cue the jokes about bad british food…..now.

[telegraph, photo via bbc]

the product got a little bit lot of bad publicity last week when facebook india debuted an app, also sponsored by vaseline designed to whiten skin. it features the effect of the product on indian actor and bollywood star shahid kapur’s face–he gets a few shades lighter.  men are invited to try out the product using the application. not surprisingly, people were kind of appalled by the application and many protests came up.  in response, vaseline said

Vaseline is committed to creating culturally relevant products that meet the needs of its consumers in markets around the world.Much like self-tanning products in North America and Europe, skin lightening products are culturally relevant in India. In India, men use these products to lighten and even out their natural skin tone and to reduce the appearance of spots while protecting their skin from the sun. The Facebook application was created for the Indian market as a culturally relevant and engaging way for Indian men to interact with this product.

i guess they were trying to show how relevant the product is in this print ad.

[vaseline app for facebook, price of beauty, print ad via copyranter]

the fix for the problem?  they say put some masking tape over the problem area.  i think it looks much better with the livestrong band.

[john kerry flip flop, consumer reports update]

real simple has some guildelines for you about how long your food will last in the freezer. nothing bad will happen to you if you go longer, the foods flavor will begin to weaken.

up to 2 months

• ice cream and sorbet
• cooked ham
• bacon (1 month)
  
• bread and cake
• cookies, baked or dough
• meat casseroles, cooked
• fatty fish
• soups and stews
• hamburger (up to 4 months)

up to 6 months

• uncooked shellfish, roasts, chops
• lean fish
• chicken or turkey

up to a year

• uncooked chicken, turkey pieces, steak
• unbaked fruit pies
• fruit
• butter

[real simple, image courtesy of iboydaniel]

is there anything lance armstrong can’t do?

[business week]

the loss of the spaghetios guy and the loss of the gloved one just a year ago may have given some of us the feeling that bit by bit, our childhood was fading away.  here’s a little more sand through the hourglass–the founder of swatch watches nicolas hayek died of heart failure at the age of 82.  hayek was known as a great manager and is credited with saving the then failing swiss watch industry back in the 80s–back then he asserted that a cheap watch could tell time as well as an expensive watch and used lower-end materials like plastic and quartz movement along with mass-production to keep prices low.

ok, but what’s this got to do with a smart car?

hayek invented  the smart car and said city cars only need “room for two big adults and a crate of beer.”

i’m going to play my pretty in pink soundtrack now.

[msnbc]

well filled out : thick, big <a fat book> b : full in tone and quality : rich <a gorgeous fat bass voice — Irish Digest> c :d : prosperous, wealthy <grew fat on the war — Time> e : being substantial and impressive <a fat bank account> well stocked <a fat larder>

somehow i’m guessing that the center for science in the public interest didn’t have this definition in mind when it threatened to sue mcdonald’s not for the toxic toys we reported on a couple weeks ago but for the toxic food that accompanies them. it claims that the toys sold with happy meals are deceptive marketing and entice kids to add bad foods that are hazardous to their health “McDonald’s is the stranger in the playground handing out candy to children…It’s a creepy and predatory practice that warrants an injunction” said stephen gardner their litigator.

of course mcdonald’s says the suit is crizazy and their spokesperson said “McDonald’s is committed to a responsible approach to our menu, and our Happy Meal offerings…We have added more choice and variety than ever before, a fact that has been widely reported and recognized.”while it may be true that mcdonald’s made it on a list of the top 10 healthy fast food options, it can’t be overlooked that the fast food industry spent 520M bones on toy advertising last year.

this was also interesting because of another report on nbc related to their ‘be well, be healthy‘ series that talked about the soaring rate of childhood obesity, it’s reaching epidemic levels– 4% of kids in the united states are extremely obese and more and more kids are getting weight loss surgery.

[cnn money , cbs for 2009 list of healthy fast food options, nbc nightly news photo via bioethics blog]

food giant mcdonald’s has recalled about 12M commemorative shrek forever plastic cups because they expose consumers to cadmium and long term exposure to cadmium can cause health risks.  the joint doesn’t want a pesky health scare like this to ruin their healthy reputation, right? follow the link at the bottom of this article for recall information.

[u.s. consumer product safety division]

jason alexander (pictured above) lost 30 pounds in 15 weeks following jenny craig, but men who want a short cut can go to the hottest item in men’s retail, men’s shapewear. neiman marcus the once exclusive retailer of spanx for men confirmed that the items are flying off of the shelves as quickly as they come in and that shoppers can now get them at bloomies, saks, and nordstrom*.  while sara blakely, the founder of spanx is probably happy that the men’s product is increasing the company’s bottom (he he) line, she cautioned that the products were not made for the ‘biggies‘, they were made for the ‘smalls‘– the brand was not created for the ‘hugely overweight’ –the article points out that–even gwyneth paltrow wears spanx (let’s remember though, oprah does too).

the product could have a very positive impact on the many job seekers out there.  stephen viscusi, a career coach and author of  “Bulletproof Your Job” says that all men over the age of 40 should be wearing these products on job interviews because he said “when you feel good about the way you look, you interview well.”  other dudes concur, “It enhances your figure, it fits tight, sucks you in,” said an ohio software exec who owns more than a few (six) of the spanx shirts.

* if men want to buy them on the dl, they can order them online through the site freshpair.

[nytimes, jenny craig for jason alexander before and after info]

• worst states: new jersey, washington dc, california, rhode island
• best states: kansas, oregon, south dakota, minnesota, and iowa

and if you think you are great driver, guess again, the report revealed that only 20% of surveyed drivers could pass a written test if they walked into the dmv tomorrow. if you want to test your driving acumen, click here to take a test.  i took it and scored a solid c- (70% correct)–it’s probably passing but kinda sad.  how do you think you’ll do?

[time]

photo courtesy of harris1978