Are food companies misleading customers with ads?
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[A wind farm in California] Justin Sullivan/Getty Images  BROWSING  [Classifieds banner image]( Careers TREASURE HUNTERS, MUST BE DETAIL-ORIENTED: Remember when West Point staff opened a nearly 200-year-old time capsule in front of a packed auditorium and found nothing? Well, they looked a little bit harder and [discovered]( six silver American coins dated 1795â1828 and a commemorative medal. âIt would have been great to have found these on stage,â West Point archaeologist Paul Hudson told the AP. GONZO JOURNALIST: A TV crew in Chicago was [robbed]( while reporting on robberies in Chicago. The thieves even stole the camera, so the story was never broadcast. For sale FORMER 7TH HOLE: Hong Kongâs government said it will [reclaim]( a large portion of an exclusive golf course (entrance fee: $51,000) and use the land for public housing. The clubâs members are not happyâthe Old Course was built in 1911 and is the oldest 18-hole course in Greater China. KID-FREE AIRPLANE SEATS: Corendon Dutch Airlines is selling tickets for [adults-only zones]( on flights between Amsterdam and Curaçao. The 102 seats in the front of the plane will be separated from the back by curtains and walls, but stillâ¦everyone knows the kidsâ table is always more fun. Personal NSFW PAYOUT: The owner of OnlyFans, Leonid Radvinsky, earned [more than $338 million]( in dividends last year, equivalent to $1.3 million for each working day, according to financial statements obtained by People. The platform says it keeps 20% of payments to its creators. WILL PAY TO SKIP LINE: The drought-stricken Panama Canal is backed up, but one ship was in such a hurry that it [paid $2.4 million]( to skip the line, per Bloomberg. Hope itâs carrying our Amazon order.âNF  PRESENTED BY SIMPLISAFE Secure your homeâand your wallet [SimpliSafe]( Your home is your happy place. Your safe haven. And to keep it that way, you need home security thatâs fast and reliableâ¦aaand that doesnât drain your bank account in the process. Luckily, SimpliSafe ticks all of those boxes, especially now that you can [save 40% off your system]( and claim a free Smart Alarm security camera when you enroll in Fast Protect⢠monitoring. SimpliSafeâs award-winning home security system covers the whole home and is powered by 24/7 professional monitoring for [less than $1/day](. Their brand-new Live Guard Protection even allows agents to see and speak to intruders to help stop them in real time. [Snag this dealâand peace of mindâpronto](.  SNAPSHOT  [Photo of the week](#)
[Burning Man from space]Maxar Technologies This is what Burning Man, the pricey art festival promoting âradical self-expressionâ and âradical self-reliance,â [looks like from space](. Each year, Black Rock City rises in the middle of the Nevada desert to resemble an ancient Greek amphitheater. Â SCIENCE Â [Dept. of Progress](#)
[Dexter from Dexter's lab saying ]Dexterâs Laboratory/Warner Bros. Domestic Television via Giphy Here are some illuminating scientific discoveries from the week to help you live better and maybe even go two for two from the foul line. Beer goggles debunked. It turns out that having a few drinks doesnât make us view people as prettier, but it does give us the [liquid courage]( to say hi to a crush. Researchers brought 18 pairs of male friends into the lab to mimic a boysâ night out, gave them some alcoholic beverages, and had them rate the hotness of people in pictures and videos. Despite what movie tropes suggest, being intoxicated did not affect how attractive the men thought people wereâbut it did boost their confidence. After drinking, participants were 1.71 times more likely to pick one of their top four hot people for a potential future meetup than when asked to select a date while sober. The science of a perfect free throw. Listen up, driveway ballers: Scientists have some data-backed tips for your form. Researchers at the University of Kansas assessed the [free-throw skills]( of 34 men with rec league- to collegiate-level basketball experience and found that the ones who made buckets 70% of the time had a controlled shooting motion with a lower center of mass, less forward lean, and higher ball release, compared to less proficient players. Itâs the first time the qualities of a good free throw have been studied using markerless motion capture technology, which tracks movements without the subject needing to wear a bunch of sensors, per the researchers. Posting about mental health may affect hiring odds. Weâve made some strides in destigmatizing mental health, but a new study shows there are still potential negative consequences for job seekers who vocalize their personal challenges online. Researchers tasked 409 professionals with evaluating job candidates based mostly on their LinkedIn pages, some of which mentioned experiences with anxiety and depression, and some of which did not. The results: âParticipants who saw the LinkedIn post about mental health challenges [viewed the job candidate]( as being less emotionally stable and less conscientious,â one researcher said. The research team encourages companies to avoid this bias by setting guidelines for factoring LinkedIn profiles into hiring.âML Â TOGETHER WITH CURIOSITY STREAM [Curiosity Stream]( Feed your growth mindset. Picture a library of fascinating documentaries and shows. The subjects span from science to music and everything in between. Well, now you can access that library with [Curiosity Stream](. New content arrives every week and annual plans start at under $4/month. [Try it out](. Â NEWS ANALYSIS Â [Are food companies misleading customers?](
[Expectation vs reality burger]( Kalimov/Babic Goran/Getty Images The Whopper didnât get its name for being small. But some disgruntled Burger King customers say menu photos of the chainâs flagship burger exaggerate its size, and theyâre hungry for litigation. This week, a Miami judge [refused]( Burger Kingâs request to toss a class-action lawsuit alleging that in-store depictions of the Whopper brimming with fillings make the burger appear 35% larger than IRL. Whoppergate is only the latest in a string of false advertising suits hurled at fast-food giants: - BK rivals McDonaldâs, Wendyâs, and Taco Bell have also been taken to court over their portion sizes.
