Scented Cars, Oprah Explains the Weight Loss Revolution and the Return of the Poke Button | Non-Obvious Insights #411

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Dear Newsletterest,

It's time for the National Cherry Blossom Festival in DC. It's one of my favorite times in the city and a great time to come to town and visit any year if you have the chance! Aside from good times in DC, there are some fun stories this week about everything from scent cartridges in cars to airplane etiquette.

Some questions we will explore in this week's edition ... do we need the poke button back? What if you could control the smells inside your car? How can you tell if your spokesperson is a mistake? Can Oprah explain the weight loss drug revolution? Do you have the right to recline your airplane seat? Enjoy the stories!

Stay curious,

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Facebook Brought Back the "Poke" Button ... Here's Why So Many People Started Using It Again

About a decade ago in a Facebook post, Mark Zuckerberg once wrote "we thought it would be fun to make a feature that has no specific purpose." He was describing the much-ridiculed Facebook "Poke" button which was retired but now may be making a bit of a comeback. The thing people simultaneously loved and hated about it was that it was so hard to explain. What is a poke? Was getting one a good sign or not? And what should come after a poke to keep an online conversation going?

No one ever really had a good answer. So why is the poke experiencing this resurgence? One article suggested that "by reimagining one of its classic social interactions that made it fun, Facebook aims to stay relevant and appealing to younger audiences, while reintroducing them to a slice of its heritage." Maybe that's true. Or maybe there's a subset of Facebook users who will simply click the button that is presented to them just to see what it does.

Lincoln Introduces Scent Cartridges To Enhance the Driving Experience

Who doesn't love that new car smell? The problem is, eventually it will wear off and then your car smells like something else. And if you happen to have two teenage boys, that something else usually isn't too good.

Lincoln has a creative solution, as they recently announced on the 2024 Nautilus they partnered with perfumiers to offer seven unique scent cartridges that can be inserted into a panel under the lid of the center armrest.

As the company writes, "the sense of smell is of special interest, as scents and the power of aromatherapy can affect overall mood. Scent is one of the five senses that has one of the strongest connections to not only memory, but emotion and can play a significant role in creating an experience for our clients on the road."

As part of their initial range of scents, they have options including "an earthy blend of cedarwood, amber and yuzu citrus, an enchanting suite of patchouli, floral jasmine, fresh apple, and deep leather undertones or an invigorating blend of lush pine needles, oak moss, crushed tonka and vanilla beans."

Even crushed tonka (whatever that is) would be better than "unwashed shin guard" ... which is often the scent available in my car.

Barilla and the Marketing Pitfall of the Unnecessary Celebrity Spokesperson

Pasta boxes are the perfect packaging to reuse. Pasta leaves no residue and the boxes are generally large enough to fit other items. That's clearly the inspiration for a new campaign from Barilla that promotes box reusability in time for Global Recycling Day. The campaign casts tidying guru Marie Kondo as the spokesperson and their campaign video starts with Kondo carefully folding a pair of socks that apparently she has sold through a secondhand market.

Putting aside the unlikely idea that anyone would buy used socks in a secondhand market, the focus on folding techniques in the video seems quite random. Also, given the fact that transportation alone contributes over 20 percent of global CO₂ emissions, promoting shipping seems like an odd focus for a campaign meant to celebrate an environmental cause.

Kondo too is also a strange choice for spokesperson, given she is best known for home organization. Why not promote Barilla boxes for storage of items or as a tool to aid in home organization instead? Or the brand could have shown how the boxes could fit a range of items commonly sold online such as baby products, video games, pet products and more. Ultimately, I think these flaws result in a campaign that misses the mark. What do you think?

If Anyone Can Explain The "Weight Loss Revolution" ... It Might Be Oprah

The "meta-narrative" of Oprah's legendary media career has been her weight loss and body image. As a result, she may be the perfect ambassador to explain the impact weight-loss drugs are having on the story of obesity in America and beyond. Should these drugs be considered medical treatment for a condition (obesity) that should be blamed on food manufacturers and not people? Or is this a get-thin-quick scheme destined to offer hope to people desperate to lose weight while the companies behind the drugs rack up millions in profit?

These are the questions that often come up around these drugs, but Oprah is now leaning in to the debate with a new ABC special titled "Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution," and offering her considerable storytelling abilities to help make sense of this new reality and whether weight-loss drugs are making lives better, worse or something else. The upside is that watching Oprah's take on it will likely help a lot of people better understand the pros and cons of the drugs. I'll be watching it this week too.

Do You Have the Right To Recline In A Crowded Airplane Economy Seat?

Seat reclining does not improve your leg room.

That's just one of the underappreciated truths about airplane seats that seems like it needs to be said repeatedly out loud for traveler's benefit as we head into the busy Spring and Summer travel seasons. If you have suffered through having an unexpectedly reclined seat shoved toward your face, or fought a silent battle over whether reclining your own seat is somehow against common airplane social etiquette, this article is a necessary read.

Among the common sense suggestions in the article are the advice to warn someone before reclining (so you don't crunch their laptop or send their drink flying), choosing NOT to recline on short haul flights less than three hours and unreclining your seat during meal services. Most come down to common consideration between people, which is increasingly lacking amongst travelers ... perhaps because actual "rules" like these don't really exist. Which is sad, since clearly we all need them.

Even More Non-Obvious Stories ...

Every week I always curate more stories than I'm able to explore in detail. Instead of skipping those stories, I started to share them in this section so you can skim the headlines and click on any that spark your interest:

How are these stories curated?

Every week I spend hours going through hundreds of stories in order to curate this email. Looking for a speaker to inspire your team to become non-obvious thinkers through a keynote or workshop? Watch my new 2024 speaking reel on YouTube >>

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Scented Cars, Oprah Explains the Weight Loss Revolution and the Return of the Poke Button | Non-Obvious Insights #411

Facebook Brought Back the "Poke" Button ... Here's Why So Many People Started Using It Again

Lincoln Introduces Scent Cartridges To Enhance the Driving Experience

Barilla and the Marketing Pitfall of the Unnecessary Celebrity Spokesperson

If Anyone Can Explain The "Weight Loss Revolution" ... It Might Be Oprah

Do You Have the Right To Recline In A Crowded Airplane Economy Seat?

Even More Non-Obvious Stories ...

Older messages

The Movement To Stop Having Children, How TikTok Is Like Opium and Why People Shuttle Frogs | Non-Obvious Insights #410

Waze Gets Worse On Purpose, Why Thinner Eggshells Matter and the Song Released on a Slice of Pizza | Non-Obvious Insights #409

The Secret of Flavor Dust, Dynamic Pricing Fears and Why Americans Stopped Hanging Out | Non-Obvious Insights #408

Why Bad News Makes Us Worse, How AI Is Getting Lazier and The Airbnb of Stuff | Non-Obvious Insights #407

The Future of Love, "Stinge Watching," the Decline of Wine and An African Brand That Turned Down $1.7B | Non-Obvious Insights #406

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