C-words
It’s 147 days to Christmas Day, but with Burger King breaking ranks in the hope of moving a dream-shattering 2020 along, the first festive advert is upon us.
Safe in the knowledge that we’d all choose to skip forward and see how 2020 ends, Burger King has decked out one of its US stores to do its bit to “wrap up (2020) early”.
The slot features face-masked vox pops from US customers who will be happy to see the back of 2020 and the global pandemic. They still have the small matter of an election in November too.
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Buy it, but don’t eat it
The announcement of ‘Rishi’s Dinners’ last month saw the Government set to foot half the bill (no booze and up to £10 per person) throughout August when you eat out.
With McDonalds announcing 50% discounts on much of its menu fast food fans will surely be enticed by the cheaper food that wasn’t particular expensive to begin with and isn’t particularly good for you.
In an entirely separate and directly contradictory announcement, the Government announced a new obesity strategy this week, which urges Brits to lose weight to beat COVID-19 and save the NHS money. The need for more exercise and targeting of junk food advertising were included amongst the proposals.
The best we can suggest is: save the country by buying a Big Mac for £1.60, but instead of eating it, throw it away and cycle home. Oh, but there might be some guidance around food waste too….!
Apple’s climate change pledge
You’d be forgiven for missing it, but in April 2020 Apple reached carbon neutral status, meaning that all its facilities and corporate travel were all either renewable or offset.
This week, Apple has added another ambitious pledge to its drive to be carbon neutral, committing to ensuring neutrality across its global operations including its supply chain by 2030. Any new suppliers will have to commit to becoming 100% renewable within the next 10 years.
It’s a vitally important step that corporate giants in every sector must take, and in doing so Apple joins Microsoft (its carbon negative by 2030 pledge remains the gold standard) and Amazon (which can get you the complete Blackadder boxset on the same day, but cannot reach carbon neutral until a decade after everyone else, in 2040). Some steps are bigger than others, but they are all important if we’re going to make a difference.