The Easy Option: Copy, Paste, Post

Scroll through the social media pages of Malaysian brands today and you’ll notice something strange, they all start to sound the same. The captions are polished, the tone relentlessly upbeat, the hashtags neatly in place. Yet, somewhere along the way, the personality fades. 

As the saying goes, “too many cooks spoil the broth” and in this case, too many algorithms may be doing just that.

Behind this growing sameness lies a quiet revolution: the rapid rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Jasper, now used by SMEs and corporations alike to produce content at speed and at scale. 

The appeal is understandable. AI dramatically reduces the cost and time required to maintain an active social media presence. For resource-strapped Malaysian businesses, it offers a shortcut to professional-sounding content without hiring dedicated copywriters. 

But that shortcut comes with a hidden cost: the erasure of brand voice. When every company feeds the same prompts into the same tools, the output converges into what might be called a “synthetic voice” which is pleasant, competent, and entirely forgettable. 

Young Malaysian audiences are noticing. Research consistently shows that Gen Z consumers are developing a sharp instinct for detecting AI-generated content. A 2026 international survey found that approximately 40% of Gen Z respondents were unlikely to engage with AI-generated content, while a February 2026 study conducted by Attest revealed that 72% of young consumers hold negative or cautious views toward such material. 

More tellingly, a 2025 Sprout Social Pulse Survey found that 56% of Gen Z consumers reported greater trust in brands committed to publishing human-created content. 

The message is clear, authenticity is becoming a competitive advantage, and AI-generated sameness is its opposite. 

Malaysia’s evolving regulatory landscape adds further weight to this concern. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) published the National Guidelines on AI Governance and Ethics in 2024, establishing seven core principles, including transparency, accountability, and fairness to guide the responsible development and deployment of AI across sectors. While these guidelines are non-legally binding, they signal a clear expectation that organisations using AI, including for content generation, should ensure their outputs are explainable, honest, and free from bias. 

Additionally, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Content Code requires that all advertisements and marketing communications be “legal, decent, honest and truthful”, and mandates clear disclosure when content involves influencers or commercial arrangements. 

In Malaysia’s multilingual digital landscape, brands don’t just communicate, they code-switch. A single message can move between Bahasa Malaysia, English, and Manglish, capturing the local tone audiences connect with. 

But many AI tools, trained largely on global English data, struggle with this nuance. The result is content that feels polished, yet distant, imported rather than truly Malaysian. 

Industry observers warn that without local context, brand voices risk becoming generic. The solution isn’t less AI, but smarter use, embedding cultural guardrails and keeping human oversight to ensure messages stay authentic and grounded.

As Malaysia’s regulatory frameworks evolve and consumer expectations grow sharper, brands that rely on copy, paste, and post without human oversight risk more than disengagement, they risk losing trust, and falling short of the very standards the nation is striving to uphold. 

In a digital landscape crowded with polished, machine-made content, the brands that will truly stand out are the ones that still sound human, intentional, grounded, and written because they mean it.

Pepsi Must Get Over its Coca-Cola Obsession

Pepsi is so hackneyed and unoriginal. The brand has an insatiable appetite for poking fun at Coca-Cola in its ads, which only serves to emphasise its position as the underdog. 

And while Coke's recent resurrection of one of its iconic campaigns might not be the most original advertising move we've seen in years, Pepsi's attempt to parody crosses the cheeky threshold, comfortably entering cringe territory. 

Coca-Cola's bottles and cans currently feature various first names, suggesting you might want to 'share a Coke' with a friend. And now Pepsi has released it's own take on the campaign, swapping out people's names with those of foods. The kinds of foods, such as 'Burgers' or 'Tacos', that you might 'share' a Pepsi with. 

Funny, right? Put it this way, we've seen cleverer print ads from the Coke rival. 

"This summer, why share a cola with some 'dude' or 'pal' when you can enjoy an even better pairing when you 'Share a Pepsi' with your favourite food?" reads a press release from Pepsi. 

"Whether at the ballpark, poolside, or gathered around the grill, limited-edition 'Share a Pepsi' bottles are now here to remind fans how PEPSI® enhances the flavor of popular foods like burgers and carne asada to pizza, hot dogs, tamales, and wings. Because when it comes to flavor, Pepsi isn’t just an option; it’s the essential sip to help savor every bite – making Pepsi and summer eats this season’s hottest pair". 