- And, in a sign that customers are broadly getting fed up with the expectations â reality gap in food advertising, 214 class-action suits were filed against food companies in 2022, compared to just 45 filed in 2010, per the law firm Perkins Coie. The litigious trend raises questions about whether food companies have been misleading the public or if consumers (and their lawyers) are interpreting food ads too literally. Are consumers picking on food brands? The legal standard for proving an ad is deceitful is that a âreasonable consumerâ could be misled by it. But the law allows for hyperbolic marketing, known as puffery, that hypes a product like your typical Hinge profile (think âthe best meat cake in the worldâ). The difficulty of knowing where to draw the line creates a space for lawsuits. In one now-canonical instance of taking food branding at face value, Subway was sued in 2013 after a customer realized their footlong measured less than 12 inches in length. But itâs not all about size. Many recent claims concern the purported flavor of menu items and ingredients: - Wegmanâs was [sued]( in 2019 for calling ice cream vanilla-flavored despite it containing no actual vanilla. The issue of artificial vanilla in vanilla-flavored products has been the subject of hundreds of lawsuits since 2019, per the Associated Press.
- And Kellogg had to lawyer up for a case alleging its Strawberry Pop-Tarts filling [consisted of more non-strawberry]( ingredients than the name would suggest. But judges can rule that plaintiffs are not being entirely reasonable: The Wegmans and Kellogg cases were dismissed. Still, even a possibly spurious legal challenge can cause headaches, and sometimes food companies find it easier to pay the plaintiffs. Frito-Lay presumably settled a suit claiming that its Tostitos chips were deceitfully advertised as having a âhint of limeâ when the lime flavoring was artificial. And though Subway argued that no one should expect the footlong to be exactlyâ¦one foot long every time, the company agreed to pay $525,000 (but an appeals court ultimately threw out the deal, saying it served only to pad the pockets of the plaintiffsâ lawyers). Whereâs the appetite for legal action coming from? Some experts attribute the recent flurry of cases to increased health consciousness and the ubiquity of online ads making consumers more cognizant of marketing tricks. Plus, social media helps eaters who feel theyâve been deceived about their food band together. But attorney Pooja Nair, who defends food companies against misleading ad claims, says the litigation wave isnât coming from disgruntled diners. She told Morning Brew that a 2008 precedent that made it easier to advance false ad claims is behind the uptick in these cases. Nair says attorneys are the only true winners from settlements. And attorneys are certainly scrutinizing the ads. Instigating much of the legal action is Long Island lawyer Spencer Sheehan, dubbed the âVanilla Vigilanteâ by the New York Post. Sheehan has spearheaded many artificial vanilla suits, as well as other food flavoring cases, including the Pop-Tarts strawberry filling and Tostitos âhint-of-limeâ suits. Though many of Sheehanâs cases have failed, others may have been quite lucrative. The New York Post says Sheehanâs firm stood to [earn]( hundreds of thousands from a settlement with Blue Diamond over its vanilla-flavored milk and yogurt products, while customers were handed at most $1 per unit bought. Sheehan [told]( the Guardian that food ad litigation could be avoided entirely âif all the companies were diligent about complying with the limits set by regulations.â When speaking with Morning Brew, he mentioned that âplaintiffsâ attorneys are like a substitute teacherâ filling in for government regulators, which he says have taken a back seat role in enforcing the rules.âSK  DESTINATIONS  [Place to be: The death-defying Blue Zones](#)
