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McDonalds CSR
McDonalds CSR activities came up a few times over the past day or so I thought I would visit it. CSR stands for corporate and social responsibility. A few American PR executives that I have come across used not to like the S in the middle, which sounded like socialism. The idea was doing good to enhance brand reputation – generally it was a strategic function.
ESG operates at a higher level. CSR predates ESG as an idea. McDonalds CSR is interesting because of the tactical way it seems to be employed around what a couple of rules that I have noticed.
- Children are always a good universal focus of McDonalds CSR, which is the reason why Ronald McDonald House is a common theme throughout the worldwide operations of McDonalds
- McDonalds CSR is on the side of authority, hence its support for the Metropolitan Police when dealing with XR protests and Korean national service draftees. There is a risk that this could make its conduct in authoritarian countries more problematic
More information
- McDonald’s HK and DDB Group HK highlight | Marketing-Interactive
- McDonald’s Korea to offer free burgers to army recruits | QSR Media Asia
- McDonald’s offered Met police cheap burgers and free drinks during XR protests | Metropolitan police | The Guardian
Beauty
China
Chinese businessman with Tory links ‘hosted secret police station’ | The Times
Top 10 NPC delegate Proposals: AI, Escape Rooms, Baby Making, and Taiwan
Consumer behaviour
Why the UK is a long way from a consensus on social mobility | British Politics and Policy at LSE
Culture
To be a poem. – from the Web Curios newsletter ‘is a digital poem by Alicia Guo – it’s infinite and self-generating, and I don’t quite know how it works or where it’s pulling the words from, but each time it’s different and each time it’s fragmented and magical and silly and poignant and confusing and beautiful and I would like this to be read forever by a choir of machine voices until the heat death of the universe please thankyou.‘
Economics
Britain in Crisis: The UK Faces a Steep Climb Out of a Deep Hole – DER SPIEGEL
Economic development is doing OK – by Noah Smith
China stock rally highlights health of consumer rebound – Asia Times
Finance
A hat-trick of genuinely interesting papers relevant to the banking mess | Financial Times
Gadgets
Tony Hawk is face of Citizen CZ smartwatch, will skateboard in X Games | FastCompany
Hong Kong
Hong Kongers rally around the world to support defendants in ‘subversion’ trial — Radio Free Asia
2 Hong Kong secondary schools to merge next year due to declining student population; education chief says teachers’ jobs not her priority | South China Morning Post – Students at school in Southern district will be forced to commute to Tung Chung as two Caritas institutions merge in September 2024. Secretary for Education Christine Choi welcomes decision, says interests of students come before ‘stability in the teaching industry’ – this is partly due to an ageing population and partly due to migration of families impacting school numbers
Innovation
Bob and Alice enable Long-distance quantum teleportation | EE News Europe
Hyundai Mobis shows world’s first rollable automotive display | EE Times Europe
Japan
Japan is in the process of a huge transformation that is going largely unnoticed by the general public
Hayao Miyazaki Selects His 50 Favorite Children’s Books | Open Culture
Amazing design choices in Kyoto
Korea
Ukraine War Turns Korea a Major Arms Exporter
Luxury
Hong Kong Loses Ultra-Rich to Mainland, Singapore | Asian Sentinel
Media
‘A hard business’: UK’s illustrious ad industry tainted by burnout and inequality | Advertising | The Guardian and Advertising’s Problem with Working Class People | LBBOnline. Interesting associated read: Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre | UK’s creative industries would need to employ 250,000 more working class people to be as socio-economically diverse as the rest of the economy
What over 50 looks like: interview with MullenLowe’s Ayesha Walawalkar – MediaCat
Linear TV Viewers Still Include Gen Z and Millennials, For Now | Morning Consult – the inconvenient truth for Bytedance, Meta and Alphabet
Daring Fireball: BuzzFeed News Is Shutting Down – online news is difficult to monetise. Insider Media have been struggling even with their subscription model
Online
April Fools’ Day On The Web – handy reference of past ideas
Whipling on Twitter: “RIP “China state-affiliated media” tags~ / Twitter – Elon Musk hewing towards China after conflict with NPR and BBC. Tesla Motors factories in China also probably weighs on his thinking, as it did when he pulled Ukraine’s access to StarLnk.
It’s time to take back control of what we read on the internet – The Atlantic – The Atlantic recommends using RSS including using Newsblur
Security
“Opportunity Is Always Out There” With Simon Mann | Palladium
Russia worried too reliant on Chinese tech: memo | The Standard
Laser Attack on AI speakers | EE Times Europe
Software
China’s Newest Dating Craze: Real-Life Meetups With Virtual Boyfriends
Tesla to continue EV price war, eyeing long-term profit brought by autonomy | DigiTimes
Huawei cuts itself off from reliance on foreign ERP systems
Wireless
MediaTek is rumored to work with Inmarsat to promote satellite D2D communication service | DigiTimes