"Punching up" can often make for an amusing ad, and we've seen plenty of clever examples from brands with famous rivals, such as Burger King's swipes against McDonald's. But these worked because the idea was truly original.

But simply replacing Coca-Cola's first names with the names of foods doesn't have the same wit. At worst, it just feels like a sadder version of Coke's campaign, encouraging you to share your brown carbonated beverage alone with some fast food, rather than with, you know, a friend.

As if last year's misjudged "tastes OK" campaign, which was the brand's attempts to co-opt Coca-Cola's own imagery wasn't bad enough! 

I don't know about you but it makes Pepsi look desperate.

New Yorkers Get to Scratch and Sniff

Personal care brand Billie is asking city folks in New York, USA to make a pit stop when they see their posters for a scratch-and-sniff experience. 

From now through Friday, May 16, passersby can smell a giant armpit on the street, which will give them a whiff of Billie’s newest tropical-inspired scent, Coco Villa. Fans of the brand will get to sample the new smell of their best-selling All Day Deodorant at 505 8th Ave near Penn Station, as well as other locations throughout the city.

A video posted to TikTok shows people stopping to scratch giant armpits on the Manhattan sidewalks and smelling them – looking pleasantly surprised. 

“Love the fresh smell of @billie pits in the morning”, the caption read. 

“It’s gotta smell good if they’re trying each one”, someone commented. 

Coco Villa is described as a sweet vanilla coconut scent, featuring spiced vanilla, coconut cream and sunny sandalwood. Billie’s All Day Deodorant is a dermatologist-tested, aluminum-free and baking soda-free stick that promises to absorb and neutralize odor for 24 hours. It retails for $9, and the new scent is now available on the brand’s website.

Here's a really good tip on how to beat the tariffs:

Jaguar's Rebrand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jaguar Land Rover managing director Rawdon Glover has had to defend the Jaguar rebrand and was obliged to deny that its ad is meant to send a “woke” message. 

 

The award-winning luxury performance car brand debuted its new logo and slogan, “Copy Nothing”, in a promotional video on November 19, 2024.

 

The ad featured androgynous models in brightly colored, over-the-top outfits, including one man wearing a dress, along with other slogans such as “create exuberant”, “live vivid”, “delete ordinary” and “break moulds”. 

 

Notably, the ad did not feature any cars in its 30-second run. 

 

Predictably, the video blew up on social media, attracting over 163 million views and over 100,000 comments. 

 

Glover (right) praised the attention around the campaign as “very positive” – but added that he was disappointed by the “level of vile hatred and intolerance” shown by social media commentators towards the models in the video. He claimed the ad’s message had been lost “in a blaze of intolerance”. 

 

Glover told the FT: “If we play in the same way that everybody else does, we’ll just get drowned out. So we shouldn’t turn up like an auto brand”. 

 

And he left me completely confused when he said: “This is not a depiction of how we think our future customers are. We don’t want to necessarily leave all of our customers behind. But we do need to attract a new customer base”. 😕😕😕😕

 

I'm thinking he is intentionally targeting the "rich transgender person" demographic. It must be a massive market for JLR!

 

👇And this mirrors my response to Glover:

 

 

Next stage in the transformation of Jaguar will be revealed at Miami Art Week – deemed “The Super Bowl of the Art World – on December 02, 2024, in Miami, USA, including the debut of their Design Vision Concept. Whatever lah.

Yum China's CEO Believes in Power of Observation

At work, Joey Wat is known as the Chief Executive Officer of Yum China. At home, she's known as the "chicken killer" by her son. 

 

In reality, it's a monicker that has to do with the success of KFC China – one of the company’s many fast food brands including Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. Speaking at the 2024 Fortune Global Forum, Wat said KFC China kills "1 billion chickens per year". 

 

To put that figure into context, the country is home to 1.4 billion people, and according to Wat, they eat 8 billion chickens per year – meaning KFC China accounts for a substantial part of the lean protein consumed. The secret behind its popularity isn’t just a slick marketing team or even AI. 

 

Instead, Wat (right) revealed that she personally sits in KFC restaurants for “two, three hours” watching customers eat – and it’s inspired some of the company’s biggest hits. 

 

“So apparently, when kids eat the fried chicken, they eat it with the mashed potato”, she said, adding that Gen Zers were literally dipping their drumsticks into the side dish and then again into the gravy pot.

