All posts in: Scandal

17 Feb 2019

In The News… Companies Doing the Wrong Thing

We’re not even through the month yet and I continue to be frustrated with the type of news I see from companies and organizations that should know better. It’s the same old story. And I know I’m not the only one that feels this way. But when these pieces come out, it causes me to wonder a couple of things. Decisions aren’t made on the whim. Like many orgs, these decisions go up a chain of people for approval. This happens at startups and non-startups. The companies in question are massive organizations. Secondly, my next question is wondering who is in the room. How many people make these decisions and who do they represent? Because it’s clearly not their customers.

I could dive deeper into each piece, but it’s not worth the time – right now. For now, I want to put this out there and make it known and it’s likely we’ll have to circle back on this again. Here are the pieces in question:

  • Vogue Brazil Fashion Director Resigns Over Slavery Birthday Party Photos [Ohnotheydidnt]
  • Delta and Coca Cola Under Fire For Plane Crush Napkins [Ohnotheydidnt]
  • Gucci Apologizes and Pulls $890 Sweater Decried As ‘Haute Couture Blackface’ [Ohnotheydidnt]
30 Jan 2019

Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings” Mashup

Our girl Ari is thriving right now! But that doesn’t mean that she won’t stop at nothing to claw her way to the top. Even while she’s climbing the charts, her haters still have some criticism. Right after “7 Rings” was released, many people were quick to point out some similarities between her song and songs by Soulja Boy, Princess Nokia and 2 Chainz. You could watch separate videos of her copy catting the three artists or you could watch this one video which encompasses it all.

Conclusion: “7 Rings” is a bop. The similarities are nearly spot on, but at the end of the day, what is anyone going to do about it?

19 Jan 2019

Conservatives and Their Closed Communities

My work recently included educating myself on the real estate industry so I found this piece by Vice fascinating.

For those that are feeling like their current communities are “too liberal,” they are fleeing to an area in Texas to be around those that share the same values as them. And by values, I mean a strong conservative viewpoint. One family featured in this piece was relocating from California. The community, as seen in this piece, looks predominantly “white” and is cookie-cutter perfect. I believe someone referred to it as “Pleasantville” like? The community was created by those that share the conservative values and are the realtors themselves.

However, not everyone in the neighboring area agrees. The mayor recognizes that everyone will have different viewpoints, but building your own enclosed wall to shut those opinions out doesn’t actually solve anything. Is this not modern day segregation at work here?

Growing up, I’ve always been very fond of my communities within music, my university, and even spirituality. I have never felt so strongly about anyone that disagreed on these things that I needed to remove myself from them altogether. 2019, you guys.

21 Dec 2018

Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Insensitive Tweet

The Monterey Bay Aquarium had a huge mess up earlier this week and of course, it went viral. In an effort to be cool and get some laughs, the Aquarium completely missed the mark. While giving one of their otters, Abby, a little attention, they in turn made a few references that were considered “insensitive.” In their words, “several terms referenced originated from African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and specifically reference Black women’s bodies. Using them in a sea otter meme without that background makes insinuations we never intended. We need to do better.”

I remembered seeing this on Instagram earlier this week and stopping dead in my tracks. How many other instances have there been like this one where a company or an organization tries to make a funny tweet and instead gets dragged for it? The answer is plenty of times in the last year. It’s fascinating to me because we live in this current time period where a role that didn’t exist 10 years ago is now crucial to a brand’s reach. With that responsibility though comes a whole lot of risk. There’s this interesting balance that social media coordinators and managers have to find in being relevant, concise, and funny while going viral, but not offensive. Who could live with that kind of pressure? 

Sure, there’s a certain degree to it that I have to think about for my blog, but we’re not big time enough for that yet. That’s why this type of career is so fascinating to me because there’s so much at stake. My guess is that this will likely blow over. That something like this will happen again to another company in the next few weeks and will continue to happen for years because no one knows how to get it right. 

[Source]

30 Jul 2018

Blog Roundup

  • Seattle’s Pike Place Fish Market Sold to Fish-Throwing Employees [The Seattle Times]
  • The world’s most Instagrammable sneakers [forward2me]

  • The horror film, The Purge, is being turned into a television series for USA Network and it looks just as terrifying as the films.
  • Mara Wilson’s thoughts on how Allison Mack got roped into NXIVM [Elle]
  • An interview with Stripe’s CEO, Patrick Collison on culture and growing startups [High Growth Handbook – Elad Gil]
  • How an ex-cop rigged McDonald’s Monopoly game and stole millions [The Daily Beast]

  • The bowling mechanic keeping America’s favorite pastime alive
  • The legacy of Benihana [The Ringer]
  • Being 30 in Seattle: It’s a lot harder today than it was for your parents [The Seattle Times]

  • How Marie Kondo Created a Decluttering Empire [The Every Girl]
  • He Kissed Me…and then Unmatched Me [The Every Girl] – just a funny take on online dating in 2018

