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☆ The US is under pressure to lead the way in reducing plastic pollution — but it keeps making more of it
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

World leaders are gathering in Ottawa, Ontario, this week to hash out a global treaty to end plastic pollution. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. AdvertisementHundreds of businesses and countries support cutting plastic production. Lin represents the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, which includes more than 200 companies. Cutting plastic production would also hit the bottom line of oil majors such as Exxon.

Persons: Carroll Muffett, Jose Fernandez, Biden, Allison Lin, Lin, Stewart Harris, Harris, Neil Nathan, Nathan, He's Organizations: Service, Business, Center for International Environmental Law, Organization for Economic Co, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, State Department, Mars Inc, Business Coalition, Global Plastics, Walmart, PepsiCo, International Council of Chemical Association, Oxford Economics, Exxon, The International Energy Agency, UC Santa Barbara, US Locations: Ottawa , Ontario, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Washington, DC, Paris, Ottawa, Belgium

☆ The American Kennel Club's pedophile problem
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +26 min

The mother contacted the American Kennel Club, the organization that oversees most dog shows in the country. The AKC helps local kennel clubs enforce rules about conduct and animal treatment. The bulk of the organization's income comes from the dog-show community, in the form of event and registration fees paid by local kennel clubs and breeders. The debate is taking place as kennel clubs try to entice younger children to show dogs. Many dog shows include competitions for junior handlers, including a "Pee Wee" division for kids under the age of 10.

Persons: Adam Wilkerson, She'd, Wilkerson, —, It's, Brandi Hunter Munden, Munden, eyeing, Andrew Mansfield, Mansfield, Walter Palmerino, Palmerino, I'm, John Cathcart McCartney, McCartney, Eugene Zaphiris, Zaphiris, he's, Adam Stafford King, King, Jacob Boudreau, Boudreau, Dennis, Margaret Poindexter, Deb Cooper, Ashley Miller, Miller, Shimpeno's, Shimpeno, Mary Dukes, Dukes, they've, it's, Susan Shephard, West Volusia Kennel Club Shephard, hadn't, Shephard, Tonda Curry, Curry, who's, Paige McCarver, groomer, McCarver, She's, we're, Wilkerson's, she's Organizations: Westminster Kennel, Business, BI, American Kennel Club, AKC, Getty, Dog, Wisconsin, Police, American Kennel, Grand Central, Purina, ABC, ESPN, AKC Canine Health Foundation, AKC Museum, Preservation Bank, Mars, Royal, Dog News, Kids, Florida's West Volusia Kennel Club, West Volusia Kennel Club, Boy Scouts, New York Times, US Equestrian Federation Locations: Dallas, Michigan, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, American, Wee, Munden, Texas, Arizona

☆ Daily Multivitamin Might Help Aging Brains
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-18 | by ( Jan. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +5 min

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter(HealthDay)THURSDAY, Jan. 18, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- A daily multivitamin could help people keep their brains healthy as they age, a new trial finds. Results suggest taking multivitamins could help prevent memory loss and slow cognitive aging among older adults, researchers report in the Jan. 18 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The effect was measurable: A daily multivitamin slowed brain aging by the equivalent of two years compared to placebo. “Cognitive decline is among the top health concerns for most older adults, and a daily supplement of multivitamins has the potential as an appealing and accessible approach to slow cognitive aging,” he said. It looked at whether a special cocoa extract supplement, a daily multivitamin (in this case Centrum Silver) or both might help boost health.

Persons: Dennis Thompson, Dr, Richard Caselli, “, Chirag, ”, ” Yvas, Olivia Okereke, Preventive Medicine Howard Sesso, Zaldy Tan, ” Tan, Caselli, Sesso, Brigham Organizations: American, Clinical Nutrition, Mayo Clinic, NBC News, Chirag Vyas, Massachusetts General Hospital’s Department of Psychiatry, Cocoa, Massachusetts General Hospital, MGH, Brigham, Women’s Hospital, Columbia University, Wake Forest University, National Institutes of Health, Mars Inc, Pfizer, COSMOS, Women’s, Preventive Medicine, Council for Responsible Nutrition, Cleveland Clinic, NBC Locations: Arizona, Massachusetts, multivitamins, Jona, Los Angeles

One year ago, natural pet food brand NUTRO™ announced the start of their Greater Ground™ program whose mission is to encourage growers to adopt healthy soil practices. This aims to raise awareness of the importance of healthy soil and to encourage select growers in their network to implement healthy soil practices by providing training, support, and funding. Because growers can face many barriers in adopting healthy soil practices on their farms, the NUTRO™ Greater Ground program also offers Soil Growth grants which provide financial support to selected growers within their network. These grants help with the transition costs needed to implement healthy soil practices. In the fable, one neighbor helps the other transform their farm using healthy soil practices.