 

“What we can do with that insight is get rid of the bone”, she added, and they went on to launch a boneless “mash potato burger”. 

 

“Oh my God, it was selling so well because this is (the) kids way”. 

 

It’s not the first time watching customers eating habits turned out to be fruitful: “The best-selling pizza for Pizza Hut in China right now is not Supreme (loaded with pepperoni, pork, beef, mushrooms, peppers and onions). It's durian pizza with cheese”. 

 

The Southeast Asian fruit is so pungent that it’s banned in many areas on public transportation, hotels and airports. In fact, when Pizza Hut Hong Kong introduced the durian cheese pizza in 2020 as a limited-time promotion, they decided not to serve it in restaurants but only making it available through delivery and takeout. You can draw your own conclusions about why. 

 

As Wat said: “It has such [a] strong smell, [if] you come to the store [and] you don't like the durian pizza, our solution is, please go out”. 

 

And she remarked: “Thank God we did not need approval from Yum! the brand owner”. 

 

Becoming an independent company in 2016, meant that Wat’s team didn’t need to convince “people in New York or Texas or Kentucky” that the grassroots idea would take off. 

 

“You can imagine it [would] be absolutely impossible”. 

 

The real-time insight again, proved to be valuable. One in every four pizzas sold at Pizza Hut right now is the durian-kind. Last year alone, it sold 30 million pies. 

 

 

“Just watch with heart”, Wat concluded. “Some things you can observe directly from the customer and sometimes talking to the store manager helps”. 

 

This is the power of observation in marketing. It is the astute ability to directly observe how consumers interact with products and services to gain insights about their behavior and preferences. 

 

This method can help businesses understand market dynamics, uncover trends, and make strategic decisions.

BYD Partner with Wukong Developer-Publisher

BYD, on October 20, have entered into a global strategic partnership with Game Science to become the exclusive automotive brand partner of the hit Chinese video game Black Myth: Wukong, as the new energy vehicle (NEV) maker ramp up their marketing efforts.

As part of the partnership, BYD and Game Science will work together to promote the scanning of Chinese heritage sites into digital assets to support future restoration efforts, according to an announcement from the NEV maker. The two companies will start this year by joining forces with local museums to digitally scan cultural artifacts, starting with Shanxi in northwest China, where the game is most heavily set.

BYD are the world's top seller of NEVs, with vehicles in 95 countries and regions and more than 400 cities around the world, the company said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ukraine's Kursk Region adventure has turned into a misadventure, if not a disaster, having suffered massive losses.

Todate, Ukraine has sacrificed 25,420 servicemen, 169 tanks, 84 infantry fighting vehicles, 103 armored personnel carriers, as well as 977 armored combat vehicles, 664 other motor vehicles, 216 pieces of artillery, 38 multiple rocket launchers, including nine HIMARS and six US-made MLRS.

And over at the Ukrainian front lines, the Russians are unstoppable and keep advancing.

[V]olodmir [Z]elensky, it's over lah!

Persuasion and the Power of Instinct

I stumbled upon an interesting article, "Want To Persuade People? Work With Their Brains, Not Against Them" written by Rodger Dean Duncan and published September 19, 2024 in Forbes. And I'm reproducing and sharing it here:

 

Agency, the privilege of making choices and decisions of our own free will, is a heaven-sent gift that we enjoy as humans. But exactly how we make those choices and decisions has been open for discussion for millennia. 

 

Leslie Zane offers thoughtful additions to the discussion in "The Power of Instinct: The New Rules of Persuasion in Business and Life" (2024). [Zane is an alumna of Yale, Harvard Business School, and Bain & Company, is an award-winning Fortune 500 brand consultant and behavioral expert]. 

 

People don’t make decisions with their conscious minds, Zane says. They decide on instinct. But harnessing that instinct, she says, requires working with the human brain, not against it.

 

The “conscious marketing model” is dead, Zane says. She explains why. 

 

“The conscious marketing model is the premise that our conscious mind controls our decisions, from the brands we buy to the political candidates we vote for”, she says. “Traditional marketing [developed decades ago and still practiced by most companies today] is based on this conscious model. But behavioral science has taught us that the brain has two mechanisms, conscious and non-conscious, and the unconscious mind controls an estimated 95% of the decisions we make”.

