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☆ Bud Light Maker Compensates Workers Targeted in Dylan Mulvaney Backlash
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Jennifer Maloney | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Bud Light sales fell sharply after a company promotion with transgender social-media star Dylan Mulvaney. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP; Caroline Brehman/ShutterstockThe maker of Bud Light said it would triple its planned U.S. marketing spending on the brand this summer and is providing financial support to front-line teams and wholesalers who have taken the brunt of a backlash to a company promotion with a transgender influencer. Anheuser-Busch InBev also will continue its support of LGBT rights organizations, said the company’s chief executive, Michel Doukeris .

☆ May the 4th be with you: 4 ways to celebrate ‘Star Wars Day’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Lisa Respers France | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Today is officially known as “Star Wars Day,” when the famous movie franchise and its many TV spinoffs are celebrated. Follow the official “Star Wars” Twitter accountThis is where to find all things “Star Wars” related, from news to celebrations. And take this quick 10-question quiz to find the right Star Wars film to watch this May the 4th! https://t.co/UfeqFgKvkt pic.twitter.com/gFlqvvsD7y — Star Wars (@starwars) May 3, 2023Watch the films and showsThe film franchise has a dozen movies to choose from (if you include the animated 2008 offering “The Clone Wars”), which will keep you plenty busy should you so choose to celebrate this day. So today you can toast Fisher and enjoy the memories of her over the years “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”

☆ What boycott? Bud Light controversy led to only a 1% drop in global sales volume, CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Grace Mayer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Anheuser-Busch's global CEO Michel Doukeris discussed the impact of recent Bud Light backlash. Doukeris said the drop in Bud Light sales represented only 1% of the company's global sales volume. Previously, the Wall Street Journal reported that Bud Light Sales dropped by 17% by mid-April, per data created by Bump Williams Consulting and analyzed by Nielsen. By April 22, Bud Light sales in US stores dropped 21% compared to the previous year, per the sales data analysis reported on by the Journal. Bud Light has also reportedly offered a free case of beer to every employee of its wholesale distributors.

☆ Why the Bud Light sales nosedive won’t register on Anheuser-Busch’s earnings report this week
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Anheuser-Busch will report earnings Thursday, marking the first time it will face Wall Street analysts’ questions since its Bud Light brand erupted in controversy. Sales of Bud Light have tumbled over the past month after the company delivered a custom can to Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender woman with a large Instagram following. The video went viral, with some supporting Mulvaney and the company, and others responding with anti-trans reactions and calls for a Bud Light boycott. The week prior, Bud Light revenue was down 17%, even as sales of rivals Miller Lite and Coors Light increased. Bud Light sales have been declining for years, but this situation has “snowballed” and made its troubles even more pronounced, Roth said.

☆ Bud Light is hoping free cases of beer will smooth over any tensions with its sellers after Dylan Mulvaney backlash
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Grace Mayer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Bud Light has reportedly seen dips in sales since a promotion that featured a transgender influencer. Amid the backlash, the company is giving out free cases of beer to employees of its wholesalers. Anheuser-Busch, the company that owns Bud Light, is gifting a case of Bud Light to all employees who work with the company's wholesale distributors, the Journal reported. On April 1, transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted a video on Instagram that featured Bud Light cans designed with a picture of her face. Later, the Journal reported that Bud Light Sales dropped by 17% by mid-April, per data created by Bump Williams Consulting and analyzed by Nielsen.

☆ Bud Light wanted to market to all. Now, it's alienating everyone
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

New York CNN —For years, Bud Light leaned on jokey ad campaigns and its designation as a light beer to push sales. Now, Bud Light finds itself seeking younger drinkers, and stumbling through America’s polarized landscape in the process. There have been calls for a Bud Light boycott. And the stock of Bud Light owner Anheuser-Busch (BUD) has fallen only about 3% in the last month, suggesting Wall Street isn’t too worried. Bud Light, he thinks, could be missing out on that type of support.

☆ Bud Light faced a backlash over its campaign with a trans influencer. But a poll finds a majority of American beer drinkers support such campaigns.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bud Light and its parent company faced boycott calls for partnering with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney. But a new poll found a majority of American beer drinkers favor brands partnering with trans influencers. A majority of beer drinkers also favored brands hiring more inclusive talent, per Morning Consult. About a quarter of those surveyed who identified as Republicans responded favorably to brands hiring transgender spokespeople. Bud Light sales were down 17% this week compared to the same time the previous year, and top marketing executives involved in the Mulvaney campaign at Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch took leaves of absence.

☆ Bud Light sales reportedly dropped 17% following anti-trans marketing backlash
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Grace Mayer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bud Light sales took a hit after the brewer partnered with a trans TikTok influencer, WSJ reports. The data showed Bud Light sales dropping 17% in the week of April 15 compared to the same week last year. Bud Light Vice President of Marketing Alissa Heinerscheid took a leave of absence following the backlash. Bud Light owner Anheuser-Busch has also said Heinerscheid will be replaced with with Todd Allen, the global vice president of Budweiser. Bud Light isn't the only brand that's been recently hit with anti-trans backlash.

