Large parts of the United States moved clocks forward by an hour for Daylight’s Savings time, giving people mild jetlag. Brian Resnick wrote about some of the consequences:

• A study found that there is a small but statistically significant increase in the number of auto-accidents the Monday after clocks more forward.
• The number of deadly accidents rises from 78.2 on a typical Monday to 83.5.
• Fatalities don’t seem to rise on Sunday itself – the day of the time change – presumably because people can sleep in.
• Another study found that Daylight’s Savings time may have been responsible for an additional 302 road deaths over a ten-year period.
• But it’s not really anything to worry about. The increase is marginal given that 30,000 people die each year because of traffic accidents in the US.
• Daylight’s savings time may also marginally increase the rate of workplace injuries and heart attacks.

Read more here.

Source: Vox

The end of the movie actress was proclaimed three years ago. Now The Economist is willing to say the same about actors in general.

• Deadpool, with a relatively unknown star, has dominated the box office recently. Meanwhile movies such as Joy and Concussion, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Will Smith respectively, have struggled.
• These days audiences seem to go to the theaters to see special effects, and any relative unknown in a superhero costume can act in that.
• In fact, the stars of today owe their success in part to action flicks. Lawrence made her name from The Hunger Games, and Star Wars’ Daisy Ridley seems to have gotten a similar bump, being in consideration to play Lara Croft.
• Yet movies will continue to feature big name attractions. If nothing else a studio head that approves a flop with a mainstream star will likely face less blowback than if a similarly failed film had starred an unknown.
• Some actors continue to be able to pull in audiences though – mostly comedic ones such as Kevin Hart and Melissa McCarthy.
• This seems to be in part because such stars signal to the audience exactly what kind of film they’re about to see.
• Meanwhile some stars such as Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts continue to get movie offers even though they’ve been pretty consistent in making a poor string of movies.

Read more about the star power of Tom Cruise and Arnold Schwarzenegger in markets abroad, the racial implications of all this, and other details here.

Source: The Economist

In 2006 Don Equis launched a ground-breaking ad campaign featuring Jonathan Goldsmith as the “most interesting man in the world.” Now they’ve announced that the hero of the ads has decided to set his sights beyond our own world and is looking to conquer our sister planet. He will be appearing in a final spot going off to Mars. E.J. Schultz wrote:

• The “most interesting man in the world” campaign was immensely successfully and has been rated the number one ad campaign in the beer industry.
• Sales more than doubled in the five years after the campaign launched – and even in 2015 sales grew 10.2%.
• The campaign’s success is thought to be in part because the brand eschewed the use of younger actors that other beer brands are fond of.
• Instead by having an elderly man as the star it is thought that he is not a threat or reminder of what viewers haven’t achieved yet. Instead he is an ideal to strive for rather than a mirror for comparison.
• The work was lucrative for the actor who got the role after a general casting call – he is thought to potentially earn over $1 million in 2016.
• The actor, however, is 77, and Dos Equis now sponsors the College Football Playoffs. The brand is looking to find a new star that better suits its image as brand sponsor.
• Executives are consulting with the people behind James Bond – believing that their expertise in picking different actors to play spins on the same character is the way forwards.

The full article has quotes from Goldsmith and describes the transition that the brand is trying to make. Read it here.

Source: Ad Age

Jane Helpern wrote about how stripper culture is becoming increasingly mainstream:

• Sites like Instagram seem to have a large proportion of young females who wear revealing outfits and high heels.
• The characteristics commonly associated with strippers – being trashy and sexy is increasingly being seen as “cool”.
• This is helped in part by mainstream celebrities like Lady Gaga – who was a stripper before she found fame.
• Pole dancing has also become an athletic sport that is pushing for Olympic recognition. Its practitioners take pains to clarify that they’re athletes not strippers.

The full article talks in particular about how strippers feel about these changes, and why they wish that they were better embraced by society at large. Read the article here.

Source: Vice

Malia Wollan wrote about the pros and cons of at-work dining:

• Breaking for lunch in the middle of the day made more sense when people toiled in the fields or did back-breaking manufacturing work.
• Now less so – though there are still benefits to it – some studies indicate that teams that eat lunch together collaborate better.
• But these days’ people seem to prefer the ability to multi-task their professional responsibilities for the day…or even scroll through Facebook, than eat with colleagues.
• This might be good for our health on one level – eating alone usually means eating less food.
• But people also seem to snack more throughout the day, now that lunch is not a well-defined time period. And employees know where they can find free leftover food from senior company meetings, sometimes adding an extra meal to their day.

Read more musings and hard science that has been done on the topic over here.

Source: The New York Times Magazine

When Meghan Nesmith’s boyfriend broke up with her, she wondered what to do with all the gifts she had accumulated from him over eight years. Then she found Never Liked It Anyway:

• On the website people list the gift they got, what it’s actually worth, the “breakup price” they’re willing to sell it for, the reason for the breakup, and what they’ll use the funding for.
• Engagement rings are the most popular item on the site.
• Common plans for what jilted lovers will do with the funds include exotic vacations, and sessions with “life coaches”.
• Letting sellers explain what they’ll do with the funding helps remove some of the stigma of purchasing what could be a cursed engagement ring. Think of it instead as a way to help fund a person’s dreams and efforts to bounce back.

Read more about the site, as well as other things you could do with your ex-lover’s presents over here.

Source: Racked

Steve Mollman wrote about Amazon’s monk delivery service:

• After the death of a loved one, finding a monk to administer the last rites is an administrative burden surviving family members can do without.
• People are often gouged – being charged as much as ¥100,000 ($830) or more for a monk’s services, as they’re probably not in a place to start price shopping.
• Enter Amazon which is offering a monk, and a donation, for ¥35,000 ($300). Free shipping is, of course, included.
• Additional services – such as giving the deceased a posthumous name – important in certain strains of Buddhism, cost extra.
• Some of the biggest fans of the platform are monks who are pleased that they no longer have to go through temples to find clients.
• The temples themselves – many of which were already struggling to stay in business – are less happy about this development.

Read more over here.

Source: Quartz

Via: Marginal Revolution