From Switzerland: a new spot starring sports icons Roger Federer and Marco Odermatt paints a picture of what we might be missing out on, by being glued to our mobile screens. Believe it or not, it’s a commercial for telecom leader Sunrise.
From Argentina: a series of spots from the streaming giant centered on the dilemma of how to interpret a ‘Netflix and chill’ invite.
Excerpts from a tongue-in-cheek report:
The state of West Virginia gathered to mourn the loss of their last Hooters last week, which is being demolished after closing in 2020 due to the pandemic.
The Kanawha City location, located in the Mountain State’s capital city of Charleston, was a staple for many who lived in the area, so it was only fitting that a candlelight vigil was organized to give the beloved Hooters a proper farewell.
Over 300 people RSVP’d to attend the vigil. So while it may have started out as a joke, after the event went viral and began getting attention all around the world, the community rallied to pay its final respects to the once-great establishment.
According to WCHS, hundreds showed up from as far away as South Carolina to attend, while several former employees reunited to share memories of their time slinging beer and chicken wings.
Excerpts from a news report out of Oregon:
The City of Madras is proposing a new restriction on shopping carts that would fine grocery stores for carts stolen off their property. Many of those carts are ending up near homeless camps.
The City contacted grocery stores late last year requesting action to keep carts on property.
“When we started to see the relationship between shopping carts not being kept on the retailer’s property and then being used in ways that weren’t intended, we thought we needed to start figuring out a way to solve this problem,” Madras Community Development Director Nicholas Snead said.
“If the shopping cart is not on the property, it’s a $100 offense,” Snead said.
Is the proposed solution fair to grocery stores?
“Well, I don’t know that it’s fair. I think it’s a complex problem,” Snead said.
It’s a global petition against sewage in the oceans, signed with sewage from the oceans. To quote from the campaign website:
When signing the petition, your name will get printed using Shit Ink – an ink made from sewage collected around drains pipes during spills.
Your printed signature will then get delivered to the responsible politician in your country once local petition requirements are reached.
Last month, the swearing parrots of Lincolnshire Wildlife Park were in the news again after the park announced a plan to integrate them with the other parrots. To quote from a BBC report:
Chief executive Steve Nichols said he was about to introduce them to the rest of the flock to “dilute” the swearing.
It is hoped they will also copy more appropriate vocabulary and noises from the remainder of the flock, he said.
Mr Nichols said: “Parrots are flock creatures. They need to be with other parrots. The bigger the flock, the happier they are.
“Even though they swear, the welfare of the birds has to come first.”
However, he admitted: “We could end up with 100 swearing parrots on our hands. Only time will tell.”
A new report this week said that the strategy was working.
Mr Nichols said: “It’s early days still but it’s been a good start. We haven’t heard any of the really crude language.
“Of course people are still walking up to the enclosure and swearing in front of the parrots, hoping they will copy the words.”
Notably, the report mentioned another development.
Mr Nichols said while the parrots may have dropped their swearing, a new problem appears to be brewing.
“One of them has taken to singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas over and over again,” he said. “Fine in December, not so fine in February.”
UK retailer Currys promotes its trade-in offers with a series of amusing spots.
A Valentine’s Day message from IKEA… for couples who find assembling their furniture to be a pain:
If it can turn you mad, it can turn you on. Celebrate Valentine’s the right way.
Right after Duolingo’s 5 second butt-exploding Super Bowl spot went viral, the brand posted an explanation of how the commercial came about. One of the revelations was about the fart sound that was used. To quote one of the creative minds behind the spot:
There’s music to farts. They have an emotional range – from happy to defeated. We knew we had found the right sound when we hit on a fart with a smile.
It turns out that the said creative had a more direct role in the sound of that fart. A piece on the Figma blog quoted him saying this:
One of my talents is making fart sounds with my armpits, with great emotional range. So we did a recording session and recorded maybe 200 variations.
From Canada: men’s healthcare startup Phoenix finds quite the way to promote its erectile dysfunction treatment.
A new spot for Pot Noodle that is pretty much 20 seconds of shameless slurping. To quote the brand:
Pot Noodle is no longer eaten. It is slurped. Make yours in 4mins and deliver satisfaction to your ears and mouth now.
The complete (“uncut”) version of Cardi B’s Super Bowl spot for NYX Cosmetics is simply hilarious.
I’ll let this report explain:
An Idaho lawmaker wants to expand a law that bans cannibalism over fears about a rise in human composting.
Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, introduced a bill Thursday to expand the state’s cannibalism ban and told a legislative committee that she’s worried about the possibility that people are eating other people.
“This is going to be normalized at some point, the way our society’s going and the direction we’re going,” Scott said.
Idaho is the only state to outlaw cannibalism, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica. Other states have laws targeting abuse or desecration of a corpse, according to Cornell Law School.
Scott’s bill would add to Idaho’s prohibition of cannibalism a ban on giving someone else “the flesh or blood of a human being” without that person’s “knowledge or consent.”
And this is part of what she said, explaining the background for her proposal:
I know this seems like it’s a heavy topic, actually. It might seem kind of gruesome. And it kind of is. I'm going to give you a little background of what got me into this position to run this bill.
So keeping in mind Ecclesiastes 1.9, ‘What has been will be again. What has been done will be done again. There's nothing new under the sun.’ So cannibalism has existed and it's been a widespread custom in humanity for pretty much all of history. And examples have been found on every continent of cannibalism.
So a few years ago, back in 2019, I heard that Washington State was starting to do human composting. And that disturbed me. I envisioned something with commercial composting, and I didn’t want to see that in my Home Depot stores.
