In Brief – July 2020
Smiling masks
With masks becoming a part of daily wear, a Belgian businessman has given them a human face. He has developed a photo booth called Cheesebox that takes a shot of the lower face and prints it on a mask. The process takes a couple of minutes and produces an image that is friendlier and warmer. The masks come in double cotton layer and filter, and meets safety standards.
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Extending a helping hand
Mizoram’s Sports Minister Robert Royte turned labourer for two days to help a resident of his constituency rebuild his dilapidated house. Royte surprised the locals when he nonchalantly hoisted a boulder on his shoulder and walked up a slope to leave it at the construction site. “Everyone here looks up to me as a leader and it is important for a leader to lead by example,” he said.
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Super heroes spread Covid message
In the Philippines, local officials dressed as Star Wars characters or in Darth Vader and Stormtrooper outfits catch public attention as they enforce strict quarantine measures and distribute relief packages. In the Java islands, volunteers clad as Superman, Spider Man, and Gatotkaca, a local superhero, appeal to people to wash their hands and wear masks, while handing out sanitisers.
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Correcting a warped vision of beauty
After years of peddling warped messaging about the connection between beauty and fairness, following the furore in US and rest of the world and the trending of #BlackLivesMatter Unilever has finally changed the name of its product ‘Fair & Lovely” to ‘Glow & Lovely’. Words such as ‘fairness’, ‘whitening’ and ‘lightening’ may be removed from the advertising of its products. L’oreal has also announced a similar move.
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Cashing in on corona
Believe it or not but the ‘coronaburger’ does have takers at the Pizza Home takeaway shop at Hanoi. The bakery is selling 50 of these green tea stained burger buns with little ‘crowns’ resembling microscopic images of the Covid virus every day. ‘If you want to beat it, you’ve got to eat it first,’ says Chef Hoang Tung. In Helsenki, at the Ronttosrouva bakery, ‘toilet roll’ cakes made of oat batter, passion fruit mousse and covered with white fondant are a huge hit.
