Your CBD latte isn't strong enough

Children often can't tell what's real from what's not, and when they're absorbed in an iPad or smartphone, the line between authentic and fake can get pretty blurry. That's bad enough, but, as [Chavie Lieber explains](, it gets really dark when you factor in the advertisements that clog popular children's apps. The American Association of Pediatrics says apps for children under 5 should feature zero advertisements, yet the app of hit TV show Paw Patrol still generates more than $1 billion annually. Children's app advertisements often materialize as a favorite character, asking gamers to buy something and responding negatively — sometimes even busting out the visual tears — if they don’t. Researchers say this may lead kids to feel emotionally compelled to make purchases. This is all to say, companies are actively transforming kids into consumers, well before they even know what an advertisement is. —[Aditi Shrikant](, reporter for The Goods CBD is everywhere. But is it a scam? [CBD dropper]( Javier Zarracina/Vox The coffee shop in my Brooklyn neighborhood has a chalkboard outside. It usually reads something like, “Our soup of the day is coffee.” Recently, though, it’s had a marijuana leaf on it, drawn in green chalk. Recreational marijuana is not legal in New York state. What the coffee shop is selling is CBD-infused lattes; CBD, which stands for cannabidiol, is a non-psychoactive compound found in the cannabis plant. Out of curiosity, I bought one. It cost $9 and tasted like a latte with that hint of marijuana herbiness you get from a weed cookie. Google research informed me I would not get high but would be calmer, less anxious, maybe a little sleepy. I have no idea if I felt anything at all. Mostly, I felt like I just spent $9 on coffee. My coffee shop is not unusual in selling CBD products. In New York, and all over the country, you can find CBD oil in convenience stores, CBD vapes in smoke shops, and [CBD tinctures and topical creams in beauty stores](. You can buy CBD dog treats in [Chicago](, a $700 CBD couples massage in [Philadelphia](, and CBD chocolate chip cookies in [Miami](. CBD is also being combined with ice cream, savory snacks, and cocktails. Even Coca-Cola is [reportedly working]( on a CBD-infused beverage. CBD exists at the confluence of three huge consumer trends. The first is the [herbal supplement boom](, a $49 billion-a-year industry that has seen rapid expansion since about 2010. The second is the rise of the [anxiety economy](, in which all sorts of products, from fidget spinners to weighted blankets, are pitched as reducers of the mild panic of everyday life. And the third is the near-overnight creation of a legitimate cannabis industry, thanks to the [spread of marijuana legalization](. [Read the rest of the story >>]( Harry Potter feminism and a terrible sticker [hermione2020] TeeSpring I know we’re online, a space where it feels like everything we’re talking about is either iconic and the greatest of all time or a horrible crime against humanity that has ended our personal will to live, so I’m going to be very careful about overstepping into rhetorical hyperbole that makes you doubt my ability to process scales of importance or things in relation to other things. But I still have to tell you: There are so few objects in this world that fill me with as visceral and physical a rage as a “Hermione 2020” sticker. Each time I see this sticker — which, if you’re unclear, is promoting the totally fake candidacy of a made-up British child Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series for the upsettingly real position of president of the United States — it feels the way a light pat on the direct top of your head feels. The way [the Keith Urban song “Female”]( feels. The way [that scene]( in The Sopranos where Junior Soprano breaks up with his girlfriend by shoving a lemon meringue pie into her face feels. The way a consolation prize feels when what you lost is, like, the belief that you will see women become full citizens of the United States in your lifetime and what you’re being consoled with is a dumbass sticker. I mean, have you heard the phrase “adding insult to injury”? Have you wondered what you might use as the perfect, unimpeachable example if you had to explain the idiom to someone in just one second? To me, “Hermione 2020” is it. It says I am right that a woman will never be president, but that it’s okay because a fictional witch from England might. “Valiant effort!” it says. “Please retreat into the back of your imagination! Go ahead and unravel, placate yourself with your fantasy life, it’s fine!” I see “Hermione 2020” on cars and on coffee shop laptops, on [YouTubers’ lapels]( and on innocent children’s school things on the train, on [the internet]( and in the world. And each time I see it, I do unravel just a little more. [Read the rest of the story >>]( More good stuff to read today - [Adaptogens, the mysterious herbs that supposedly alleviate your stress, explained]( - [What an Apple event looks like, and why it matters]( - [Delia’s, the iconic ’90s fashion catalog, is back — sort of]( - [Elon Musk: “Tesla cannot die”]( - [Why so many hip startups advertise with snail mail]( - [How looks can influence courtroom bias]( - [Chocolate has been around for millennia. New research suggests it’s even older than we thought.]( - [Why is art so expensive?]( Manage your [email preferences](, or [unsubscribe]( to stop receiving emails from Vox Media. Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036. Copyright © 2018. All rights reserved.