☆ Bud Light sales are falling, but distributors say they’re sticking by the brand
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Beer distributors are largely sticking by Bud Light and its parent company, Anheuser-Busch, as controversy continues to embroil the brand. Bud Light pours at bars and restaurants declined in early April, according BeerBoard, which tracks sales data at thousands of bars and restaurants. BeerBoard told CNN that the 3,000 locations tracked by the firm poured 6% less Bud Light than rivals, including Miller Lite and Coors Light, from April 2 to April 15. Bud Light had been much more popular than rivals in the weeks before: From March 18 through April 1, customers ordered Bud Light 15% more than rival light beers. Heinerscheid said in a recent podcast interview that Bud Light needs to attract young drinkers to ensure the company’s future by promoting inclusivity.

☆ Anheuser-Busch executive takes leave following boycott calls over transgender influencer partnership
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The marketing executive who oversaw a partnership between Bud Light and a transgender influencer is taking a leave of absence after it snowballed into cries for boycotts from some angry customers, according to media reports. Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light's vice president of marketing, will be replaced by Todd Allen, most recently global vice president of Budweiser, according to reports from Beer Business Daily and Ad Age. Earlier this month, Bud Light said, "Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics." Musician Kid Rock posted a video of himself shooting cans of Bud Light with a rifle. Anheuser-Busch InBev's stock that trades in the United States is down 1.8% since Mulvaney's April 1 video showing herself taking a sip of Bud Light.

☆ Fact Check-Screenshot saying Bud Light sales are down 80% stems from satire website
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

An article about Bud Light sales being down 80 percent and its entire marketing team being fired following the brand’s collaboration with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney stems from a satirical website. Mulvaney’s sponsorship with Bud Light triggered a conservative backlash. An Anheuser-Busch spokesperson told Reuters via email that the claim that sales were 80% down was not true. Reuters has debunked other claims related to the Mulvaney, including one saying the company CEO resigned (here), or apologized (here). A screenshot that says Bud Light sales are down 80% stem from a satire article.

☆ Boeing's 737 Max problem is the latest headache for airlines hungry for new planes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

An aerial view of the engines and fuselage of an unpainted Boeing 737 MAX airplane parked in storage at King County International Airport-Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington, June 1, 2022. The problem is related to two of several brackets in the aft fuselage of some 737 Max planes, including the most popular model, the Max 8. Boeing has a backlog of 4,196 Max planes, according to a tally on its website. "Boeing contacted us regarding an issue with a supplier's manufacturing process that will affect the delivery of Boeing 737 MAX planes to Southwest," the company said in a statement Thursday. A worldwide grounding and production pause of the 737 Max followed two fatal crashes of the Max.

☆ Fact Check-Claim about Anheuser Busch CEO resigning stems from satirical website
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

“I can confirm that these statements are inaccurate and there is no truth to them,” a spokesperson for Anheuser Busch told Reuters in an email. Anheuser Busch did once have a high-ranking executive named August Anheuser Busch III (here), (here) , who stepped down in 2011 (here). “I can confirm that these statements are inaccurate and there is no truth to them,” a spokesperson for Anheuser Busch told Reuters in an email. Anheuser Busch did once have a high-ranking executive named August Anheuser Busch III (here), (here) , who stepped down in 2011 (here). The article claiming that Anheuser Busch’s CEO has resigned was satirical.

The vernal or spring equinox of 2023 happens Monday, March 20. Technically, two things: Earth's tilted axis and the planet's orbit around the sun. How the spring equinox worksThe Earth orbits the sun once every 365 days and six hours. The spring equinox occurs when the sun's warming rays line up perpendicular to Earth's axial tilt:An illustration of the spring equinox. About 92 days and 19 hours after the spring equinox, the Earth will reach its summer solstice.

☆ Oscar host Jimmy Kimmel hails movie-going rebound, cracks wise about 'the slap'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LOS ANGELES, March 12 (Reuters) - Comedian Jimmy Kimmel, returning for a third stint as Oscar host, led a back-to-basics show on Sunday that sought to celebrate a moviegoing rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic while avoiding the kind of unscripted outburst that marred the 2022 telecast. "We know this is a special night for you," Kimmel told the crowd of Hollywood luminaries. Kimmel, who was cheekily promoted ahead of Sunday's telecast as an "unflappable, unslappable" Oscar host, then went on to give a mock recitation of "strict policies in place" to prevent a repeat of last year's incident. "If anything unpredictable or violent happens during the ceremony, just sit there and do what you did last year, nothing," Kimmel added. It was a departure from many years in which relatively little-seen, but critically acclaimed, films have dominated the Academy Awards.

☆ Daylight-saving time is literally killing us — it's time to end this switch
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Hilary Brueck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Phones and other devices will automatically tick forward one hour, and we'll lose an hour of sleep. But every year on the Monday after the switch, hospitals report a 24% spike in heart-attack visits around the US. "That's how fragile and susceptible your body is to even just one hour of lost sleep," sleep expert Matthew Walker, author of "How We Sleep," previously told Insider. iStock; InsiderThe reason that springing the clocks forward can kill us comes down to interrupted sleep schedules. Walker said daylight-saving time, or DST, is a kind of "global experiment" we perform twice a year.

