Here’s what I’m talking about this morning.
1. Magazines! We subscribe to a lot of them.
Many of the magazines, especially Bloomberg Businessweek, are like little works of art. The impressive design allows our magazines to double as temporary table decorations. (Or pretty clutter.)
2. Natural American Spirit: Speaking of magazines, Bloomberg Businessweek has an interesting feature called “Natures Cancer Sticks” which is about Natural American Spirit cigarettes.
Apparently these cigarettes are popular among celebrities and hipsters because they have a faux organic/authentic vibe. I have never tried a cigarette in my life, so I think it’s a little bizarre that people actual believe that one type of cigarette is healthier than another.
Now there’s a class-action lawsuit against the cigarette brand for misleading advertising, which is a fairly common thing.
3. Lord & Taylor: Also got sued.
The feds went after luxury retailer Lord & Taylor for paying several bloggers to wear a specific dress without requiring the bloggers to disclose the business relationship. It was one of the highest-profile Federal Trade Commission cases involving bloggers, and has spooked many advertisers.
I’ve done several paid campaigns on this blog before. However, I have also declined some recent campaigns because advertisers have misinterpreted the FTC rules and demanded paragraphs of disclosure in front of a post (which looks crazy.) Hopefully advertisers revise their requirements if enough bloggers refuse to jump through the hoops.
4. That was quick: A Raleigh local news website is shutting down after just four months because they “couldn’t figure out a sustainable business model” for the market.
It sounds like the financial backing and expectations of the website weren’t figured out before launch. Four months doesn’t seem like enough time to make any media venture (or most legal businesses) profitable.
5. And NBC decided to shutter its breaking news Twitter account despite having 9.4 million followers.
I think the announcement was unnecessary. They could have just quietly reassigned the team behind the account and used it to push generic breaking news alerts which are already flowing from its other news properties.
Tonight
Here’s what’s going on in the gayborhood tonight.
Cruising the Crossroads: A bar crawl / happy hour featuring $2 well-drinks and domestic beers.
- 9-9:30 p.m. – Jr’s Bar & Grill
- 9:30-10 p.m. – Sue Ellen’s
- 9-11 p.m. – Station 4
- 10:30 – 11 p.m. – TMC
Drag show at Station 4 around 11 p.m.
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