Every weekday, PR Daily associate editor Alan Pearcy highlights the day’s most compelling stories and amusing marginalia on the Web in this, #TheDailySpin.
Research suggests that
cute animal pictures increase productivity in the workplace. Apparently, the same rules don’t apply to videos of our furry friends.
[Note: The term “friends” is used loosely, as I find cats to be among society’s greatest nuisances. I can’t wait to be reincarnated as one of the lazy buggers, though.]
Just ask
WDBJ 7’s Susan Bahorich, who lost all journalistic composure during a
recent report about Holly, a 13-year-old fat feline who swim laps to shed more than mere fur. Must be all those late-night Whiskas and Friskies binges.
RELATED: Watch: L.A. news anchors freak out over unseasonable cold snap
From a pet to pet peeves,
Advertising Age reports on the annoyances that drive agency CEOs crazy and what those irksome details reveal about the way in which these executives perceive their workplaces.
Poor grammar is a commonly shared pet peeve of most linguists.
Newly proposed punctuation marks could certainly help communicators translate their messages better, but a
BuzzFeed story suggests writers master the ones that are commonly misused. Just check out the best of the worst “unnecessary” quotation mark examples it collected
here and you’ll understand why.
RELATED: Everything you need to know about the quotation mark
Perhaps grammar won’t matter as much to limerick readers. We’ll find out soon. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day,
Biographile is holding a
contest asking writers to pen Irish-themed versions of the witty and often nonsensical five-lined form of poetry.
Thought Catalog, meanwhile, shares the experience of a scribe named Nico and what
he she they’ve learned from writing under a gender-neutral byline their whole life.
RELATED: More babies named after Apple devices
Quvenzhane Wallis has been a recurring name in the press lately thanks to not only the Oscars, but also
The Onion’s now
infamous tweet regarding the young “Beast of the Southern Wild” nominee. After issuing a sincere apology last week, the satirical news site is now mocking itself with a
recent post about having the best week ever following the controversy, according to the
The Hollywood Reporter.
RELATED: Did The Onion tarnish its brand with the C-word?
Also responding to controversy is
Numéro magazine. Reports NBC’s
The Grio, the French publication and its photographer apologized last week for using images of a model wearing blackface in an editorial called “African Queen.” For modeling agency owner and casting agent Bethann Hardison, the incident represents a lack of progress for models of color in the fashion industry.
It seems FedEx has its hands full, as well. According to
Complex, Massachusetts resident Maryangela Tobin is suing the company after it delivered seven pounds of marijuana to her home—instead of a birthday present she had ordered for her daughter—and informed drug smugglers of where she lives.
RELATED: How FedEx turned a disaster into a PR win
It wasn’t a delivery that tripped up Amazon’s U.K. arm. Instead, it was the sale of a T-shirt reading “Keep Calm and Rape a Lot” that an American merchant was peddling.
Reports
The Huffington Post, the e-retailer had removed the shirt in question from its site, although it continued to allow the shirt vendor, Solid Gold Bomb, to sell similar shirts. Solid Gold Bomb later apologized.
Proving unapologetic to claims of watering down its beer, Anheuser-Busch
tweeted this to help further promote the company’s commitment to its loyal consumers:
Meanwhile, Mama June and daughter Honey Boo Boo will continue to sell Girl Scout cookies on behalf of a friend through the child reality star’s Facebook page, despite warnings from the Girl Scout organization, according to
TMZ.
Taco Bell can only hope sales of its new Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco won’t be hurt after learning that the beef used at a number of its locations in Europe had been contaminated with horsemeat.
Gawker reports that the company released a statement saying its “domestic restaurants have not been, and will not be, impacted.”
RELATED: Wary public digest scandals over horsemeat, seafood mislabeling
While not tainted with horsemeat, Taco Bell rival Chipotle is having its own meat epidemic. Signs for the chain have been spotted informing patrons that due to supply shortages, its restaurants will be selling conventionally raised steak temporarily as opposed to its responsibly raised beef. (via
Consumerist)
Chipotle may be able to rectify such a dilemma in the near future with a simple phone call to the nearest college. According to
The New York Times, schools such as Washington State, University of Idaho, and University of Illinois are using their school cattle farms to market their own brands of steaks and meat.
When it comes to marketing, however, just remember that some elements of design never go out of style. Case in point: this first edition New York City transit manual that
The Minneapolis Egotist says Massimo Vignelli created in 1970:
Is there something you think we should include in our next edition of #TheDailySpin? Tweet me @iquotesometimes with your suggestions. Thanks in advance.