Heineken Pulls ‘Lighter Is Better’ Ad After Outcry Over Racism

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Supported by Media Heineken Pulls ‘Lighter Is Better’ Ad After Outcry Over Racism Photo Heineken removed a series of commercials featuring the tagline “sometimes, lighter is better” after one of the ads was criticized as racist. Credit Peter Dejong/Associated Press Heineken pulled a series of commercials for light beer this week that featured the tagline “sometimes, lighter is better,” after one of the ads was criticized as racist.
The brewer, which became the latest company to face criticism over marketing that appears to support a preference for fair complexions, responded to the controversy on Monday.
“We missed the mark, are taking the feedback to heart and will use this to influence future campaigns,” Heineken U.S. said.
In the ad, a vigilant bartender spots a faraway female patron gazing disappointingly at a wine glass. Quickly, he opens a beer bottle and slides it down the bar.
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Continue reading the main story On its journey over multiple surfaces, the bottle..

Walmart Pulls Cosmo From Checkout. Plus! Guess Who’s Claiming Victory.

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Supported by Media Walmart Pulls Cosmo From Checkout. Plus! Guess Who’s Claiming Victory. Photo Walmart will remove Cosmopolitan from its checkout aisle displays. Credit Zvi Lowenthal/The New York Times Walmart customers looking to toss the latest issue of Cosmopolitan magazine into their shopping carts will have to search the superstore a little harder.
The retailer has decided to remove the magazine from its checkout aisle displays in its 5,000-plus stores in the United States, in a move announced by a nonprofit anti-pornography group that connected the company’s decision to the #MeToo movement.
The magazines will be placed on racks elsewhere, varying by store. The April issue features Cardi B, the reality star turned rapper, who gives an “uncensored and totally amazing” interview inside. Other headlines promise tips on sex toys and foreplay, the secrets of super-close couples and this teaser: “Could you be guilty of micro-cheating? Could he?”
Walmart, in a statement, acknowledg..

As Amazon Steps Up Tax Collections, Some Cities Are Left Out

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As Amazon Steps Up Tax Collections, Some Cities Are Left Out Photo In Amazon’s arrangements to collect sales tax, “cities are really being left to themselves,” said Mayor Tim Keller of Albuquerque, which charges a 2.375 percent tax on top of New Mexico’s 5.125 percent sales tax. Credit Gabriella Marks for The New York Times When Amazon agreed last year to begin collecting sales tax in New Mexico, state officials celebrated what they said could be tens of millions of dollars in annual tax revenue.
But they aren’t cheering in Albuquerque City Hall. A year after that announcement, New Mexico’s largest city hasn’t seen a dime from Amazon. That’s because the online shopping giant’s deal applied only to the 5.125 percent statewide tax, not to the 2.375 percent tax tacked on by the City of Albuquerque.
“The loser in that arrangement is cities,” Mayor Tim Keller said. “Cities are really being left to themselves.”
Thanks in part to a series of deals with state governments in recent years, Amazo..

Your Money: Seeking Your College Application Essays About Money

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Supported by Your Money Seeking Your College Application Essays About Money Photo Credit Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for The New York Times Did you apply for college this year and write an undergraduate application essay about money, work, social class or related topics? If so, I’d like to see it.
I write the personal finance column for The New York Times, and since 2013 I’ve been collecting as many essays like this as I can find each spring and publishing a handful of great ones in early May. You can read a selection of essays from 2017 here.
What qualifies? A description of your job at McDonald’s is welcome, as are musings on what it’s like to have no earthly idea what you want to be when you grow up. We’ve published stories about the struggles of families who are poor and disquisitions on towns where parents can cover for their children’s recklessness with their cash and connections. Reckoning with wealth (yours or that of others) is welcome, as are all attempts to wrestle with..

Is Women-Only Club the Wing Discriminating in a Bad Way?

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Supported by Style Is Women-Only Club the Wing Discriminating in a Bad Way? Photo The Wing, in SoHo. “No Man’s Land” is also the title of the club’s biannual print magazine. Credit Hilary Swift for The New York Times The Wing, the members-only association for women that calls itself “a coven not a sorority,” has presented its clubhouses as impeccably designed safe spaces for women to work, network, nosh, primp and talk politics.
Now, a year and a half after first opening in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, the company is also the subject of an investigation by the New York City Commission on Human Rights for possible discrimination violations, said Seth Hoy, a spokesman for the commission.
According to the commission’s website, its purpose is to enforce the New York City Human Rights Law, which “prohibits discrimination in New York City.” The areas covered by the Human Rights Law include employment, housing and public accommodations.
“We are investigating the Wing after receivi..

