The Zeitgeist: June 7, 2024

Today’s Edition: Special K, Roblox, and $1.50 Hot Dogs

Good Morning! Pride Month has kicked off, celebrating the LGBTQ+ community with parades, events, and a strong focus on equality and inclusivity. While a slew of retailers are releasing pride-themed apparel, beauty and accesories this year, some companies blasted for their support last year, such as Nike and Target, appear to have pulled back.

In other news, women made history this week. Claudia Sheinbaum has been elected as Mexico’s new president, becoming the country’s first female leader. And in the world of food and marketing, cookbook author Molly Baz, known for her recent billboard controversy, is now the first pregnant woman to grace their cereal box.

Campaigns

Earned-friendly campaigns & clever moments

Also, Erewhon and Vacation’s “sunscreen” smoothie, HelloFresh and Hidden Valley Ranch’s data-driven ranch tasting flight, and Scrub Daddy and Dunkin’s National Doughnut Day sponge.

Culture 

Snackable bites of consumer culture

Corporate

Commerce

Shopper society snapshot

Connections

Feed intelligence

Media Moves:

  • Tom Simonite is joining The Washington Post as Tech Companies Editor, helping to drive coverage of some of the biggest players in Silicon Valley and the growing creator economy and their vast impacts on American society.

  • Maria Aspan, formerly of Fortune, has joined NPR as a Finance Correspondent.

  • BBC News is moving Georgina Hayes from health and social affairs to its technology team as a senior journalist and producer.

  • Forbes has hired Stephen Pastis, formerly of the Tampa Bay Business Journal, as a technology and innovation reporter.

  • Inc. magazine has hired Michelle Legro as a deputy editor where she will focus on telling engaging stories about founders, business innovation, and the politics of emerging technologies.

  • CoStar Group has hired David Holtzman to cover residential real estate in the Richmond, Virginia, area.

  • Madeline Fitzgerald, formerly of HNGN, has been hired by Quartz as a business lifestyle writer. She will focus on coverage of lifestyle, wealth, and luxury. She will also cover trending business news stories across a wide range of topics.

Also... Dolly Parton is writing new songs to go along with some of her past hits and co-writing a stage story inspired by her life for a stage musical that she hopes to land on Broadway in 2026.

Thanks for reading.

If you need help accessing the full text of any of these stories, drop your team a line and we'll send it right over.

—The Editors

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe to the Confidant Zeitgeist here.