 

Traditional marketing, Zane says, “tries to persuade the conscious mind. It barrages people with messages, provides discounts and coupons, etc. But these techniques don’t work very well for two reasons: (1) the conscious mind is rigid, skeptical, and resistant to change, and (2) the conscious mind makes only 5% of decisions anyway. So, essentially, marketers are putting 100% of their time, energy and resources against only 5% of people’s decisions. It’s no wonder that driving growth is so hard”.

 

Zane (left) says brands actually reside physically in the unconscious mind and that they can be influenced. She explains how that works:

 

“Every brand has what we call a Brand Connectome® – a network of cumulative memories (positive and negative associations) that become ‘glued’ to the brand over time in people’s minds – some going as far back as childhood. Contrary to popular belief, a brand is not your logo, your package or even your advertising. Rather, it’s the convergent associations that consumers have with your brand – visual, verbal, experiential. Let’s say you’re the CMO for a large brand of pasta. Your Brand Connectome might include Sunday dinners with family, Mom’s favorite recipe, the wooden spoon she cooked with, licking the sauce off the spoon if she let you, red checkered tablecloths, a host of positive associations. You don’t choose your brand of pasta, your Brand Connectome does.

 

“Think of your brand as a seed that you plant in people’s minds. As you add positive associations (its nutrients), the seed grows into a seedling, a plant, and, if you treat it right, it becomes a full-grown tree. The moment the canopy of your brand covers more terrain in someone’s mind than the competition, they instinctively buy your brand”.

 

Zane writes about “growth triggers”, succinct codes or cues packed with positive associations. So, when trying to establish and maintain a high-performance workplace culture, how can leaders make good use of growth triggers? 

 

“The human brain is lazy and it doesn’t like to work hard”, she says. “That’s why it’s drawn to Growth Triggers®, simple codes or cues in any of the five senses that are packed with meaning. For example, the inspirational, orange-colored beads of sweat on Michael Jordan’s face in the 1991 Gatorade campaign, ‘Is it in you?’ (revived in 2024) are a Growth Trigger. These orange beads are a cognitive shortcut to much greater meaning: perseverance, excellence, achievement, inner strength and a myriad of other positive associations”.

 

But these triggers, Zane explains, are not limited to marketing communications. They can be used to create a high-performance culture or superior customer experience.

 

“Hotel Nizuc in Cancun, Mexico, uses a Growth Trigger to greet guests”, she says. “Every employee from the bellhop to the lifeguard places their closed-fisted hand on their chest the moment they see a guest. This simple hand gesture conveys: welcoming, peace and relaxation, I’m happy to work here, and we care about you. Growth Triggers are like fertilizer to the Brand Connectome, providing a burst of positive associations that accelerates its growth overnight”.

 

When establishing a new brand – for a product or service – what’s the key to differentiating yourself from competitors?

 

“One of the fastest ways to establish a new brand is to leverage a weakness of a large dominant competitor”, Zane says. “Disruptor brands are known for this. Differentiation shows up in many areas: expertise (e.g., the Cloud 5 technology behind the On sneaker), brand personality (e.g., Buffalo Wild Wings’ irreverence), even imagery (e.g., AllBirds’ grassy fields, sheep and freshly-shorn wool). But new brands still need to deliver on category drivers. By differentiating on a few key elements while still delivering on category drivers, a new brand can get break into the market overnight”.

 

Zane says familiarity is more powerful than uniqueness, but distinctiveness is strongest of all. She explains how that applies to professional people establishing and maintaining their personal brands in the workplace.

 

“The traditional thinking in marketing is that uniqueness is king”, she says. “This is one of the oldest rules in the marketing playbook, i.e., stand out, be the purple cow, differentiate or die. But we now know that human beings are hardwired to connect with the familiar – they reject the unique. That’s why nine out of 10 new products fail.

 

Distinctiveness lets your marketing ride familiar neural pathways while making it ownable to your brand. This works the same way for a personal brand”.

 

First and foremost, a professional needs to be accepted, Zane says. And that means being familiar.

 

“In subtle indirect ways, you want to convey that you are part of the team, aligned with the company’s mission and committed to the company’s success”, she advises. “But familiarity is not enough. You also want to be distinctive. This means having innovative ideas, coming up with a creative growth plan, and implementing new methodologies (e.g., AI, applied behavioral science). Striking the right balance between familiarity and distinctiveness will put your personal brand on the fast-track”.

 

When promoting something with social media (a webinar, for instance), what’s the advantage of multiple messages over a single brand message?