Persons: ™, Alanna McDonald, HFI, McDonald, we've, Arlo, Mars Organizations: Food & Agriculture Organization, United Nations, Mars, Soil Growth, Growth, Schiff Farms Inc, Soil, Insider Studios Locations: North America, mutuality, Delaware

☆ Mars to buy Britain's Hotel Chocolat for $662m
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Hotel Chocolat products are seen on sale at Rabot 1745, in London, Britain December 1, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Britain's Hotel Chocolat (HOTC.L) agreed to a 534 million pound ($662 million) takeover offer from Mars Inc on Thursday, the specialist chocolatier succumbing to the U.S. food giant with international expansion in mind. Set up twenty years ago, Hotel Chocolat aimed to make chocolate exciting by bringing ethical affordable luxury to the British high street, and joint founder Angus Thirlwell remains chief executive to this day. Thirlwell, who will stay on with the business under family-owned Mars, said growth would be faster under new ownership. By partnering with Mars, we can grow our international presence much more quickly," he said in a statement.

Persons: Peter Nicholls, Angus Thirlwell, Thirlwell, Peter Harris, Sarah Young, Kate Holton, James Davey Organizations: REUTERS, Mars Inc, Thomson Locations: London, Britain, Chocolat, Saint Lucia, Japan

☆ Reducing pesticides in food: Major food manufacturers earn an F grade
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Sandee Lamotte | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

“Pesticide exposure during pregnancy may lead to an increased risk of birth defects, low birth weight, and fetal death,” the American Academy of Pediatrics stated. “Exposure in childhood has been linked to attention and learning problems, as well as cancer.”Yet pesticide exposure is widespread, even for chemicals that were banned years ago by federal agencies. In the 2023 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce — a list of nonorganic produce with the most pesticides — researchers found 210 different pesticides on the 12 foods. In addition, consumers can ask food companies to “release the actual test results of pesticide concentrations in their products,” said EWG’s Temkin. “Food companies have not been publishing such data, instead relying on generalities,” she said via email.

Persons: ”, Cailin Dendas, “, disheartening, Jane Houlihan, Houlihan, Kale, collard, ” Alexis Temkin, toxicologist, ” Dendas, Jim Watson, Dendas, Sow, General Mills, Archer Daniels, Lamb, Nestlé, Dane Lisser, Shelby Stoolman, EWG’s, Temkin, ” Temkin, “ Steer Organizations: CNN, “ Pesticides, Healthy, “, ”, American Academy of Pediatrics, Environmental, US Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, US Centers for Disease Control, Getty, Archer Daniels Midland Co, PepsiCo Inc, Conagra Brands Inc, Campbell Soup Company, Lamb Weston Holdings Inc, G Foods Inc, Cargill, Danone S.A, Del Monte Pacific Ltd, General, Inc, Kraft Heinz Company, Mars Incorporated, Mondelēz, Post Holdings Inc, ADM, US Food and Drug Administration Locations: United States, AFP

For the second year in a row, U.S. shoppers are seeing double-digit inflation in the candy aisle. That’s on top of a 14% increase in candy and gum prices in October 2022. “The price of candy has gotten to be outrageous,” said Jessica Weathers, a small business owner in Shiloh, Illinois. Meanwhile, global sugar prices are at 12-year highs, Goughary said. Buck said Hershey is trying to meet consumers’ needs with offerings in value stores and pack sizes at various price points.

Persons: ”, Jessica Weathers, ” Weathers, Dan Sadler, Kelly Goughary, Goughary, —, Michele Buck, Buck, Hershey Organizations: Gro Intelligence, Aldi, Mars Inc, Hershey Co Locations: Shiloh , Illinois, West Africa, El, Ivory, India, Brazil

☆ Campbell to buy Rao's premium sauces maker Sovos for $2.33 bln
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File PhotoAug 7 (Reuters) - U.S. packaged food maker Campbell Soup (CPB.N) will buy Michael Angelo's and Rao's owner Sovos Brands (SOVO.O) for $2.33 billion in cash, the company said on Monday, beefing up its meals and beverages business with the maker of premium Italian sauces. Campbell will pay $23 per share for Sovos, a nearly 28% premium to the stock's last close. Sovos' shares were trading at $22.48 while Campbell slipped 1.2% to $44.58 in early trade. Last month, Unilever (ULVR.L) said it would buy frozen yogurt brand Yasso in North America while Mars Inc agreed to buy Kevin's Natural Foods. In May, Campbell Soup sold Emerald Nuts to Flagstone Foods for an undisclosed amount.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Campbell, Michael Angelo's, beefing, Sovos, Campbell Soup, Arun Sundaram, Savyata Mishra, Savio D'Souza, Shweta Agarwal, Sriraj Organizations: REUTERS, Sovos Brands, Unilever, Mars Inc, Flagstone Foods, CFRA, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, North America, Canada, Bengaluru

