Author Archives: Iconoculture

College-bound: More Latino students leaving the nest

by Rocio Zamora Arzola
WHAT’S HAPPENING

When it came to college, Latino students tended to attend one near home to stay close to family. Now, more young Latinos are opting for schools outside their communal comfort zones.
Between 1975 to 2009, Latinos enrolling in four-year colleges located more than 50 miles from home rose [...]

“Toughest race” lets men (and women) get in touch with their inner commando

by Hans Eisenbeis
WHAT’S HAPPENING

In the world of endurance sports, there’s been a slow but steady escalation from marathons to ultramarathons, fun-runs to eco-challenges. Now a new race circuit has developed that seems a mashup of Iron Man athleticism and Burning Man primitivism.
Billed as the world’s toughest one-day endurance race on [...]

Vaccine-autism link retracted, 12 years later

by Abby Shannon
WHAT’S HAPPENING

After a multi-year investigation behind the claims of U.K. doctor Andrew Wakefield, reputable medical journal The Lancet retracted his 1998 paper that linked the childhood measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism (CNN.com 2.2.10).
Wakefield was found to have acted unethically — conducting invasive and unnecessary medical [...]

FROM BROCCOLI TO ONLINE INSIGHTS

by Josh Kimball
Each year, Iconoculture throws a consumer insights extravaganza-cum-raging poolside sleepover. This year’s Iconosphere is just months away — it takes place in L.A. May 17-19 — so around here, the research is flying.
One of the ways we’re trying to better understand consumer mood and motivation is through social media research. I’ll be co-presenting [...]

U.S. Latinas bearing recession’s brunt with lower pay, more fiscal responsibility

by Rocio Zamora Arzola
WHAT’S HAPPENING

U.S. Latinos are being hit hard by the recession. Hit harder: U.S. Latinas. For one, they’re making less in comparison to all U.S. men: In 2007, Latinas earned just 62 cents for every dollar men earned (TrinityTripod.com 2.16.10). And in Latino households, they’re responsible for more than [...]

Buzzworthy at the bank: A hybrid credit and debit card

by Hans Eisenbeis
WHAT’S HAPPENING

When U.S. consumers swipe their debit cards, they’re typically asked to choose “credit” or “debit” for the transaction. The first requires a signature, the second a PIN, but either way the money still comes out of a savings or checking account. But what if consumers really had the [...]

Thread couples online singles via mutual Facebook friends

by Robert van Alstyne
WHAT’S HAPPENING

Lonely hearts looking for love online, but tired of registration-heavy dating sites and wary of total strangers, can tug on Thread for a Facebook-friend-vetted flame-finding alternative (Springwise.com 2.3.10).
Launched in September 2009 and currently in beta, the currently free Facebook Connect-powered service only requires users to fill [...]

Ridesharing shifts into a new gear with RelayRides

by Stefania Revelli
WHAT’S HAPPENING

Think of it as community car sharing. RelayRides is a person-to-person car-sharing-service enabling users to rent their underused vehicles to others who need a ride (Springwise.com 1.28.10).
Car owners simply need to register online and arrange for a keyless system to be installed in the automobile. Owners determine [...]

SPRING CLEANING

by Nissa Hanna
In Minneapolis, the snow is clearing and we’re starting to see the street pavement again, signaling that spring is right around the corner, and with it — spring cleaning.
According to the Soap and Detergent Association (oh yes, there is one), 68% of consumers engage in this annual effort to rid [...]

Maya & Miguel encouraging kids to eat healthy, get active

by Abelardo de la Peña Jr.
WHAT’S HAPPENING

Childhood obesity is a big problem with Latino kids: 22.1% of Mexican American boys, for example, are obese, compared to 18.5% of black boys and 17.3% of white boys (CDC.gov 10.20.09). Enter popular PBS KIDS GO animated characters Maya & Miguel, encouraging children to eat [...]

Lumosity is like having a personal trainer for your mind

by Stefania Revelli
WHAT’S HAPPENING

Mental workouts are proving essential to a well-balanced, whole-body fitness regimen. Brain games on Lumosity.com offer users a full, free cognitive workout in less than 10 minutes per day.
Designed by a team of neuroscience and cognitive psychologists from Stanford and UCSF, users can choose from several courses, [...]

Smartphones turn sleuth with new monitoring system

by Anna Otieno
WHAT’S HAPPENING

Taser International, the folks who make Taser guns, now have a product targeted at parents. Fear not — this one doesn’t include electric shock. It’s a smartphone monitoring system dubbed the Protector Family Safety Program.
The software program includes a series of products that allow parents to monitor [...]

Play now, pay later: Kwedit is a unique new honor system for buying virtual goods

by Hans Eisenbeis
WHAT’S HAPPENING

Kids love to buy virtual goods from videogames, but if they don’t have access to Mom’s plastic, they’re often out of luck. That could change dramatically, now that Kwedit has launched. It’s a sophisticated honor system that allows anyone to buy virtual goods with a promise to pay [...]

PORTION PATROL

by Lisa Pierce
WHAT’S HAPPENING
At a time when pennywise consumers have learned (reluctantly?) to stomach cutbacks in consumption, PepsiCo hopes to convince them to be pound smart. The global soda marketer is upsizing bottles of their low-sugar brands in the U.K. to “encourage” healthier drinking habits and help oversized Brits downsize their girth (FoodProductionDaily.com 2.15.10). But [...]

Consumer watchdog group empowers Latinos in Spanish

by Rocio Zamora Arzola
WHAT’S HAPPENING

How would Consumer Reports rate this? For the first time, Consumers Union, publisher of the venerable magazine and companion newsletters, is rolling out Guia de Compras 2010 de Consumer Reports, a Spanish-language version of their annual buyer’s guide.
Priced at $11, the guide will help Spanish-speaking Latinos compare retailers and get advice [...]