Superyacht the size of a continent 🛥️
This Week in Review☕️: Its Pride Month | Bezos's upcoming lavish wedding in Italy | Heinz Ketchup is making changes to its iconic red color | Amazon bets big on Australia | Intense droughts and floods
Quick Bites:
Tourism 🇮🇹 : Locals in Venice, Italy are protesting over the lavish upcoming wedding of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sánchez in their city.
Venice: struggling with rising waters
Bezos: arrives with a yacht the size of a continent
Residents have raised concerns about the couple’s high-profile nuptials, fearing it will attract excessive media attention and trigger overtourism, and worsen the city’s already fragile ecosystem.
Because nothing says 'till death do us part' like sinking a historic city right lmao
At the heart of the criticism? Mega yachts. Bezos, who is known for sailing in style aboard ultra-luxurious vessels, is reportedly bringing one of his massive yachts to the city.
Activists argue that these giant ships contribute to erosion of the lagoon bed, disrupt marine life, and add to the wave motion that Venice has been desperately trying to minimize for decades.
“Venice is not a red carpet,” one protestor stated. “It’s a living city fighting for its survival.”
While the couple has not confirmed the exact location of their ceremony, reports suggest a star-studded guest list and opulent setting prompting even more frustration among Venetians.
This comes at a time when Venice is already navigating global scrutiny for its struggle against rising sea levels, mass tourism, and cultural erosion.
Our Thoughts💡: Honestly, if the wedding doesn’t cause overtourism, the yacht’s parking situation definitely will.
And you know the yacht’s big when it has its own ZIP code and casts a shadow over half of San Marco (which it does btw)
PS. We just came back from there and venetian canals were definitely NOT built for this kind of midlife-crisis-on-water energy tbh. God save the locals and chaos which is sure to follow🤯🤯
Culture 🌈 : As the world celebrates #PrideMonth, large corporations are being called out for minimal to no action to support the LBGQT+ community this year.
Simply marketing a rainbow-themed product in the month of June has started to come across as increasingly shallow- and big brands know it.
Umm we love being trans, gay and queer because we're 60% of the LGBQT acronym and it feels great to be a majority shareholder in SOMETHING 🙃
Also, with June being Pride month, we wanted to take the moment to clearly say this:
We unhesitatingly and wholeheartedly support our lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, and queer friends. Their rights, their marriages, their pursuits of happiness and their breath.
This is also true July through May 🙏🏻
Key Highlights, reported by CNN:
-In the past years, big brands went all-out for Pride Month with rainbow logos, merchandise, and public support for LGBTQ+ rights
-This year, many are staying quiet- scaling back events, social media posts, and Pride-themed products.
-A survey of 200+ executives found that 39% of companies are reducing their Pride visibility.
-Brands are worried about backlash from right-wing groups and the Trump administration, which has threatened to investigate diversity programs. For example, the one Bud Light faced after it partnered with a trans influencer in 2023.
-Businesses also face economic pressure from new tariffs and are cutting back on marketing overall.
-Experts say the main reason for the shift is political pressure, not just financial concerns.
With brands going silent, supporters are shifting the spotlight back to its roots: protest over performance.
But a quieter marketing approach does not necessarily mean companies are abandoning support for LGBTQ employees or customers, CNN reports.
“I do see there’s pivoting happening. What I don’t see is corporates walking away from the LGBTQ community,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president of advocacy group GLAAD.
“They don’t want to be caught in the crosshairs of this presidency, and they don’t want to become the headline like Target or Bud Light.”
Our Thoughts💡:
As a pansexual person, we always had people confused with what "pan" even means. That's why this Pride month we’re partnering with Calphalon non-stick 10-inch pan set 👩🍳
Big Tech 📱 : Amazon’s $13 Billion bet on Australia.
Amazon will invest $13 billion in the country over the next four years to expand its data center and cloud infrastructure.
Bezos spending so much on AI, it’s like he’s rehearsing for his upcoming Venetian wedding by casually throwing billions like rose petals off a gondola lmao 💸💍
The move comes in response to surging demand for cloud computing and AI capabilities across Australia, particularly from industries like finance, healthcare, and government.
Australia: “Hey Jeff, what brings you here?”
Amazon: “Just 13 billion dollars and some light global domination.”
Key Highlights, reported by Bloomberg:
-The investment will be led by Amazon Web Services (AWS), which currently powers many of the world’s biggest digital platforms.
-Australian Prime Minister 'Anthony Albanese' met with AWS CEO Matt Garman in Seattle ahead of the G7 summit and called it the largest-ever investment by a global tech company in his country
-The project is expected to create thousands of skilled jobs, including in data engineering, cybersecurity, and AI operations.
🇺🇸 Also Making Waves in the U.S.
-Just days before the Australia announcement, Amazon revealed a separate $20 billion investment in Pennsylvania, aimed at expanding the state’s AI infrastructure and data capacity.
Yep you heard that right. Pennsylvania went from cheesesteaks to chips real quick
-These dual investments signal Amazon’s global push to dominate AI cloud services, with a focus on both public sector and enterprise adoption.
🌐 The Bigger Picture
-As AI use skyrockets, cloud providers like AWS are racing to build physical infrastructure (aka data centers) to keep up.
-These moves also reflect growing tech-nationalism- countries want local infrastructure to support security and job creation.
Food 🥘: Kraft Heinz axes artificial dyes.
Food giant says it will remove the dyes from products including Jell-O, Kool-Aid and Crystal Light before the end of 2027, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Cool but can we also keep vaccines and sound medical advice from professionals?
Key Highlights, reported by WSJ:
-New product launches will be free of artificial dyes effective immediately
-The move aligns with a broader industry trend, as peers like PepsiCo and WK Kellogg also scale back on artificial dyes
-The shift follows growing regulatory and public pressure to eliminate synthetic additives.
-As of now, nearly 90% of Kraft Heinz’s US portfolio is already free from artificial colors
This decision signals a larger transformation in processed food manufacturing, as legacy brands adapt to a wellness-driven marketplace while still protecting their iconic product identity.
i.e This is more of a final detox than a crash cleanse
Our Thoughts💡: If the yummiest Heinz can let go of its iconic red color, you can let go of your toxic situationship ladies! 👋👋👋
PS. Fake dyes or not, can anyone get it out of the bottle in one go???? 🤬
Quicker Bites:
Drought now impacts twice as much land as in 1900, intensifying wildfires and flooding worldwide.
Trump demands “unconditional surrender” from Iran, as Israel‑Iran airstrikes enter their sixth day.
China’s rare-earth export curbs threaten India’s EV plans, delaying key launches and prompting a domestic mining push.
Wall Street bets big on stablecoins—Circle’s IPO soars ~80%, signaling widespread faith in digital-dollar alternatives.
FIFA Club World Cup kicked off in the US, featuring 32 elite clubs—Messi, Mbappé, Kane, and more—playing through July 13.
NASA satellite data reveals a surge in extreme weather- droughts and floods have doubled in intensity since 2003–2020