DFS profits plummet but shares surge as sofa chain defies high street gloom

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The sofa company said it is optimistic about the months ahead, despite the current challenges faced by high street retailers
DFS profits more than halved in the first six months of the year, but the sofa company said it remains optimistic, despite current conditions wreaking havoc on the high street.
Shares rose more than 8 per cent in early trading as the group maintained an upbeat outlook for the rest of the year.
Read more UK retail sales pick up in February but outlook still weak In the first half, group sales increased by 4.1 per cent to £514m, from £494m this time last year, while revenue rose 4.3 per cent to £396m from £380m in the first half of 2017.
Revenue before the acquisition of Sofology, which DFS bought for £25m in August last year, was down 3.5 per cent to £366.5m. The group said this reflected “the expected challenging market environment”.
Profit before tax was £7m, compared with £16.7m in the first half of last year. DFS said this dip was due largely to £4…

Heineken advert removed after Chance the Rapper brands it 'terribly racist'

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Heineken has removed a commercial for its low-calorie beer after musician Chance the Rapper branded the advert “terribly racist”.
The ad, with the tagline “Sometimes, Lighter is Better” showed a bartender sliding a bottle of Heineken Light past a number of black people, before it reaches a light-skinned woman.
In the latest example of a company misjudging its marketing, the beer maker said it was pulling the commercial from all global markets.
Read more Heineken has made essentially the anti-Pepsi advert Hungary threatens to ban Heineken over 'communist' red star logo Tesco has stopped selling Heineken beers because of Brexit “While we feel the ad is referencing our Heineken Light beer, we missed the mark, are taking the feedback to heart and will use this to influence future campaigns,” the company said in a statement.
The decision to withdraw followed comments by Chicago-born Chance the Rapper on Monday. He accused the company of “purposely putting out noticeable raci..

Megabus adverts promising £1 tickets banned for misleading customers

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Discount bus firm told to make more cheap fares available when it advertises £1 tickets
Megabus advertisements that promised customers fares starting “from £1” have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), after it found that tickets for just two routes were available at that price.
Two people complained about the adverts, which featured on Megabus’ website and on its Facebook page, after searching for tickets and failing to find any priced at £1.
Read more Australian beer advert banned for mocking redheads The complainants alleged that the claim “fares are from £1” was misleading and could not be substantiated. At the time, Megabus was promoting £1 tickets on its Aberystwyth to Birmingham route on its website, while also advertising new services from Leeds to different parts of Yorkshire with the statement “As always our fares are from £1*”. On a Facebook post, Megabus advertised day trips “from £1* London to Bath”.
According to Megabus, when the Aberystwyth a..

When Professionals Rise Up, More Than Money Is at Stake

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When Professionals Rise Up, More Than Money Is at Stake When 20,000 West Virginia teachers staged a rare statewide walkout, questions of pay and benefits dominated the headlines. But those concerns could not fully account for the teachers’ ferocious resolve. After all, stagnant wages and receding benefits have been an issue for workers for decades.
The missing variable appears to have been anxiety about their status as professionals.
Fred Albert, a math teacher and local union official in the Charleston area, said many felt that the Legislature had devalued their training and certification by proposing to let people teach a subject they hadn’t studied and had no experience in.
“If someone really wants to be a teacher, if they feel the call to be in the classroom with students, they need to go through the same programs we went through,” he said.
In that sense, Mr. Albert and his colleagues were in the mainstream of recent labor history. From doctors and nurses to government workers and ..

More Than Just a Sell-Off in Tech?: DealBook Briefing

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Supported by More Than Just a Sell-Off in Tech?: DealBook Briefing Photo Credit Paulo Whitaker/Reuters Good Wednesday. Here’s what we’re watching.
• Are we witnessing the end of the tech mania?
• Amazon has shed more than $50 billion in market value.
•Are investors waking up to Tesla’s real problem?
• Mark Zuckerberg agreed to testify before Congress.
• SoftBank and Saudi Arabia are planning the world’s largest solar energy project.
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Are we witnessing the end of a mania?Investors, always willing to believe in technology companies, spent the last three years piling into the shares of companies like Facebook, Amazon and Netflix with special abandon. Now the intellectual underpinnings of the tech rally are being seriously tested.
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Continue reading the main story Stocks in the best-known tech companies have plunged in recent days. The NYSE FANG+ index, which tracks the share price of 10 companies, including Facebook, App..