March 19, 2024

With more than 51 million monthly active users in the United States, the Chinese e-commerce outlet Temu has expanded significantly in recent years thanks to its huge selection of cheap goods. This video looks at the platform’s low-price strategy and how it’s winning customers the world over in spite of reports of poor quality products and possible ethical issues.

Questions:

  1. Why do you think Temu’s business model is appealing to customers?
  2. Which e-commerce strategy do you think is most effective Continue reading
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February 21, 2024

Fast food companies pour billions of dollars into marketing every year, and a big portion of those costs come from expensive video shoots for commercials. This video takes a detailed look at the extraordinary skill that goes into seemingly simple fast food ads, from hand-painting burger patties to moving items precisely with the help of robot technology.

Questions:

1. Why do fast food companies spend so much money to make their menu items appear realistic on camera?
2. How does Continue reading

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February 13, 2024

More than 113 million people tuned into Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday, a staggering audience that is increasingly rare these days. “In this era of fragmentation, the Super Bowl is what television used to be,” said media analyst Brad Adgate. Of course, these viewers are a potential goldmine for advertisers, who must pay a small fortune for the chance to grab the public’s attention on this massive stage. The going rate for a 30-second spot on this year’s broadcast was Continue reading

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January 17, 2024

For decades, snack brands like Lay’s chips have emphasized the craveability of their products, declaring “Betcha can’t eat just one” to customers across countless marketing campaigns. But a growing number of Americans are challenging the validity of this classic slogan thanks to appetite-controlling drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro. These pharmaceutical brands are quickly becoming big hits with consumers who want to reduce their compulsive eating habits, especially frequent snacking. According to one user, her grocery bills dropped by 20 percent Continue reading

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November 8, 2023

If you’ve taken an over-the-counter (OTC) nasal decongestant recently, you may have been upset to discover that it did not do much to relieve your clogged sinuses. In fact, recent studies by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) show that most OTC decongestants work no better than a placebo. This video explains in detail how store shelves became filled with useless cold medicine, and ways that the FDA are working to make things right.

Questions:

  1. Why do most OTC decongestants Continue reading
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July 28, 2023

Last weekend, the highly anticipated summer movie Barbie opened in theaters to rave reviews and huge ticket sales, earning $162 million in just a few days. Of course, Barbie wasn’t the only film to make a splash at the box office: the 3-hour long drama Oppenheimer also enjoyed a big weekend with domestic receipts totaling $82.5 million. The success of these two films follows months of viral marketing that made light of the stark differences between sunny and bright Barbie Continue reading

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February 14, 2023

When it comes to Super Bowl ads, there are two factors that usually help companies stand out from the rest of the pack: making people laugh, or failing that, being such a big brand that people cannot help but think of your ad after the game. This year, though, the spot that took first place in USA Today’s annual Ad Meter poll did not try for comedy, nor did it come from a major company that routinely tops the list. Continue reading

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February 8, 2023

In 1989, Anheuser-Busch signed an agreement with the NFL giving the brewer exclusive rights to advertise alcohol nationally during the Super Bowl. After 33 years of having a monopoly over big game beer ads, however, AB InBev decided not to renew their license this year. And as the video below shows, the field is now wide open for companies like MillerCoors to reach a big national audience that has previously been unavailable to them.

Questions:

  1. Do you think it was Continue reading
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December 2, 2022

The 2022 FIFA World Cup moves into the knockout stages this weekend, a nerve-wracking time when teams can be eliminated with a single loss. While the tournament’s soccer stars will experience a dramatic increase of tension on the field, the host country Qatar has already faced plenty of global pressure since FIFA awarded them the event in 2010. The Middle East nation has long been accused of using corruption to land the World Cup, leading to a 2015 indictment from Continue reading

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November 9, 2022

Tesla owner Elon Musk has never been shy about seeking the spotlight, and for years he could always find an easy audience by talking to his Twitter following of more than 100 million people. Even that level of attention wasn’t enough for the world’s richest man, however, who purchased the social network outright at the end of October for a whopping $44 billion. That gargantuan price tag now ranks as history’s largest leveraged buyout of a tech firm, although it Continue reading

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