NEW YORK, July 5 (Reuters) - Family-owned food giant Mars Inc on Wednesday agreed to buy Kevin's Natural Foods, which is known for its sous-vide meals, sauces, and side dishes, the companies said. McLean, Virginia-based Mars, which generates about $48 billion in annual sales, has three major businesses - Mars Petcare, Mars Snacking, and Mars Food & Nutrition. After the deal is completed, Kevin's will operate as a standalone brand under the food and nutrition unit. Mars plans to grow its food business through more potential acquisitions in the near term, said Shaid Shah, global president at Mars Food & Nutrition. McCray launched Kevin's after he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, as he wanted to build a food brand that focused on healthy diets.

Persons: Kevin's, Mars, Canin, Shaid Shah, Shah, Dan Costa, Kelsie Costa, Olson, Kevin McCray, McCray, Simpson Thacher, ArentFox Schiff, Sheppard Mullin, Anirban Sen, Abigail Summerville, Jamie Freed Organizations: YORK, Mars Inc, Mars Food, Nutrition, Mars, Heska Corp, Towerbrook Capital Partners, NewRoad Capital Partners, Unilever, Flagstone Foods, Campbell Soup, Citi, Burling, Wells, Wells Fargo Securities, Thomson Locations: McLean , Virginia, Modesto , California, North America, Bartlett, Covington, Wells Fargo, New York

☆ Take a look inside the factory fueling candy giant Mars' $1 billion ice cream ambitions
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Mars has also been expanding its portfolio, rolling out new flavors such as M&M's Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches and Twix Cookie Dough Ice Cream. Mars' ice cream goals hinge on the old and the newMars entered the ice cream category in 1986 when it bought Dove, then known just for its ice cream bars before the candy company expanded it into chocolate. "We don't have the biggest ice cream brands, but we do believe we have the biggest brands in ice cream," Shaf Lalani, the U.S. head of Mars Ice Cream, told CNBC. "Mars Inc. ice cream brands face hefty competition, being ranks away from the leading spot in the U.S. ice cream market," said Carl Quash, Euromonitor's head of food and nutrition research. Twix Ice Cream is the fastest-growing product in the company's ice cream portfolio.

Persons: Mars, Anton Vincent, hasn't, General Mills, Bell, Carl, Lalani, — Organizations: Mars, Kind, Kind North America, National Football League, Cream, CNBC, U.S, Euromonitor, Haagen, Unilever, Mars Inc, Tru Locations: Burr Ridge , Illinois, Mars Wrigley North America, U.S, , Illinois, Kind North

☆ Unilever Tries Reformulating Its Ice Cream to Survive Warmer Freezers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Katie Deighton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Keeping ice cream at 10 degrees as opposed to zero will reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 20% to 30% per freezer, it said. Unilever’s out-of-home ice cream sales declined slightly during the fourth quarter of 2022 because, the company said, some stores unplugged their freezers sooner in the year than usual. Higher temperatures can lead to softer ice creams that stick to wrappers and slide off ice cream sticks, for example, said Andrew Sztehlo, chief research and development officer for Unilever’s ice cream division. The warming program isn’t designed to sweat competitors out of Unilever freezers, which some shopkeepers fill with an assortment of brands that don’t carry the Unilever logo, Mr. Sztehlo said. Representatives from ice cream makers Nestlé SA, Mars Inc., General Mills Inc. and Froneri International Ltd. declined to comment.

☆ Dogs Win the Super Bowl Ad Lineup, Surveys Show
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Patrick Coffee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

The winner of USA Today’s annual Super Bowl Ad Meter was a commercial for dog-food delivery company Farmer’s Dog Inc. that tracked one chocolate Lab’s relationship with its owner from puppyhood to old age. The USA Today rankings had some overlap with other results. Research by Ace Metrix, a unit of TV ad measurement firm iSpot.tv Inc., crowned Jeep’s Super Bowl commercial as the most likable of the night. Jeep had the game’s most likable ad, according to Ace Metrix. “In past years, we’ve seen the majority of Super Bowl conversation generated in the weeks leading up to the Big Game,” a Mars spokeswoman said.

☆ The 2023 Super Bowl Ads Will Feature Booze, Betting and Jesus
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Megan Graham | Patrick Coffee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +10 min

The Super Bowl ads on Sunday are poised to promote an unusual mix of alcohol brands, gambling and Jesus. The Super Bowl still regularly draws an audience of around 100 million people, making it TV’s biggest event of the year and advertising’s biggest night. Planters’ Super Bowl ad features comedians mocking Mr. Peanut. The ads are likely to strike a lighter tone than the occasionally somber messages of Super Bowl ads in recent, highly politicized years or the early pandemic, said Anjali S. Bal, an associate professor of marketing at Babson College. Many Super Bowl advertisers have again released their ads well before Super Bowl Sunday to increase their chances of being seen.

