million).
2021 vinyl album sales went up by 51.4 per cent to 41.72 million compared to 2020.
Vinyl is more expensive than other formats, so who’s buying LPs? The most devoted fans of artists like Adele, Taylor Swift, and Olivia Rodrigo want these large physical tokens.
More:
“Vinyl outsold CDs in the US for the first time in decades,” Scott Nover, Quartz
“As superstars cash in on vinyl LP boom, small labels and manufacturers struggle to meet demand,” Randall Roberts, Los Angeles Times
For the past decade, guitars have been a glut on the market, seen as boomer relics of rock music’s bygone ages. COVID home confinement has changed that:
“A half-year into a pandemic that has threatened to sink entire industries, people are turning to the guitar as a quarantine companion and psychological salve, spurring a surge in sales for some of the most storied companies (Fender, Gibson, Martin, Taylor) that has shocked even industry veterans.
‘I would never have predicted that we would be looking at having a record year,’ said Andy Mooney, the chief executive of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, the Los Angeles-based guitar giant that has equipped Rock & Roll Hall of Famers since Buddy Holly strapped on a 1954 sunburst Fender Stratocaster back in the tail-fin 1950s.”
— “Guitars Are Back, Baby!” Alex Williams, New York Times
Image (“The Electric Guitar Lesson, after Renoir”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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