August 22, 2023
what we've been watching...
empowering you with insights and information from the edge of today’s headlines
we’ll be taking a few weeks off - so see you in September
Business
Ozempic Economy: The weight loss drug market has been booming with the recent FDA approval of a new generation of diabetes drugs, and the most popular drugs known as Ozempic and Wegovy are both sold by Novo Nordisk, a Danish manufacturer. “The market value of Denmark’s biggest company has risen by more than a third so far this year to about $419 billion, bigger than the country’s gross domestic product of about $406 billion.” The success of the drugs is having an impact on the Danish currency because it is pegged to the Euro, due to the heavy influx of USD from exports. While the global obesity drug market is expected to grow to $30BN by 2030, Novo Nordisk is projected to capture the largest share. Novo Nordisk has even overtaken Lego with its share of the Danish economy, and is the second-most valuable company in Europe behind LVMH. With its strong efficacy and popularity, US insurance companies have stopped covering the drugs (unless patients can prove they have diabetes) due to their roughly $1300 a month cost, so there is no telling whether the US’s obsession with the drugs will continue when we have to pay out of pocket.
Livestream Shopping: TikTok has rolled out is US e-commerce business, and the ads popping up may seem strange to the US consumer, but they are common-place in China. James Harden, Philadelphia 76ers guard, was visiting China and was doing a livestream on the Chinese equivalent of TikTok, Douyin. He mentioned his J-Harden wine, and challenged the livestream audience of 15M to buy his wine. Little did he know that 10k bottles of wine would sell in less than 5 seconds. In China, livestreaming platforms did almost $174BN in sales in the first 6 months of this year. While US consumers aren’t used to the behavior, Mr. Beast seems to be getting us the closest, so lock down your Apple Pay.
Buyer’s Market: According to Artnet, the art market has finally come back to earth, and might be the only asset out there that is a buyer’s market, or at least an affordable one. Artnet calculates that prices have fallen by at least 25% due to the end of COVID boredom buying, rising interest rates, or just a much needed reset. So book your tickets to Basel or ring up Sotheby’s, and get your bargain on.
Warning Labels: The Mexican government is cracking down on unhealthy foods requiring warning labels on the front of boxes that contain excess sugar or fat. These foods also cannot have a mascot. As a result, companies such as Kellogg’s (home to Tony the Tiger), Kraft and Coca-Cola are lobbying the government, reformulating their products and repackaging their foods so that stores cannot tell what is the front or the back. US regulators are now considering a similar idea, although the stark warning labels and prohibiting mascots are apparently off the table (we’d miss Cap’n Crunch). Food companies in the US believe that “mandatory food labels would likely violate the U.S. Constitution,” and with this Supreme Court and its lack of acceptance of government agencies, they probably have a point.
Technology
AI Copyrights: A US federal judge has ruled that AI-generated art cannot be copyrighted. Judge Howell wrote that copyright has never been granted to work that was “absent any guiding human hand,” adding that “human authorship is a bedrock requirement of copyright.” Just like the Warhol copyright ruling, US courts will now have to determine how much an artist (or a human) has altered a work in order for it to be their own. Who will be the ultimate determinant of the line between human and AI? Will AI get their own copyrights like corporations are people when it comes to politics in the US?
NFTs, not so much: Remember, NFTs, those digital pieces of Web3 art that were supposed to democratize the art world by making sure that the original artist always got paid? Well, OpenSea, the biggest NFT marketplace still enforcing royalty fees, will stop the mandatory collection of resale fees for artists later this month. The fees can become optional tips or nothing at all, at the discretion of the seller. As the NFT market has devolved with the unpopularity of crypto in general, OpenSea is attempting to reduce fees to attract buyers, but by reducing artist’s residuals the effective “copyright” is all but destroyed.
Rogue AI: Snapchat’s My AI posted its own story this week and refused to answer questions about it, later saying “Sorry, I encountered a technical issue.” While Snap said the AI was experiencing a temporary glitch, users thought the AI was hallucinating and posting images of their ceilings, while others thought it was a marketing stunt. Regardless, users have been unimpressed and unhappy with the My AI feature, which is powered by OpenAI and pinned to the top of the app. This might not have been the first glitch in the Matrix, but we’d delete the app before we wait and find out.
Microchips: We microchip our pets in the event that they escape from our homes, but microchipping our food? Makers of Parmigiano-Reggiano in Italy are adding microchips to their cheese wheels in an effort to combat counterfeiters. The 90-pound cheese wheels are officially protected by the European Union, must be made in Italy’s Emilia Romagna region, and can cost over $1000. The chip uses blockchain technology to trace the cheese wheel back to its origin, but don’t worry, the microchip is edible.
Cosmic Question Mark: The James Webb Space Telescope continues to release amazing images of space, but one of its most recent images has raised some eyebrows, if not questions. The shape at the center of the image appears to be a glowing question mark. Scientist speculate that the object is a pair of galaxies merging billions of light years away. The curious punctuation was found while observing a dust cloud known as Herbig-Haro 46/47 which is in the process of forming into two stars.
TV in a Suitcase: If the idea of going on a camping trip or going off the grid makes your palms sweat with anxiety over how you will stay current on your favorite episodes of Love Island, don’t worry, LG has you covered. LG’s StandbyME is literally a 27-inch LCD TV in a suitcase with a built-in battery and speakers. You’ll still need to bring your phone (or car) for the wifi connection, but you’ll feel very James Bond.
Culture
Met Gala: When we think of The Met and fashion, we think of the annual Met Gala which celebrates The Met’s Costume Institute. So we were shocked to learn that The Met has another long-term fashion collab under its belt: The Met has been partnering with Pacsun, and is releasing its fourth apparel collection this month. Most museum gift shops are filled with simple t-shirts and postcards, but Pacsun, the surfer turned streetwear brand, has been releasing unique puffers, sweaters and tees based on the different Met galleries in an effort to attract a younger audience. Apparently, according to the head of global licensing and partnerships at The Met, “now we’re interesting.”
Collab-apalooza: We tend to write about a lot of strange food and fashion collabs, and we are not alone in wondering when these “consumer-brand Mad Libs” will stop. Collabs started in full force in the US with the pairing of architect Michael Graves and Target for a line of housewares, and then H&M started releasing collections from famous designers like Karl Lagerfeld. These partnerships made sense in that they helped to bring new consumers into the doors of the new, small retailers (at the time). Now we are bombarded with over-the-top food and fashion pairings that seem to make little sense (KFC’s new 11 Herbed Spiced Rum) or take little effort to design (Blue Bottle x New Balance). The point of the collaboration is the press release and the scarcity of the limited edition, hoping to attract a few seconds of our limited attention span, even if it is just our scorn.
Just in time for Halloween: Well, we’ve seen the candy aisle already packed with Halloween mixes, so if you are starting to contemplate your outfit, why not choose these Wearable Insects by Samantha Dennis.
Fyre Festival 2: Fyre Festival 2 tickets are officially on sale, so if you were planning on a sh**ty Caribbean vacation in December 2024 for $8k, here is your chance. Make sure to watch the documentaries first, and know that you are buying tickets from Billy McFarland aka “the fraudster.”
Toast to Avocado: Do you love Avocados and can’t get enough Avocado toast? Why not apply to be Shake Shack’s Chief Avocado Officer?
— Lauren Eve Cantor
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