 

“One of the longest standing rules of marketing is that a brand should stand for only one thing”, Zane says. “Marketers are raised on it. Ad agencies promote it. The problem is: if your brand has only one association, it doesn’t stand for enough. If you were promoting a webinar in social media, you would want simple succinct messages that create hundreds of positive associations in people’s minds. That’s because, the more connections you create, the more salient it is. Like a game of monopoly, the player that owns the most physical real estate in people’s minds wins!”

 

Googly Eyes Help Sell Ugly Produce

It is estimated that a third of all the food produced in the world is never consumed, with the total cost of that food waste being as high as $400 billion a year.

 

I don't know how true this is – but for sure, we know there is wastage. 

 

While some of this is caused by storage issues or over-purchasing, it is also said that up to 20% of produce waste is perfectly good food considered too ugly (read, misshapen and/or discolored) for us to purchase.

 

That may be but it doesn't mean it should be wasted. It can go into making things like sauces, soups, and jams. Or you can donate it to foodbanks. It's important to have a “waste not, want not” mindset.

 

Anyway, Kacy Kim (left), an associate professor at Bryant University, and colleagues published a study "From ugly to attractive: Leveraging anthropomorphism to increase demand for irregular-appearing produce" on May 26, 2024 in the journal Psychology & Marketing with an adorable solution to the food waste problem: anthropomorphizing the said produce to make them more appealing and increase purchase intentions.

 

Kim and her team argue that the problem is that supermarkets, and even "ugly" food specialty companies, are going about it all wrong. It's not about discounting irregular produce to try and get people to buy it – it's about making that produce appealing enough that it doesn't need to be discounted in the first place. 

 

That's where the googly eyes come in.

 

"By testing and adding some human characteristics, we examine whether that effort will increase the attractiveness of the produce, and [whether] that attractiveness is going to be increasing the purchasing of the produce and consuming of the produce" said Kim.

 

And they also found that giving ugly produce human names like Taylor or Jordan made it more appealing. 

 

It’s all about how the human psyche is programmed to see the world, explained study co-author and Bryant University professor Sukki Yoon (right). 

 

“We process things unconsciously as we are told to. ‘Apples are supposed to look like this’, that is a human bias. By extension, it is a type of stereotyping”, explained Yoon.

 

Anthropomorphizing imperfect fruits and vegetables has been shown to move the needle on shifting consumers’ intentions to purchase such produce in the past. In 2014, “The Grotesque Apple” and “Ridiculous Potato” were promoted in an advertising campaign helmed by a French supermarket chain that sold the produce at discounted rates. The following year, “Beautiful on the Inside” launched as a UK campaign that promoted the idea that flavor and nutrition trump aesthetics when sold at cheaper price points. And in 2016, a major US supermarket launched a “Produce with Personality” campaign aimed at discount shoppers in Pittsburgh.

 

Kim and Yoon’s new research emphasizes how much simpler marketing tactics, such as googly-eyed eggplants, can be used by retailers to increase consumer demand for irregular-looking produce, and reduce emissions associated with food waste – without needing to slash prices.

 

 

Black Myth: Wukong Breaks Record on Launch Day

“Black Myth: Wukong”, the new video game title – refer to my post published June 23, 2024 – launched yesterday by a Tencent-backed start-up has quickly become the most-played game on a major online platform, highlighting growing interest in Chinese-developed titles. 

 

“Black Myth: Wukong”, based on the Chinese mythological figure and classic novel “Journey to the West”, topped Steam’s most-played games chart with 2.2 million concurrent players, making it comfortably the biggest-ever single player launch on the PC platform. I cannot locate PS5 player numbers, but it’s safe to assume they’re high too.

 

Game Science, the developer behind “Black Myth: Wukong”, was founded in 2014 by former Tencent employee Feng Ji. The company have secured backing from investors, including Chinese tech giant Tencent and mobile game publisher Hero Entertainment.

 

 

First teased in 2020, the game has attracted global attention as a high-budget title from China. Pre-orders opened on June 08, with the game topping Steam’s China sales chart for the week of August 06-13.

 

The Tuesday launch also made waves domestically, with “Black Myth: Wukong” trending on social media. The hashtag ranked second on Weibo, China’s popular microblogging platform, accumulating 1.7 billion views.

 

FYI, this game's release marks a bold foray by Chinese game developers into a market long dominated by Western triple-A titles.

