Monthly Archives: March 2009

THE REVALUATION REVOLUTION

March 31, 2009 – 1:45 pm

by Josh Kimball At Iconoculture, we tackle the issues shaping the culture. In 2008, for our inaugural Cultural Zeitgeist series, we looked at some biggies: the finitude of the earth’s resources (“A Finite Future”), the changing station of America in the realms of geopolitics and global commerce (“The Centerless World”), and the dynamics of fear […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Economic meltdown, Economy, Money/Spending | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

South Floridians keeping quinceañera costs down

March 30, 2009 – 6:00 am

by Abelardo de la Peña Jr. WHAT’S HAPPENING Latina teens take heart: Despite the teetering economy, the quinceañera must go on, as parents find ways to cut costs for the coming of age celebration. In South Florida, where quinces average $5,000-10,000, parents are reducing the number of girls and boys in the quinceañera court, doing […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Economy, Latino, Multicultural | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Retire? Not in this lifetime!

March 27, 2009 – 6:00 am

by Hans Eisenbeis WHAT’S HAPPENING Great Recession, meet the American work ethic. Only one in three Americans believe they’ll ever be able to retire fully, according to a January 2009 survey by Scottrade (BusinessWire 2.25.09). That belief is driven entirely by fears about the economy, low personal savings, and the terrible decline in IRA and […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Economy, Money/Spending, Work | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off

One night stands: Pop-up restaurants proliferate during recession

March 26, 2009 – 6:00 am

by Tim Barlow WHAT’S HAPPENING Restaurants are finding creative ways to play the culinary field while minimizing financial risk — for themselves and their customers. In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, two Vietnamese restaurants — Bep and Bonjin — use the kitchens of other restaurants and are each open just one day a week during off hours (The […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Food/Beverage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

P.O.S.’ hip-hop/punk mélange hits the sweet spot

March 25, 2009 – 6:00 am

by Rob van Alstyne WHAT’S HAPPENING Minneapolis rapper Stefon Alexander — stage name P.O.S. — found a home atop Billboard’s Heatseekers chart with the February 2009 release of his third album mixing punk rock sounds with hip-hop flow, Never Better. Alexander gained notoriety on the Vans Warped tour, a mecca for tattooed skateboarding youth but […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Entertainment | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

EXPONENTIAL EATING IN EL PASO

March 24, 2009 – 3:08 pm

by Abelardo de la Peña Jr. After years of visiting my son and his family in El Paso, TX, I’ve come away with one conclusion: There’s some Texas-size people ’round those parts. I’ve seen a rotund family barely squeezing into a Ford F-350 after a movie matinee; a group of businessmen bursting out of their […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Food/Beverage, Health | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

Radio connects Latino prisoners with their loved ones

March 23, 2009 – 6:00 am

by Abelardo de la Peña Jr. WHAT’S HAPPENING Sweet, sweet music brings light to the darkest places. A Boston radio show host connects Latino prisoners with their family and friends by dedicating and playing songs, giving news and sending love over the airwaves. Jose Masso’s “Con Salsa!” show on Boston University’s public radio station, 90.9 […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Latino, Media, Multicultural | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off

USDA will grow some of its own produce

March 20, 2009 – 6:00 am

by Katie Elfering WHAT’S HAPPENING It’s not just all talk about community gardens at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The government agency is putting its money where its vegetables are by starting up gardens of their own to help feed communities. As part of the Obama administration’s push to get citizens to grow more of […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Food/Beverage, Garden, Green | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Dress rental services have recessionistas covered

March 19, 2009 – 6:00 am

by Nissa Hanna WHAT’S HAPPENING To help recessionistas cope in this economy, apparel rental services are coming to the rescue. Dress Vault facilitates the lending, borrowing, buying and selling of frocks. Members put pics of their dresses into their virtual closet and include a rental or purchase price (JCReport.com 2.12.09). Borrowers cover shipping costs, but […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Fashion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Translating Fashion Week

March 18, 2009 – 8:32 am

Alexandra Smith, Barbie Casasus and Nissa Hanna give a quick rundown of Fall 2009 Fashion week with the industry’s pre-Fashion Week mood, discussion of key trends from Fashion Week and we’ve decoded what it all means for shoppers. Download the podcast here: Translating Fashion Week 19 min., 50 sec.

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Fashion, Podcasts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

“We’ll pay you not to be a customer!”

March 18, 2009 – 6:00 am

by Hans Eisenbeis WHAT’S HAPPENING American Express launched a program in February 2009 to help consumers “simplify your finances” by paying off and closing their accounts. The carrot? A $300 cash card, redeemed when any outstanding balance is paid in full (CreditMattersBlog.com 2.23.09). The blogosphere is snarking at the campaign, pointing out that accepting the […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Economic meltdown, Economy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

THE CLEAN FRIDGE CLUB

March 17, 2009 – 2:30 pm

by Charlotte Beal Four months before the Great Recession became official, I penned what I pegged a top trend for 2009: “Buying Out,” or consumers engaging in deconsumption to save money, lighten the load on the planet and amp independence. Now Iconoculture is seeing this play out in categories from fashion to transportation, but food […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Food/Beverage | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Protecting condoms, CVS exposes itself to consumer protest

March 16, 2009 – 6:00 am

by Abelardo de la Peña Jr. WHAT’S HAPPENING What do we want? Condoms! When do we want them? Now! Community and health groups are challenging CVS/pharmacy’s practice of locking up condom displays in some urban areas by giving away free condoms. Under the organization of Cure CVS, public health, civil rights and community leaders distributed […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Health, Retail | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off

This is Why You’re Fat: Crowdsourced food confessional

March 13, 2009 – 6:00 am

by Charlotte Beal WHAT’S HAPPENING Part wall of shame, part blame game, part dark comedy — the online photolog ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com is straightforward data wrapped up in a complicated package of consumer emotions. The concept is so simple it’s almost straight-to-the-hips fattening: Anyone can post a photo and caption of over-the-top food creations. As of press […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Food/Beverage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

WujWuj helps groups of shoppers score online deals

March 12, 2009 – 6:00 am

by Nissa Hanna WHAT’S HAPPENING Online retailer service WujWuj is giving consumers an incentive to invite friends to buy online. The service facilitates group buys to drop the price of a product as more shoppers sign on to purchase it (TechCrunch.com 2.11.09). WujWuj’s retail partners embed special widgets on their websites, each one showing a […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Money/Spending, Retail, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 96 other followers