Earth Day, Beijing Marathon & Burritos 🌯
This Week in Review☕: Robots compete with humans in marathon | Harvard sues Trump | Pepsi's secret ingredient unveiled | Chipotle enters South America for the first time | Are people really overworked
Quick Bites:
Food & Beverage🥤: Coke leads the soda wars.
After already struggling to keep up with the soda wars, PepsiCo now faces a new obstacle: Tariffs in the ongoing Trade War
2 biggest shocks of adult life:
-Everyone drinks Diet Coke
-Cheese is f*cking expensive
Background💡: For decades, PepsiCo has imported its secret-recipe from Ireland to take advantage of the country's low tax rates. But Trump's new 10% tariffs threaten the company's market share.
Meanwhile, Coca-Cola, sources most of its ingredients domestically.
In 2003, a Coca-Cola employee was fired because he was drinking Pepsi while on the job #FACTS
Our neighbour tried to hit us with "All Coke taste the same". Nah homie let us educate you:
McDonalds Coke
Fountain Coke
Canned Coke
Glass Coke
Bottled Coke
Key Highlights, reported by The Wall Street Journal:
-Pepsi is now at #3 behind Coca-Cola and Dr Pepper
-It's US sales have fallen by 32% between 2010 and 2023
-Executives attribute the decline to distribution issues and rising competition from health-conscious drinks like Poppi, which PepsiCo recently acquired
-The drink giant has also been expanding its snacks division to boost sales
In addition, the company is bringing back the Pepsi Challenge marking the 50th anniversary of the head-to-head taste test.
For those living under a rock🥤: The Pepsi Challenge was a blind taste test in the 1970s where people were asked to choose between Pepsi and Coke.
Most dimwits picked Pepsi, SHAKING up the cola wars.
PS. We are ready for the challenge and ready to PROVE that Coke is infinitely better. PERIOD.💯
Our Thoughts:
💡Us: We'd like a Coke please
💡Waiter: Is Pepsi okay?
💡Us: Is Monopoly money okay????
Food🌮: Chipotle to open its 1st locations in Mexico by early 2026.
This marks its entry into Latin America for the first time in its 30-year history, as the burrito chain finally returns to the roots of its cuisine.
Seems like Chipotle isn't playing this time y'all! Its DEAD serious to boost sales.
Our iPhone notifications today morning be like:
Landlord: Your rent is overdue
Office: You have an hour-long zoom in 15 mins
CNN: California wildfire causes home explosion
Chipotle: EXTRA GUAC FOR FREE!
Background💡: While California-based Chipotle offers dishes familiar to the Mexican palate, that’s no guarantee of success.
Competitor Taco Bell failed in Mexico during the ’90s with inauthentic-sounding items such as a “Tacostada” that failed to interest locals, who preferred mom-and-pop taquerias.
Key Highlights, reported by The Independent:
-Chipotle is partnering with ‘Alsea’ in Mexico- a company that operates Domino’s, Starbucks, Burger King, Chili’s and other brands in South America
-“The country’s familiarity with our ingredients and affinity for fresh food make it an attractive growth market for our company"
-The expansion arrives as Trump’s tariffs on Mexican imports could increase costs domestically
-Chipotle, which was founded in Denver in 1993, has 3,700 restaurants
-It has been focused on growing its international footprint
-Last year, it partnered with another company to open a restaurant in Kuwait, its first new market in a decade. It now has three restaurants in Kuwait and two in the United Arab Emirates
Artificial Intelligence 🤖 : Robots and humans compete in marathon.
More than 20 robots raced against thousands of human runners in a half-marathon in Beijing this past weekend.
The marathon was organized to showcase China's advances in humanoid technology.
Umm Black Mirror was a tutorial NOT a show
Key Highlights, reported by Reuters:
-This is the 1st time these machines have raced alongside humans over a 21-km course
-The robots were made form Chinese manufacturers such as "DroidUP" and "Noetix Robotics"
-They came in all shapes and sizes, some shorter than 3.9 ft, others as tall as 5.9 ft
-The robots were accompanied by human trainers, some of whom had to physically support the machines during the race
-A few of the robots wore running shoes, with one donning boxing gloves and another wearing a red headband with the words "Bound to Win" in Chinese
-China is hoping that investment in frontier industries like robotics can help create new engines of economic growth
-However, some experts question whether having robots enter marathons is a reliable indicator of their industrial potential
"Chinese companies have really focused on showing off walking, running, dancing, and other feats of agility. Generally, these are interesting demonstrations, but they don't demonstrate much regarding the utility of useful work or any type of basic intelligence."
Our Thoughts💡: Does anyone else need to say it…
YEP, WE SCREWED
Work 💻 : Are people really overworked? Being overworked is a global problem but is it really THAT big an issue as people have made it out to be?
According to Bloomberg, overwork is nothing but a "dangerous illusion". Infact, people are working less than they ever have.
HR showing us all our Facebook posts about how much we hate our job 👇🏻
Umm we're overworked, underpaid and under-appreciated. It's just a perk of being middle-class and educated.
PS. When your boss tells you that you actually have to come into the office everyday 👇🏻
Background, reported by Bloomberg:
-The European Union introduced a maximum of a 48-hour work week in 2003; majority of the countries follow this rule.
-Some countries in the EU are doing 40 hours.
-France, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Ireland have all introduced “right to disconnect” laws specifying hours when staff are not required to respond to emails.
-The global movement to shift to a 4-day working week is gaining popularity
-In China, many young people are so worried about their country’s 996 work culture (9 to 9 six days a week) that they have started a "lying flat" movement, or “tang ping” in Chinese, Bloomberg.
“We employees are too tired. We have to lie down.”
However, it's important to note that being overworked depends on context. Sometimes, it's just inefficient time management.
This mental hysteria has led to a number of people quitting the workforce. Throw in all these career gurus on social media, and people are even more determined to take it easy and relax.
The last thing this global uncertain economicy needs is more people to stay #funemployed.
Our Thoughts💡: Us at work dreaming of happy hour and schemes to scam our way into early retirement👇🏻
Quicker Bites:
Harvard sues Trump administration for “unlawful pressure to punish Harvard for protecting its constitutional rights.”
Airbnb to show full pricing upfront.
The world celebrates April 22, Earth day.
Gold surges to a record above $3400.
Pope Francis dies at age 88.
Puerto Rico hit with island-wide black out.