 

And already, major Chinese brands have leveraged the game’s popularity in their marketing efforts. Lenovo's Legion PCs and Luckin Coffee are among those incorporating elements inspired by “Black Myth: Wukong” into their promotional campaigns.

 

Apple Ad Crushes Memories

When an ad goes viral, it’s usually for one of two reasons – it resonates so deeply with viewers that they can’t stop talking about it… or it makes people so upset they rush to social media to voice their outrage. 

 

An Apple ad for its new iPad Pro seems to fall into the latter category. Posted on social media Tuesday by Apple CEO Tim Cook, the ad starts off as a sort of time capsule for human creativity. 

 

There’s a metronome. A record player. Then the lights come on in a warehouse-like room, where you see those items and dozens of other creative tools sitting on a metal slab in the center of the shot. There’s also a CRT TV, cans of paint, a globe of the Earth, a piano, an ‘80s arcade video game, a sculptural bust of a human head and a trumpet. 

 

Another giant metal slab hangs ominously above it all. As we hear the opening words of “All I Ever Need Is You”, a 1972 single by Sonny & Cher, the metal slab starts descending. 

 

The items are in a giant hydraulic press, and within about 40 seconds everything will be gone – crushed under tons of force in an often dramatic fashion.

 

After the destruction, the hydraulic press starts rising again. The debris is now gone. In its place is a shiny, new iPad Pro. A voiceover says, “The most powerful iPad ever is also the thinnest”. 

 

Cher closes out the minute-long spot, crooning “All I ever need is you”. 

 

Videos of hydraulic presses demolishing everything from electronics to candy have become very popular in the past few years, in part due to the often mesmerizing nature of the way things collapse under pressure. Apple are seemingly trying to capitalize on this trend while making a point about how their new iPad Pro is so powerful it can replace other means of creative expression. 

 

But for many viewers, the ad doesn’t land the right note. “I’m not sure ‘wanton destruction of all the good and beautiful things is (sic) this world’ was really the vibe you were trying for”, says one commenter on X. 

 

“I can’t relate to this video at all. It lacks any respect for creative equipment and mocks the creators”, says another. 

 

Others say that even though they understand what the ad is trying to say, it doesn’t resonate with them. 

 

“It’s a creative concept & good execution, but wow the ad made me surprising (sic) sad!” says one X user. “The song choice also seems to especially idolize tech over real life. Now I just want to avoid screens & spend more time enjoying the world offline”. 

 

“It should have been about capturing and honoring the essence of what’s so special about all of those things and experiences to bring them together in a device, not crushing the soul out of them”, says another person on X. 

 

The plug is telling me that technology is hell-bent on destroying our collective memories. And then, to declare that is a good thing before showing off the Apple tablet is obnoxious, objectionable and even offensive!

Sweethearts Situationships — The Perfect Valentine's Gift for 2024 💝

 

Methinks, this is splendidly creative! A standout example of superb marketing!

 

Spangler Candy, a US family company, since 1906, which swooped in to save Sweethearts candies in 2018, are now turning what some might see as flaws into a unique Valentine's Day feature by introducing special edition "Situationship Boxes".

 

Yes, that's right – they're boxing up their blurry, hard-to-read candy-heart misfits to mirror the often perplexing nature of today's dating scene. Evan Brock, a rep from Spangler's marketing team, writes, "The printing on Sweethearts isn't always perfect. This is our way of embracing those imperfections in a way that taps into pop culture".

 

If you don't already know, situationships are romantic entanglements where the participants haven't established the nature of their relationship. From a relationship with "that one person you meet up with whenever they happen to be in town" to "your go-to 'plus one' for couple-y events," situationships have no labels, exclusivity or boundaries. 

 

Research from Tinder, the world's most popular dating app, indicates that young singles now consider the situationship to be a legitimate relationship status. The undefined and noncommittal situationship continues to evolve as people are less concerned about relationship outcomes and more interested in enjoying the process, according to Tinder data. 

 

And the word "situationship" ranked in the top four terms considered for the Oxford University Press' 2023 "Word of the Year". Hence the Situationship Box from Sweethearts, filled entirely with sweet, muddled nothings and literal mixed messages.

 

These "Situationship" boxes are up for grabs starting January 08. Sorry, I don't think they're available in this part of the world.

