Summer Fridays & Shrooms ☀️
This Week in Review ☕️: Well-being crisis due to burnout | Chewing gum rebranded as a mindfulness tool | Magic mushrooms can cure severe depression | Can vegans eat chocolate | Travel rebounds to pre
Quick Bites:
Work 💻 : Goodbye 'Summer Fridays'.
Fewer employees are taking Fridays off during the summer as far fewer companies are offering the option this year.
Our boss💡: We offer 2 weeks vacation but we ask you may not take off Mondays, Fridays, month end, month beginning or any day when another employee takes the day off
PS. We photoshopped our bank statements to get a 1-bedroom flat in NYC. You no longer need to work Fridays to finally stop living with your hellish roommate, guys 🥵
The real secret to get your own place? Get Adobe💯
Key Highlights, according to CNBC:
💡It's possible companies are doing away with Summer Fridays, now that WFH Fridays are becoming more common
💡However, it is key that employees avoid a "well-being crisis" when mental burnout and dissatisfaction are high.
💡Large corporations have made headlines for demanding employees return to the office.
💡For example: Goldman Sachs: came under fire last year when it mandated staff to return to the office 5 days a week. JP Morgan Chase, Boeing and UPS have also increased RTO requirements
💡However, businesses making full-time attendance mandatory only still make up a small share of the Fortune 500 companies.
💡"Leaders are looking to their peers to get a sense of what others are doing, especially if they're competing for the same talent"
💡In the US, 87% of workers say they'd be interested in a 4-day workweek, and 82% believe widespread adoption in the US would be successful, according to 2023 survey from Morning Consult.
Our Thoughts💡: We need 3 day weekends every week bc we need a day of complete and utter rotting, a day of cleaning, and a day of activities 🙏🏻
PS. Who else is INSTANTLY 80% nicer after 5 pm on Fridays?! ☺️☺️
Pandemic 🦠 : Flesh-eating bacteria that can kill in two days is spreading in Japan.
Tokyo has already become a hotspot as the virus is spreading there at a record rate, after the country relaxed Covid-era restrictions.
💡2020: “Brace yourselves, a pandemic is coming.”
💡2022: “Get ready for geopolitical havoc and war.”
💡2023: “Let’s add extreme heat and global warming”
💡2024: Releases flesh-eating bacteria
💡Us: “So… when’s the locust plague scheduled? The show must go on right.... ?! 🙄🙄
Key Highlights, reported by the Telegraph:
💡The bacteria is called 'Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome' (STSS)
💡So far, 977 cases have been reported, already exceeding an all time high of 941 infections detected in 2023
💡The condition is caused by an unusual manifestation of the strep A bacteria
💡The pathogen itself is common; between 5 and 20% of healthy adults have latent, symptom-free infections
💡However, it can progress into a range of diseases, from tonsillitis and impetigo to scarlet fever and pneumonia
💡In some severe cases, strep A bacteria can become invasive- seeping from cuts and wounds deep into soft tissue and muscle, where it triggers a “flesh-eating disease”
💡At the current rate of infections, the number of cases in Japan could reach 2,500 this year, with a “terrifying” mortality rate of 30%
Our Thoughts💡: The ones who make it alive.. Half are gonna come out with a drug problem and the other half are going to come out with a drinking problem.
There is NO in-between this time around! 🤯🤯
Marketing 🧽: Chewing gum being rebranded as a mindfulness tool.
Global gum sales peaked in 2011, at almost $25 billion. However, by last year, they dropped to $18.6 billion, The Wall Street Journal reports.
💡Noone :
💡Makers of gum: Let's make a product that people chew 24/7 without swallowing and loses its flavor after 30 seconds
But now, "Mars Wrigley", the maker of Extra and Orbit, is spending millions to rebrand chewing gum.
The food giant wants to change its image from a breath freshener to a 'mindfulness aid' that improves anxiety and focus, WSJ reports.
PS. To all those people who enjoy gum: It's a stick of gum, not a bale of hay. Please chew with your effing mouth closed!!🙏🏻🙏🏻
The decline has been blamed on everything from the younger generation's preference for natural ingredients to the weirdness of chewing gum while wearing a face mask.
Gum manufactures are betting on online sales in particular, hoping that offering subscriptions or easy gum add-ons at checkout will get more people to buy.
Competitor 'Hershey's' saw gum sales rise 21% last year, thanks to a new ad campaign positioning its Ice Breakers brand as the "fancy" gum option.
Health 🍄: A single dose of magic mushrooms can ease major depression, Bloomberg Pursuits reports.
Personally, we think its' time to just legalize marijuana and shrooms federally. Just tax it like Wine or Tequila? People tell us both have medicinal qualities.. So why not?
PS. Did you know? 👇🏻
Key Highlights, reported by The Guardian:
💡The psychedelic compound found in magic mushrooms can treat severe depression when combined with psychotherapy
💡Nearly a third of patients with severe depression went into rapid remission after a single 25mg dose of 'psilocybin' followed by therapy sessions
💡This combination helped patients identify causes and potential solutions to their mental health
💡The results from the largest clinical trial yet into psilocybin and depression were described as “exceptional”
💡An estimated 100 million people worldwide have treatment-resistant depression. About half of those affected are unable to perform routine daily tasks.
Our Thoughts💡: Our colleagues and I are looking for a new office space starting July. We have an adorable Bulldog, a Nespresso machine and a deep love for some magic mushrooms ;)
Any offers? 😊
Food 🍫 : One of the most frequently asked questions "Wait, can vegans eat chocolate?
While the world of chocolate is rich and massive, most chocolates don't really fit in with an animal-friendly diet.
However, major confectionary brands are introducing vegan versions of their iconic chocolates, as the summer season begins for eating out.
Iconic Canadian chocolatier 'Purdys' is the latest to jump on the bandwagon, Veg News reports.
The 115-year old company is debuting a vegan version of its most popular chocolate- 'The Sweet Georgia Browns' by using a combination of apple cider and coconut milk for the gooey caramel inside.
Purdys joins a number of major chocolate brands who have gone plant-based from Cadbury, Hershey's and Lindt.
Cadbury’s marketing campaign in the UK included an apology letter to Brits for taking so long to create the dairy-free bars.
“Sorry it’s taken this long,” the letter said. "Sorry it seemed like we weren’t listening to your calls…And sorry for all the other chocolate you’ve had to eat while you waited. We simply wanted it to be perfect.”
Quicker Bites:
‘The White Lotus’ TV show is giving Thailand a tourism boost ahead of its 3rd season.
Advertising world gathers at Cannes Lions Festival.
Apple shuts down Pay Later program.
McDonald’s scraps AI drive-thru.
Adidas is investigating allegations of embezzlement and kickbacks in China.
Putin to travel to North Korea.
US Government sues Adobe, claiming the software giant made it too hard for customers to cancel their pricey subscriptions.
Supreme court rejects bid to restrict access to abortion pill.
US Olympian Shaun White launches year-round snowboarding league.