| Aug 6, 2014 | Rights / DemocracyA Pantene commercial that tells women to stop apologizing and “#ShineStrong” has gone viral. It contrasts scenes of women saying things like “Sorry, can I ask a stupid question?” with snippets of them behaving in an assertive way....
| May 14, 2014 | Food / FarmingThe new comedy show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver included a well-deserved riff on the food industry in its first episode. Oliver, who you might know from his work on Comedy Central’s fake news program, The Daily Show, went after two well-deserved targets:...
| Mar 12, 2014 | Economy / BusinessIn L. Frank Baum’s novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the “wizard’ turns out to be a phony — just an old guy sitting behind a curtain, using his booming voice to spew nonsense in a vain effort to fool people. But now, a century after Baum’s...
| Feb 11, 2014 | Food / FarmingThe delightfully naughty movie star Mae West liked to joke: “I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.” Less delightful are some of the purity claims of such food manufacturing giants as PepsiCo, which has long marketed a line of its Frito-Lay snack foods as...
| Feb 5, 2014 | Rights / DemocracyDuring this year’s Super Bowl, Coca-Cola debuted a 60-second commercial paying tribute to the diversity of our nation. Coke’s “It’s Beautiful” ad featured expansive scenes of the country and shots of a wide variety of real people. Some of...