Hot Lips

The tongue and lips logo or alternatively the lips and tongue logo, also known as the Hot Lips logo, or the Rolling Stones Records logo, or simply the Rolling Stones logo, is a logo designed by the English art designer John Pasche for the rock band The Rolling Stones in 1970.

 

It has been called the most famous logo in the history of popular music. The logo has remained on all post-1970 albums and singles by the Rolling Stones, in addition to the band's merchandise as well as their stage sets.

 

And in 2012, the band commissioned Shepard Fairey to update the logo for their 50th anniversary.

 

But do you know that in the rainforests of Central and South America, there is a plant, Palicourea elata, commonly referred to as the Hot Lips Plant or Hooker's Lips Plant or by its Costa Rican name Labios de Puta – and which stands as a remarkable botanical wonder in the tropical flora?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most distinctive features of P. elata are its red bracts, a modified set of leaves. Before its flowers bloom, the bracts resemble a pair of human lips. The flowers of P. elata bloom from December to March and can be described as small, star-shaped flowers.

 

P. elata is part of the genus Palicourea, and, as many plants of this genus, does not give off a scent. Due to the undetectable scent, the plant relies on its shape alone to attract pollinators, such as butterflies and hummingbirds. Once pollination and fertilization occurs, P. elata produces small bluish-black berries. These berries are then distributed via birds; a common mechanism that plants of the Palicoura genus use.

Zara Pulls Ad Over Gaza Reference Claims

Fashion brand Zara on Tuesday said it was removing an advertising campaign from its website and social media channels after angry criticism online claimed that it resembled images of destruction in Gaza. 

 

The move follows days of boycott calls across Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok over the promotion called ‘The Jacket’, which featured a model holding a mannequin seemingly wrapped in white plastic, fragments of plasterboard, a roughly painted crooked wooden box, rubble and statues, as well as other mannequins with missing limbs. 

 

“Unfortunately, some customers felt offended by these images, which have now been removed, and saw in them something far from what was intended when they were created”, Zara said in a statement posted on its Instagram account. 

 

The Inditex-owned fashion brand added that the ad campaign, which was conceived in July and photographed in September, presents a series of images of “unfinished sculptures in a sculptor’s studio and was created with the sole purpose of showcasing craft-made garments in an artistic context”.

 

UK’s Advertising Standards Authority said they had received over 100 complaints that the imagery referenced the current conflict in Gaza and was therefore offensive. 

 

In early November, UK clothing chain M&S apologized for an Instagram video showing green, white, and red paper hats burning in a fire. The company explained that the video was part of a campaign recorded in August to “playfully show that some people don’t enjoy wearing paper Christmas hats”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, some social media users argued the hats reflected the colors of the Palestinian flag. And they accused M&S of "promoting the burning of the Palestinian flag". 

 

In the end, the firm deleted the picture and apologised for any "unintentional hurt".

 

It should be noted that the colors of the festive hats are also the same as the flags of Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, Oman, Lebanon, Madagascar and Burundi and are ones traditionally associated every Christmas.

Burger King To Answer Whopper Lawsuit

A legal battle over the size of Burger King's Whopper is headed to court.

 

A US judge rejected the burger chain’s bid to dismiss a class action lawsuit brought by customers who say Burger King's in-store menu boards show a much bigger Whopper than what is actually served.

 

District Judge Roy Altman in Miami, Florida said Burger King must defend against the contention that their depiction of the signature sandwich as having ingredients that, quote, “overflow over the bun" – making it appear 35% larger overall and with more than double the meat of an actual Whopper. 

 

Burger King, a unit of Restaurant Brands International, countered that they weren’t required to deliver burgers that look “exactly like the picture”. Really? I would call it deceptive marketing, if that was the case. 

 

Anyway, the judge said it’s up to a jury to decide what “reasonable people” would think – and whether the burger joint’s alleged action amounts to a breach of contract with their customers.

 

(The judge dismissed claims over video ads, though, where you see the burger and all the stuff in it bouncing around deliciously and all that). 

 

Perhaps, Burger King can add a disclaimer: "Picture for illustration purposes only". Then customers won't feel cheated. 

 

But better still, they should make the burger be just like the one on the menu board. 

 

Burger King are not the only ones accused of beefing up their images. McDonald’s and Wendy’s are defending against a similar lawsuit in Brooklyn, New York. And Taco Bell, a unit of Yum Brands, were sued in Brooklyn in July for selling Crunchwraps and Mexican pizzas that allegedly contain only half as much filling as advertised.