X Musks the Spot

The final nail in the Twitter coffin has been hammered by Mr. Musk. Twitter is officially x.com a year after its rebranding. Elon technically changed the network name to ‘X’ in July and gave it a new logo, but it was still hosted on twitter.com.

This rebranding has been one of Elon’s clunkiest manoeuvres throughout his Twitter takeover. It was always going to be hard to rebrand a platform that has its own vocabulary – and let’s be real, ‘x-ing’ doesn’t really roll off the tongue. Months on, the new name still hasn’t caught on, I mean how many people call it ‘X’ even now?

Musk’s logo is angsty and is nothing compared to the cute little bird we all miss.  As it turns out the logo is the generic Unicode character “𝕏”, which anyone can use. People assumed the logo was a mere placeholder for a ‘proper’ logo to come, but ten months on, it’s still there. Get used to it guys ‘X’ is here to stay and soon there will be no need to say, ‘formerly known as Twitter’, as the little blue bird becomes a distant memory.

McMental Health

The Happy Meal has taken a sad turn. For mental health week, McDonalds has wiped the smile off the happy meal boxes, creating ‘The Meal’. This is to raise awareness for kid’s emotions and encourage families to talk more openly about their feelings. A cynic might wonder if this is McDonalds’ attempt to win back support and moral credibility amidst boycotts that have caused them to lose millions over past months. A cynic might, we obviously wouldn’t dream of it. But the ad really does try and pull on the heart strings with little ones explaining how they feel.

The new box design leaves a blank expression, inviting kids to stick on an array of emotion stickers as a reminder that “It’s okay not to feel happy all the time.” This comes after a study shows that 48% of children in the U.K. feel a pressure to always be happy. It wouldn’t surprise me if the same was true for adults. Maybe we need our own emotional meal boxes too… what about us, McDonalds? So, kiddos, while you munch on your nuggets, remember it’s okay to swap out that smiley face for a more honest expression. Turn that smile upside down. Or sideways. Whatever feels right…

Tablet Toxicity

Samsung seized their opportunity, further fuelling the never-ending feud with Apple. They have literally picked up the broken pieces from Apple’s hydraulic press disaster and turned it into their own diss ad.

The ad shows a woman picking up a broken guitar in a room similar to the one where Apple crushed everything in their most recent ad they had to apologise for. She then starts learning to play the guitar using a Samsung tablet. This is a pointed celebration of human creativity that aims to put their rival to shame.

Samsung moved at lightning speed to capitalise on the misfortune of Apple’s ad.  While it’s a touching watch, the insult is kind of cheesy, and Samsung aren’t exactly innocent themselves. After all, what Apple’s ad showed was a truism of modern technology: that powerful tablets squash traditional forms of creativity and contribute to the digital take over. Samsung with their own tablet are equally guilty of this. And not to mention they would have had to break a guitar to film their own ad. It all just seems a bit petty. Let’s squash the beef.

Fakebook

Facebook have been called out explicitly for the prolific fake news and scams on their network, with two rival Danish companies having found common ground in their disdain for Facebook’s handling of fraudulent activity.

The campaign addresses Facebook directly, with famous Danish TV hosts asking the platform to take responsibility for ads that have exploited their images and credibility to scam and swindle Danes.

With their reputations on the line, these hosts deliver a compelling plea, highlighting the impact of these scams on their audience.  They mock Facebook by sarcastically explaining they don’t know anything about weight loss pills or cryptocurrency and that one of their hosts isn’t dead, as one fake news ad claimed. These ads not only work in extracting money from poor users, they also erode trust in media in general. In a post truth world, we all struggle to know what to believe. The least we can ask is for platforms to take responsibility for fraudulent schemes.

Dump Truck

How much are you willing to share? Surfshark pulled a unique stunt in London last week, driving around a see-through truck with a man on the toilet inside.

This bold visual metaphor illustrates how sharing our data exposes us in the most extreme ways. According to Surfshark, about 6.5 billion user accounts have unwittingly shared their data and had it leaked online, with the UK being the seventh most breached nation globally. The discomfort created by the stunt reflects the unease we should feel about our online data being readily accessible to third parties.

One can’t help but wonder if the man was actually using the supposedly fully functioning toilet. If so, it might be one of the strangest gigs ever. I guess things could be a lot worse than getting paid to sit on a toilet all day reading a paper – if you can get comfortable with the stares, that is.

So next time you see a man on the bog hurtling down the M25 don’t be too alarmed, he’s just there to remind you to buy a VPN.

Winning Wheelchairs

The Paralympics isn’t just a heart-warming event designed to make people with disabilities feel included. It’s about fierce competition, grit and determination. This summer’s Paralympic Games ad boldly captures this duality.

The ad starts with a colourful cartoon and comically gleeful music as Paralympians frolic holding hands, creating an image of idyllic camaraderie. This narrative is brutally slashed in the second half revealing the raw and vicious essence of the competition. Here, athletes are shown pushing their limits and raw footage of clashes, punches and sweat highlight the ferocity of the sports.

This ad aims to shatter stereotypes about the Paralympics. It’s not about sympathy and inclusion, and the ‘para’ in Paralympics has nothing to do with paradise. Olympic competition is as ruthless for people with disabilities as it is for their able-bodied counterparts. They really aren’t playing games, so bring on Paris and let’s see what they’ve got.