☆ Take a Look at Some of the Best Super Bowl Ads Ahead of the Big Game
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Aidan Pollard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul return as Walter White and Jesse Pinkman in one of the much anticipated Super Bowl commercials. This year some advertisers have released what appear to be full-length Super Bowl commercials early, posting them to social media and YouTube. The Super Bowl has long been a kind of, well, Super Bowl for advertisers, leading companies to go bigger every year with their ads. The commercial pokes fun at corporate "rock stars" by splicing real rock and heavy metal icons into everyday office situations. Diddy does hitsA commercial released this week shows musician Diddy in a meeting with marketers from Uber who are asking him to write a song for the Uber One membership service.

☆ M&M’s Ditches ‘Spokescandies’ for Maya Rudolph After Backlash Over New Look
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Jennifer Calfas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The brand said it believes Maya Rudolph will ‘champion the power of fun to create a world where everyone feels they belong.’The M&M characters are taking a break a year after their new looks sparked controversy. The Mars Inc. brand said Monday that its candy characters—known as “spokescandies”—will begin an “indefinite pause” from their duties. Comedian Maya Rudolph will take their place as the brand’s spokesperson and will star in the candy’s upcoming advertisement at Super Bowl LVII in February, the brand said.

After controversy following its mascot refresh last year, M&M's announced Monday it is taking an "indefinite pause" from using its candy-coated mascots, saying the "last thing M&M’s wanted" was to be "polarizing." M&M’s said in a tweet that it is instead tapping actor Maya Rudolph as its spokesperson, someone the brand said "America can agree on." He made similar complaints about the candies last January after M&M’s announced a new, inclusive look. “But now we get it — even a candy’s shoes can be polarizing," the brand wrote. Others speculated the announcement could be a publicity stunt made ahead of the Super Bowl, which takes place on Feb. 12.

Fourteen of the top 30 advertisers on Twitter stopped all advertising on the platform after Musk took charge on October 27, according to the Pathmatics estimates. Pathmatics said the previously unreported figures on Twitter advertising are estimates. read moreThe Pathmatics estimates show continued upheaval in Twitter's main revenue stream heading into 2023, led by a pullback from top consumer brands. Among consumer brands, Heinz ketchup maker Kraft Heinz Co(KHC.O) and Stouffers meal manufacturer Nestle SA (NESN.S) stopped all advertising, according to the Pathmatics estimates. Financial technology provider SmartAsset and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) said Pathmatics estimates showing an increase in advertising were inaccurate.

☆ Ads Often Run on Websites That Come With High Carbon Emissions but Low Returns, Study Finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Megan Graham | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Marketers are often running digital ads on websites that provide relatively low returns on their investment but generate comparatively high carbon emissions, a new study said. Concerns have been growing in some corners of digital advertising about the industry’s carbon footprint. The business consumes a significant amount of energy, leading to carbon emissions, as many websites trigger automated auctions for various ad spaces every time a consumer arrives on one of their pages. Ebiquity and Scope3 say one way of cutting down on emissions would be to work to keep marketers’ ads from winding up on “made for advertising” sites. Other groups are working on different approaches to measuring carbon emissions in advertising.

☆ How CMOs Are Marketing Through a Turbulent Economy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Megan Graham | Katie Deighton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

CVS Health Corp. has not pulled back on marketing so far, according to its chief marketing officer, Norman de Greve. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CMO Today CMO Today delivers the most important news of the day for media and marketing professionals. The Twitter conundrumExecutives also spoke about how they have been approaching Twitter as a marketing platform in the days since Elon Musk took ownership and some marketers began to flee. The company hasn’t been marketing on Twitter in the last quarter but will continue to evaluate it, she said. CVS’s Mr. de Greve similarly said the platform was not a significant marketing tool for the company even before Mr. Musk’s takeover.

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoCompanies Mars Inc FollowNov 8 (Reuters) - A California man who claimed Skittles are "unfit for human consumption" because they contained a known toxin has dismissed his federal lawsuit against Mars Inc, the candy maker. Jenile Thames voluntarily dismissed his case on Monday, according to a filing by his lawyers in Oakland, California. read moreThough many foods contain titanium dioxide to add color, various studies have over the years questioned its safety. Mars, based in McLean, Virginia, on Sept. 30 sought to dismiss Thames' lawsuit. It said its use of "small amounts" of titanium dioxide did not harm the plaintiff, and complied with U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations.

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