It isn't often that a legal ruling includes a stylised, ungrammatical line of dialogue from a piece of popular culture. To quote:
As the world turns, it makes no sense for contemporary society to pledge allegiance to the founding era’s culture, realities, laws, and understanding of the Constitution. “The thing about the old days, they the old days.” The Wire: Home Rooms (HBO television broadcast Sept. 24, 2006) (Season Four, Episode Three).
And this is how David Simon, creator of The Wire, responded, referring to the character who uttered that memorable line:
Slim Charles was a sagacious motherfucker.
First there was this:
Then this happened:
Lest you wonder, their father is Scottish oil tycoon Sir Bill Gammell, founder of Cairn Energy.
To quote one observer:
What I see is immensely privileged people taking out billboards in the public realm to make family in-jokes to each other: humble-braggy, self-heroising, LinkedIn-fodder in-jokes about how successful they all are.
From Norway: in its latest commercial, sex toys retailer Kondomeriet goes back to using visual imagery of food to get past the restrictions of television advertising.
A Florida lawmaker seeking looser regulations on the killing of wildlife has claimed that black bears high on crack are breaking into people’s homes and “tearing them apart”.
The allegation from Republican state congressman Jason Shoaf, whose biography reveals a passion for hunting, is bizarre even by the already unorthodox standards of Florida, which in recent times has boasted cocaine sharks and marauding herpes-ridden monkeys.
“We’re talking about the ones that are on crack, and they break your door down, and they’re standing in your living room growling and tearing your house apart,” Shoaf told a meeting of the Florida legislature’s house infrastructure strategies committee discussing his House Bill 87, which would remove most penalties for killing bears without authorization.
“When you run into one of these crack bears, you should be able to shoot it, period. And you shouldn’t have to pause or be afraid you’re gonna get arrested or harassed or pay fines. That’s just crazy.”
The Guardian was unable to find a documented incident of any of Florida’s estimated population of 4,050 black bears having ingested crack, and Shoaf did not return a request for clarification.
His colleagues, however, appeared swayed by his argument, and advanced the bill on party lines for a full house hearing.
From India: chocolate brand Cadbury 5 Star gets creative with the idea of a live-streamed ‘mission’ to fast forward Valentine’s Day. To quote:
Cadbury 5Star has embarked on this mission in partnership with the legendary space scientist Nambi Narayanan, to introduce a unique ‘time travel vessel’, a ship named F.N.S. Cringe Vinash, that will be sent to cross the International Date Line between American Samoa and Samoa at exactly 11:59pm on 13 February 2024 (American Samoa Time), thereby crossing the 24-hour threshold and setting foot into 15 February, 12:00am - the local time on the other side of the International Date Line thus, skipping 24 hours of Valentine’s day in a single minute! The volunteers who will embark on this momentous journey will symbolize the spirit of all those who wish to erase Valentine's Day from their calendars this year. These volunteers, equipped with an abundance of Cadbury 5Star treats, will indulge in these delightful confections and Do Nothing as they journey through time.
To quote from the UFC announcement:
Under the new agreement, Rizz Pharma will become an Official Partner of UFC with exclusivity in the U.S. in the Hair Loss and Erectile Dysfunction Medicine categories. This marks the first time UFC has opened up these categories to a marketing partner.
Excerpts from a report out of Utah:
Utah parents would need to provide assurances that their child is potty trained to enroll them in kindergarten under a proposal under consideration by the Utah Legislature.
Rep. Douglas Welton, R-Payson, said the intent of HB331 is to “allow our teachers to teach and keep our kids safe and healthy as well.”
A significant number of children entering kindergarten are not potty trained, something that became more evident as Utah schools pivoted to full-day kindergarten classes, Welton said.
Teachers were concerned about the legal risk of assisting children while toileting or changing students who have soiled their clothing, he said.
“You’re asking teachers who already seem to be distrusted a little bit by certain segments of the population and you’re asking them to go and help facilitate a child use the restroom. That’s a big risk that a lot of them don’t want to take and shouldn’t have to take,” said Welton.
But if a child has an accident, “they are sitting in a mess and that’s not healthy and sanitary for anybody and that’s very problematic.”
A Valentine’s Day gift idea from Saxx Underwear that one report quite fittingly described as a ‘family jewels’ pendant.
Let me start with this excerpt from the website:
The Diaper Spa is here to serve all diaper-wearing individuals who seek acceptance, respite, and care. We embrace 21+ year-old individuals from all races, genders, sexual persuasions, and preferences. We celebrate the genuine you. We are LQBTQIA++ friendly and affirming. We are trauma-informed. Only guests over 21 yo can consent and receive our very elite 1:1 care.
Now consider this elaboration of the activities :
Imagine a safe and judgment-free session where you can openly express yourself and partake of your favorite activities, meals, snacks, and nurturing. Activities range from playtime, story time, nap time, cuddle time, changing time, coloring, nursery rhymes, and sing-a-longs.
More luxurious services include Hyponoregression, Yoga, Massage, Makeovers, and even piggy paint!
We send a snack or meal menu before your special visit so that we will have goodies especially for you. Our menu will always change to keep things interesting.
In the summer, you can play with your water wings and floaties poolside, picnic under the tree with your teddy bear, play marbles on the patio, or swing on the front porch swing and serve tea to your dollies on the porch. In the winter, we can make snow angels, build snowmen, drink hot cocoa from beneath clouds of whipped cream and sprinkles, and decorate gingerbread men or sugar cookies.
A website that helps you cry to relieve stress. To quote the person(s) behind it:
Studies show crying can relieve stress for a week, so we made a website featuring a rotation of the most tear-inducing videos known to science.