[Sunny autumn day in Evdilos Village in Ikaria]Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images Itâs a big world out there. In this section, weâll teleport you to an interesting locationâand hopefully give you travel ideas in the process. Ikaria, Greece. Okinawa, Japan. The Nicoya peninusla of Costa Rica. The Ogliastra region of Sardina. Loma Linda, California. What could these far-flung places possibly have in common? They are known as Earthâs âBlue Zones,â areas where an abnormal amount of people live to 100. In a new [Netflix documentary]( author and researcher Dan Buettner takes you to these places and explores why the Grim Reaper visits so infrequently. While each Blue Zone is distinct, they share commonalities that anyone hoping to live a long, healthy life can learn from: smart eating habits, infusing your day with low-intensity exercise ([Zone 2 ftw]( strong community ties, and literally having a reason to live. Letâs take diet, for example. Buettner explains that of the 220 food decisions a person makes in a day, only 10% are conscious. So, if your local environment is overflowing with veggie optionsâ¦youâll probably eat a lot of veggies. Thatâs the case in the Blue Zone of Loma Linda, CA, where the local grocery store doesnât sell red meat, seafood, or poultry. The reason is that Loma Linda has one of the highest concentrations of Seventh-Day Adventists in the US, a Christian denomination that encourages vegetarianism and a healthy lifestyle. One final takeaway from Blue Zone residents that seems particularly relevant on this three-day weekend: They [deprioritize work]( and prioritize hanging out with others. âPeople would never do a couple of extra hours of work when they could be enjoying their family, or taking a siesta, or interacting with their friends,â Buettner told Insider.âNF  BREW'S BEST  #
[To-do list graphic] Meal prep: Add this easy Thai-inspired [coconut curry]( to your dinner rotation. Prep-less meal: Momofuku spiffed up ramen with these [four-minute]( prepackaged noodles. Book rec: [Tree of Smoke]( by Denis Johnson is a suspenseful, ambitious novel set during the Vietnam War. Art rec: Does topography tickle your fancy? Then these [detailed map]( posters are for you. Watch: [Telemarketers]( is a new docuseries on Max about the rise of an industry built on a scam and the eccentric whistleblower who tried to take it down. Listen: Whether or not you made it to Paris this summer, indulge in a jazzy [Parisian playlist](. Â COMMUNITY Â [Crowd work](#) Last week, we asked: What is your fantasy football leagueâs creative punishment for finishing in last place? Here are our favorite (and the cruelest) responses: - âLoser has to go skydiving at the lowest-rated skydiving establishment in Texas.ââMichael from Waco, TX
- âThe Cancún challenge. Last place has to stay at the local Mexican restaurant from open to close (10amâ10pm). Every jumbo margarita they drink counts as an hour off their time.ââLogan from Warrensburg, MO
- âThe last-place finisher is awarded a front license plate that in no uncertain terms makes it clear they came in last place. The license plate is affixed to the individualâs car at this yearâs draft. They must keep it on their car until the following yearâs draft!ââJohn
- âLast year, I had to dig a hole 5 feet by 5 feet. Just like in the movie Holes.ââBarry from Pittsburgh
- âMy friend and I met these guys in Central Park who made the loser dress up as Popeye and give boat rides to strangers around the Boathouse for two hours with balloons that said âLOSERâ tied to the backs.ââJulia from NYC
- âLast year, in a couples league, the winner got to name the loserâs first-born child.ââGrace from Fort Wayne, Indiana (Editorâs note: WHAT?!?!) This weekâs question Which personâs biopic would you be most excited to see? And which actor would play them? Abbyâs answer to get the juices flowing: âElon Musk played by Christian Bale, with Lady Gaga as Linda Yaccarino.â [Share your response here](. Â SHARE THE BREW Â # [Share Morning Brew]( with your friends, acquire free Brew swag, and then acquire more friends as a result of your fresh Brew swag. Weâre saying weâll give you free stuff and more friends if you share a link. One link. Your referral count: 0 [Click to Share]( Or copy & paste your referral link to others:
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