business

They aren’t health and safety issues, thankfully! But Kind Bars simply aren’t as “healthy” as they claim to be according to the FDA (but honestly, who really thought they were super healthy anyway? They’re so sweet!) and some of the labeling is off-kilter. Simply writing “peanut butter” or “mixed fruits” doesn’t seem to legally cover it; which if you’re looking to avoid things like corn syrup that can be found in a lot of “peanut butter coatings” should be something you’re wary of.

Your Kind Fruit & Nut Almond & Apricot, Kind Fruit & Nut Almond & Coconut, Kind Plus Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate + Protein, and Kind Plus Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew + Antioxidants products are misbranded within the meaning of section 403(r)(1)(A) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 343(r)(1)(A)] because the product labels bear nutrient content claims, but the products do not meet the requirements to make such claims.

The FDA lists phrases that the company uses that it maybe shouldn’t, including:

I Will What I Want – Under Armor

Posted on February 16, 2015 by elemonated

I’m loving those new Under Armour ads. They’re a perfect follow up in the theme set by the Always #LikeaGirl Superbowl ads; crazy excellent women doing crazy excellent at the things they do. Misty Copeland, especially struck me as a a great model for this particular set of ads because I have experience with the dance and performance industry, and the voice-over used in her video really struck a chord. Under Armour especially does a great job expressing an emboldening message, while making their products look fantastic.

Any profession where the body is used as an outward vessel for expression incites criticism of the vessel. Calls for an idealization of the vessel that makes it so that expression through it is exclusive. Modeling is the same way, though Giselle Bundchen’s ad focuses on a slightly different issue. There’s this odd tendency in all visual arts, from videography to photography to writing to watercolor to etching to dance, that dehumanizes the subject, and concentrates them down to that moment. At best, art gives a summary. We can’t forget that there’re always more to the story.

Hershey vs. the UK

Posted on January 24, 2015 by elemonated

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/24/nyregion/after-a-deal-british-chocolates-wont-cross-the-pond.html?_r=0

That’s insane. I understand Hershey has a trademark to protect, but overseas Cadbury has this lovely distinct taste to it that the ones created here simply don’t have. I can’t believe Hershey was able to block the importing of decent eating chocolate. LBB Imports, the name of the company Hershey sued, cannot sell imported candies such as Toffee Crisps, Yorkies, and Maltesers, as well as candy with American equivalents like Cadbury, Kit-Kats, and Rolos anymore, and the lawsuit was dropped. It’s like an affront against globalization though.

We’re already facing a chocolate shortage. I am now even less likely to buy Hershey products, and I originally had only really liked Kit-Kats, Reese’s Pieces, and York Peppermint Patties, none of which I purchased on anything resembling a regular basis. They may have a right to protect their trademark, but this leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Wix Breakfast: Brand Personality!

Posted on January 14, 2015 by elemonated

Actually called: Wix Breakfast: Life Attracts Life- Give Your Brand a Personality Boost!

School’s getting closer, so I decided to retrain myself for it by going to bed ridiculously late and waking up ridiculously early for a lecture! Yay! I found it on Eventbrite while browsing and took a chance.

And I’m really glad I did. It was a really interesting seminar, a little on the short side, full of little tips I would have never thought of, like how important emotional touchstones, big and small (“anything from a big brand experience to a tweet”), are to a customer base. There are tons of examples of these connections with consumers that I can think of. Some smaller gestures include Xbox’s (T, F) and T-Mobile’s (T, F) avid usage of their twitter handles and Facebook support apps to annual events like Krispy Kreme’s Day of the Dozens, Talk Like a Pirate, and National Doughnut Days. Everyone remembers larger political gestures like Oreo’s support for gay pride, to well-established, company-wide policies like Starbucks’ C.A.F.E Practices (they work with Conservation International to keep the farming sustainable) and TOMS Shoes policy of donating a pair of shoes for every pair purchased. All of them work to improve the perception of the brand and endear its consumers to it, while actually decreasing a little of the bad in the world at the same time. And of course, little gestures like that are key for small business owners to create their own communities; Milk Sugar Love’s content on their Facebook page regularly attempts to engage users with questions and relatable expressions.

Empathy

Posted on December 29, 2014 by elemonated

http://www.livescience.com/17378-rats-show-empathy.html

“When the free rat opens the door, he knows exactly what he’s doing — he knows that the trapped rat is going to get free,” Mason said. “It’s deliberate, purposeful, helping behavior.”

Lean on You by lakteed

Old picture of mine!

Business is “competitive” and it’s cool to be “cutthroat” and you have to be “willing to be a bitch” to get what you want. It’s good to be “good at manipulation.” Whatever that’s supposed to mean.

Look, I get it. We get told this so that we stand up for ourselves and be ambitious despite the vocal minority of incredibly irritating people, so that we know how to act around certain people, so that we work hard and grab fleeting opportunities, and so that we’re successful. Most of the advice that comes out of the people telling you the above catch-phrases are well-meaning and only want to make sure you don’t slack off because they want you to do well. That’s fine. But people have this weird “Tragedy of the Commons” sort of issue with the “business fields” when they’re young that really doesn’t seem to be based on reality. There’s a lot of opportunity for you and your peers, surprise! Some of which can be self-created if we feel up to it. It’s up to you to seize it, but very few people have gotten really far (I guess except in politics. Yay royalty and conquering.) by pulling down the people around them.

You can open the damn cage for the other guy before getting to the chocolate chips, aight?

Perfume Adventure NYC Part 1!

