Strands of Genius: Wasteful Competition, New BA Safety Video, We Owe Shannon Doherty an Apology
Plus: Cigarettes of Champions
WRITING FROM | Chattanooga, TN
WORKING ON | new talk for upcoming gig, workshop modules for an engagement, new biz chats
LOOKING AHEAD
July 29-Aug 13 | Chattanooga, TN
Aug 15-18 | Charlotte, NC
Aug 18-?? | Chattanooga, TN
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
Hello and welcome the Strands! Last week we were in Mexico with Faris’ dad Abdulla and we got to share some very special places for us with him, and it was delightful. He has more energy than a man half his age (Faris lol) and a spice tolerance that impressed the locals. (After saying the habanero hot sauce was not spicy, our waiter brought back “the stuff only for the Mexicans.” Abdulla had *no problem* with the stuff, and they ended up bringing out the chef to witness him eating it with no problems. That being said, his stomach felt a little funny the next day. Spicy on the way in is spicy on the way out, we say!)
We bounced back through Atlanta to finally end up home again. Home, still seems strange to say it and more strange for it to mean a specific place (this place). Having historically been both quite precocious, and keen to live life our own way means that now we are slowly growing used to having a house later in life. However we will only be here two weeks because we have a gig coming up in Charlotte, NC and we are very excited to be back in front of people doing Genius Steals (the) show.
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
Daddio&Janka, Alex&Collin, Lolo, Isla, A/C, the game Tapple, the patience of saints needed to fly anywhere nowadays especially last week, getting glasses, shrimp tacos, micheladas, quantum mechanical metaphors & YOU.
:: THE LINKS ::
WASTEFUL COMPETITION
A core belief in whatever Neoliberalism is the efficiency of markets and how they are therefore a better mechanism for operating in most domains, even when markets often fail under certain conditions. Equally, however, competition itself isn’t an “unalloyed good”. “It is a common misconception that competitive markets yield efficient outcomes. While competition can spur increased effort, that effort need not be directed toward anything productive. More competition has a dark side as well—the tendency to produce unnecessary duplication of efforts and waste.” (EconLib)
MAY WE HAVETH ONE’S ATTENTION
I wanted to write something snarky, saying “are we STILL doing airport safety videos?!” But the truth is, the airline safety videos are such a great way for airlines to make an impact with customers. We’re forced to watch them, and they’re an opportunity for the brand to show off their creativity. And for a nationally owned airline, it’s also a great way to showcase the country’s uniqueness, too. So it’s understandable that the new British Airways safety video has already gone viral…
(British Airways)
WE OWE SHANNON DOHERTY AN APOLOGY
While this piece is about Shannon Doherty, it’s also a reflection on how we describe women in media. I especially loved this bit:
“The reassessment is more than just a desire (sincere or otherwise) not to speak ill of the dead. It’s a result of a few tough decades that have taught us what real bad behavior in Hollywood looks like: not impolite ingénues but Harvey Weinstein. Or Bill Cosby. Or Danny Masterson.
Maybe Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton and Tara Reid were not hot messes, but just girls being girls, the same way we’ve always allowed boys to be boys. And at least their misdeeds were largely victimless, unlike the missteps of so many male counterparts or superiors.
Maybe showing up late to the set, while not ideal, is not completely unexpected from a teenager adjusting to sudden, unimaginable wealth and fame. Maybe the bitches and the bad girls were giving voice to inconvenient truths about men with power and the sexist scripts they , the abusive film sets they ran and the bad behavior they indulged in or ignored. Maybe the difficult women like Ms. Doherty are the ones we should have been listening to all along.” (New York Times Gift Link)
Want to chat, comment, question, compliment?
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:: OLYMPIC SPONSORS ::
Congrats to everyone doing work on THE GAMES in whatever way, she big.
And yeah, tobacco companies also liked getting involved - see lots more examples here in this online exhibit.
If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
rockON,
faris & rosie | your friends over at geniussteals.co
(still want more? @faris is still “tweeting” while @rosieyakob prefers instagram stories)
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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. We have a distributed team ourselves, an accounting team is based in Tennessee where our company is registered, our admin extraordinaire is based in Playa del Carmen, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)