  • Giant NASA Space Blanket Will Cover This Year’s Burning Man [Hypebeast]
  • The 18 Best New Restaurants in America [Eater]
  • Lyft Announces New Subscription Plan [Refinery29]
29 Apr 2018

Blog Roundup

  • You are what you eat on your pizza. April pizza horoscopes. [Bon Appetit] (one month later)
  • McDonalds’ interior design tricks [Market Watch]
  • Q-Tip will teach a music course at NYU this fall [Pitchfork]
  • Ace Hotel will be opening a location in Japan next year – Kyoto to be specific [Hypebeast]
  • Nike admits they could do a better job with hiring women and minorities in leaked internal memo [Hypebae]

  • A behind-the-scenes look at the kitchen at KFC. This was FASCINATING to me.
  • Why I wondered what happened to the Steven Alan store in Hayes Valley [Fashionista]
  • Who picks out the playlists you hear while shopping? [Racked]
21 Apr 2018

Starbucks’ Company Wide Racial Bias Training

Next month, 8,000 Starbucks locations will close the afternoon of May 29th for a company wide racial bias training. This decision was made after an embarrassing incident last week in Philadelphia where two black men were allegedly arrested for “trespassing.” The video of this went viral and CEO Kevin Johnson addressed this incident quickly with an apology and an announcement of the training that came this past Tuesday. The upcoming training will involve nearly 175,000 employees with hopes that incidents like this one will never happen again.

[Source]

07 Apr 2018

Vero

So it has been a month; is Vero still a thing? It was early March when I was flipping through my Instagram stories one day and started noticing a few of the people I followed posting about their new accounts to Vero and beckoning others to follow them. Naturally, I had to do my research. I am someone that does get that FOMO feeling sometimes so I didn’t want to be on the outside of it, but I also know that new trends in tech and social media come up frequently. It’s hard to adopt them all. I already struggle to keep up with my favorites so if I’m going to make a new account, it better be a good one.

To put it simply, Vero is supposed to be Instagram, but better. The app promises that there aren’t any ads. In addition to sharing photos, you can share the things you like right now – books, music, movies, etc. I’ll admit, the intro video is quite compelling and visually pleasing. This alone almost sold me… almost. But not quite, because…a little bit more research brought us to this piece. Honestly, it wasn’t even research because this sort of things was shared everywhere and spread like wildfire across the internet. I’m not convinced yet that this is a platform that I need to join, but I’m willing to hear your thoughts if you’ve given it a go!

17 Mar 2018

No One Is Happy About How The Bachelor Ended

It’s been a couple of weeks since the finale aired, but seeing Arie and Lauren is sort of infuriating especially in more television appearances. Remember when we all hated Juan Pablo? Turns out that we only needed just a few years for someone to take over as being the worst bachelor ever. The producers of this show stretched out the finale into two nights as in, four hours of my time, so to spare you that, let me just quickly recap what happened.

Arie chose Becca as the one he wanted to marry. A few weeks later, he had second thoughts and decided he wanted to be with Lauren before the finale of the season aired. Arie decided to break up with Becca while the cameras are rolling completely blindsiding her and then runs back to Lauren. Becca is now the next Bachelorette which is sort of a win for her and Arie and Lauren are engaged. On the After the Final Rose finale special, Arie proposes to Lauren and again in front of the cameras. Does the guy know how to do anything privately?

After all is said and done, Arie and Lauren appeared on Jimmy Kimmel and he makes fun of them straight to their face throughout the interview because they are terrible and deserve it.

31 Jan 2018

Marchesa Cancels Upcoming NYFW Show

Absolutely no one is surprised that Marchesa will not be showing at New York Fashion Week next month. With the scandal directly tied to Harvey Weinstein, his wife Georgina Chapman and one half of Marchesa has been noticeably quiet in recent months. She had announced that she would be divorcing Harvey, but many wondered “is that enough?” One one side of the argument, you’re wondering what more she could do after seeking a divorce. However, on the other hand, you have to ask yourself if Georgina really was unaware of everything that went on. It’s not just the sexual assault that she may or may not have known about, but the fact that reports came out that Harvey threatened female celebrities and urged them to wear designs on the red carpet.

Believe me, there’s more that I want to know about this story, but at the same time, I’m tired. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back and now it’s too much. It almost doesn’t help me to know more of the details and to get the questions answered. As many of you know, I adored Marchesa. Since we’ve been posting runway collections to Yow Yow! I’ve featured Marchesa almost every season. I’ve wondered what it might be like to wear one of their gowns for an event or a wedding – anything, and this whole ordeal has been really upsetting, but more upsetting for everyone that had to become a victim of Harvey’s. It’s unclear how Marchesa can even make a comeback after something like this; maybe it’s best if they didn’t.

[Source]