Posted on December 26, 2014 by elemonated

The other week I wanted a break from the onslaught of final presentations and final papers and finals in general, so I poked my boyfriend really hard and demanded we go do smelly things. Like go to New York and visit things on this map. Because he gets headaches pretty easily from perfumes and I wanted to take my time and talk to people in each of the places I went to, we divided the places they listed up by area of the city to visit on different days, and because I like lists and Racked offers a pinned map, I put it in an Excel sheet.

I think you can guess where we hit first. And we went to Papyrus to pick up my Reddit Gifts card exchange gift.

I had a great conversation with the Aedes De Venustas guy about jasmine perfumes and the history of one of his favorite brands, Acqua Colonia, and I got the names of a bunch of stuff I might buy later when I have money, plus a refresher on brands I had completely forgotten about (BYREDO and Eau D’Italie!) and I’m fairly determined to go back and prove myself a customer that was eventually worth the time he spent on me. Sorry man, I probably should have just told you up front I was there for research purposes that day, but I will get you that commission! I got a bunch of people to say they’ll check out the place for gifts and already went through part of the choosing process with them so I hope I already earned some of your time back. I’m sure you guys earn on sales, and I know how that feels.

We went took a detour to Radio Shack to clear the boy’s nose because someone had accidentally sprayed some Amouge near him and that ish is strong stuff, and then headed over to Jo Malone because I thought he would appreciate how simple the scents were in comparison. Again, awkward sales rep avoidance ensued until we took haven with the Art History grad student named Kate making Christmas ornaments for people who purchased over $150 in the store. I did grab a few samples I liked though, like the Wild Fig and Cassis and Earl Grey and Cucumber that I’ll review another time, along with notes on other things I liked. We made off with the samples and a secret ornament that Kate accidentally messed up and then handed my boyfriend to finish, hehe.

I had by this time completely forgotten what Enfleurage was, so I wasn’t prepared for an essential oils distillery, and I just kind of ended up a bundle of awkward in that little store. I’ll come back with questions, and perhaps earlier, as the guy behind the desk seemed to be pretty tired. We didn’t stay long because I couldn’t think of any questions to ask, unfortunately.

But after we left, I realized that we still had time to hit the last of the stops I wanted to hit, and my energy was renewed from getting to pet some puppies in sweaters being walked. I was able to speak and think again without an overcast of uncomfortable. At our last stop, By Kilian, I got to meet Kimberly Waters of the reminiscent30 blog and Modern Urban Sensory Experiences, and we had a whole discussion on careers involving scents and the By Kilian brand, which was a lot of fun and pretty enlightening for my amateur mind, and it made me feel like I could do something I enjoy, for a living. She reminded me that, contrary to my belief, I was not running out of time. I guess I’ll just keep writing. Reviews for Imperial Tea and Love and Tears, Surrender coming soon!

Toxic relationships

Posted on November 3, 2014 by elemonated

http://tinybuddha.com/blog/5-signs-youre-in-a-toxic-relationship/

This post is not about friends, families, or significant others.

This post is about work dynamics, and in a roundabout, rather passive aggressive way I guess, about how I’ve been feeling for a few months now, and the situations I’ve needed to change. Situations that I personally need to handle better. Situations that I really just have to avoid. Some of the points certainly apply to me, and how I react to certain situations. I am fighting a lot of unhealthy behavior in my life, and I don’t always win and this damages my relationships with others across the board. I try to acknowledge this as much as possible, but I’m kind of at the point where it’s not a 100% hit rate. Anyway.

I’m going to take the Tiny Buddha points and rewrite them to describe how they may apply to a work setting.

1. It seems like you can’t do anything right.

Your efforts are constantly brushed off, mocked, or otherwise not taken seriously. Suggestions you make don’t count in the context of the group, and you are regularly being criticized without given adequate constructive material to improve.

2. Everything is about them and never about you.

The goals are the only things that matter, and your needs and desires are not taken into consideration at any point for any reason. Any expression of discomfort or misgivings is met with accusations of bad attitude or undesirable qualities. At times, you may be talked over.

At CIA Starbucks, even the baristas are covert

Posted on September 30, 2014 by elemonated

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/at-cia-starbucks-even-the-baristas-are-covert/2014/09/27/5a04cd28-43f5-11e4-9a15-137aa0153527_story.html

The hilarity when secrecy and customer service collide. I kind of want to work for the CIA Starbucks, not gonna lie.

If it weren’t in the middle of no where, being able to drink coffee with analyists and international go-betweens, intelligence experts, and cartographers practicing new languages and getting interviewed sounds just about ideal.

“The baristas go through rigorous interviews and background checks and need to be escorted by agency “minders” to leave their work area. There are no frequent-customer award cards, because officials fear the data stored on the cards could be mined by marketers and fall into the wrong hands, outing secret agents.”

Perhaps I’m just a sucker for a secret.

Happy Advertising Week!

Posted on September 29, 2014 by elemonated

I’m going to be super exhausted this week because it’s Advertising Week all over Manhattan and I’m volunteering!

Advertising Week is in its 11th year, and it’s the largest collection of communications and marketing leaders in the industry. Lots of lectures with lots of topics, lots of food, and lots of music. Speakers like Dan Ackerman, Ariana Huffington, Jamie Oliver, Laura Adams, Jessica Alba, Mario Batali are going to be discussing awesome things in tech, comm, and marketing, and A-Trak, T.I., The Script, Outkast, and Wiz Khalifa are all performing.

Unfortunately, I have to miss much of the night shows because I have school at night, but it doesn’t bother me that much because I’m honestly going to learn (thought it would have been really cool to be at the kick-off gala.)

Get your tickets here, and I hope to see you at an awesome lecture!