Around The Web | What We’re Reading
How could Pepsi get it so wrong? A company always in the shadows of Coke just dug themselves a little hole, much to the outrage of social media. We learnt one thing – Kendall Jenner and sugary drinks just don’t mix. Some of the more pressing questions remain out there, from the opioid crisis consuming America to a sudden resurgence of religion in China, there will always be dinner table talking points if you need it. Take a look at some of the best insights and fun we have found around the web.
‘When Nivea ran a recent Facebook ad with the supremacist-friendly tagline “White is purity”, it would have been reasonable to assume that, as far as misguided promotional campaigns go, it had cornered the market. Then Kendall Jenner stepped forward and offered a police officer a can of Pepsi.’ Can big business ever have a place in social activism?
‘It may still be some time before we are 3D printing clothes in our homes, as the futurist Ray Kurzweil predicted would happen within a decade – but a sweater knitted for you while you wait could be within your reach now.’ From Uniqlo to Adidas, find out how brands see the future of fashion retail lies in customised in-store 3D printing.
‘Come and bathe in high-tech sound, feast on unearthly visuals, and let the experience take you on the ultimate trip.’ Gorillaz teams up with Sonos on an immersive ‘Spirit House’ popping up in Berlin, Brooklyn and Amsterdam.
‘Researchers at Google Brain could make it easier for people to communicate with those speaking a different language with neural networks’ The deep learning team are cutting out the middle man in translation to convert directly into speech.
‘Like the proverbial court jester who can openly mock the king in his own court, artists who occupy marginalised social positions can use their art to challenge structures of power in ways that would otherwise be dangerous or impossible.’ In light of proposed cuts in America, find out why authoritarians from Hitler to Castro attack the arts.
‘The nation’s feng shui has been rattled. As one historian put it: the Middle Kingdom has lost its middle. In a society without rules, many yearn for a new, or reconstituted, moral order.’ Why is there a resurgence of religious faith that is changing China?
‘US doctors wanted to treat pain as a serious medical problem. But when pharmaceutical companies pushed opioid painkillers with a misleading marketing campaign, they started a drug crisis.’ In 2015, more Americans died of drug overdoses than any other year on record. The opioid painkiller and heroin epidemic explained.