☆ A business class airline passenger who ordered vegan food says it was insulting to be served one banana along with a pair of chopsticks
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A passenger on a Japan Airlines flight ordered vegan food but was disappointed to be given a banana. Japan Airlines apologized for not meeting expectations for its vegan offering. Kris Chari told Insider he booked to fly business class on Tuesday from Jakarta in Indonesia to Tokyo in Japan. A spokesperson from Japan Airlines told Insider: "We apologize for not being able to meet expectations." Chari said the second vegan meal he received was spaghetti.

☆ 5 times scientists thought they'd maybe discovered signs of extraterrestrial life but sadly didn't
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Extraterrestrial life could exist, but mysterious objects in the sky aren't evidence of aliens. Scientists have thought they were close to discovering alien life a few times — none of it via UFOs. As the US discovered a flurry of UFOs — officially called "unidentified anomalous phenomena," or UAPs — in early February, Google searches for "extraterrestrial life" and "are aliens real" spiked. There have been incidents in the past where some researchers thought they'd come close to discovering signs of alien life — or even extraterrestrial intelligence — but none were UFOs. They dubbed the first interstellar object 'Oumuamua, which is a Hawaiian term meaning "a messenger from afar arriving first."

☆ Natural Light is tapping into nostalgia with its new can design
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Natural Light’s new cans will soon look a lot like their old ones. Drinkers will soon notice a retro-inspired makeover that mirrors the budget beer brand’s 1979 design, featuring a throwback logo, crest and colors. Left is the old design and the right is the "new" design hitting shelves in February. Natural Light sales have held “steady,” Stowe said, but noted “we definitely have room to grow.”For Natural Light to do that, the Anheuser-Busch (BUD)-owned brand is “widening its aperture,” Stowe said. “Natural Light’s decision could be in efforts to go the opposite way, and reach the less competitive audience of older adults,” she said.

☆ 22 Unique Valentine’s Gifts for Men Who Have Everything
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +12 min

From the cocktail gadget that will level-up his drinks to the ultimate undershirts, these are presents you can purchase with confidence—no gift receipt required. This edition has a wood cabinet with metal plaques, die-cast metal houses and hotels, gold-foil stamping and money-holding drawers. Buy Side’s favorite automatic cocktail maker works with pre-measured pods and his favorite spirits to dispense cocktails at the push of a button. For more great gadget ideas, check out our roundup of the top gifts for your favorite techie. Even better, the jean material “came ready-to-wear with no awkward break-in period, plus a custom liner.”—Additional reporting by Leslie Yazel

☆ Daylight Saving Time debate sheds light on growing racial inequities in sleep health
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the Sleep Research Society and other medical groups have advocated for ending the practice, calling for the adoption of a permanent standard time that would not involve shifting forward each spring and falling back each autumn. She authored a paper, published in September in the journal Sleep, detailing the potential health benefits of adopting a permanent standard time. Now, some sleep researchers worry about the potential effects that continuing to change standard time twice each year may have on sleep health inequities. “Fortunately, sleep health is largely modifiable.”As for the inequities seen in sleep health, it’s not that White adults don’t also experience a lack of sleep and its health consequences – but people of color appear to disproportionately experience them more, and that’s believed to be largely due to social systems in the United States. Improving sleep health has been a national objective in the federal government’s past two Healthy People programs, noted Caraballo-Cordovez, who is not involved in the programs.

☆ Permanent daylight saving time? Sleep experts vote no—'That idea is terrible for our bodies'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Renée Onque | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Daylight saving time is when time jumps forward by an hour. And though we "lose" an hour of sleep temporarily, we gain an hour of sunlight until the fall. ET, time went back and we "gained" an hour of sleep, but lost an hour of sunlight. While permanent daylight saving time might sound like the perfect solution, the bill was stalled recently by the House of Representatives — it was unanimously passed by the Senate in March. And the opinions of sleep experts like Shelby Harris, a licensed clinical psychologist and director of sleep health at Sleepopolis, just might have had something to do with the delay.

☆ Permanent Daylight Saving Time will hurt our health, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Sandee Lamotte | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

We’ll move them forward (again) next spring when governments put daylight saving back in place. Not according to the United States Senate, which in March passed the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 – if it becomes law, Daylight Saving Time will be permanent. Our bodies need the early morning light to set our internal body clock, experts say. When President Richard Nixon signed a permanent Daylight Saving Time into law in January 1974, it was a popular move. “The United States has tried permanent daylight saving time twice before and ended it early.

☆ Factbox: No consensus in Congress on making daylight saving time permanent
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Clocks in the United States will return to standard time at 2 a.m. EDT on Sunday with no consensus on the matter. The current system of daylight saving is good for business, energy efficiency, and the prevention of vehicle accidents." There's some strong science behind it that is now showing and making people aware of the harm that clock switching has. Congress created Daylight Saving decades ago as a wartime effort, now it is well past time to lock the clock and end this experiment." Permanent, year-round Standard Time is the best match for our biological sleep-wake cycle."

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