Dieline’s Friday Wrap-Up: A Wienermobile Name Change, Taco Tuesday, and Impending Death of the Recycling Symbol?
by Bill McCool on 05/19/2023 | 3 Minute Read
Feeling lonely? Must be all that dang American-flavored rugged individualism!
Unfortunately, we’re living through a loneliness epidemic, and US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy says that for those living through it, it can be as deadly as smoking 15 cigarettes per day.
And why? Well, you could point to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there’s also increased political polarization, the rise of social media, and institutional decay. And, does it have anything to do with the “American Dream” and its de-emphasizing of community in favor of bootstraps and going it lone wolf style? That’s a pretty good question, and you should definitely read Ted Anthony’s piece over at PBS about how loneliness, like jazz, is an entirely unique American art form.
Anywho, check out these other links.
I Saw the Sign
Facts—most Americans think that the chasing arrows recycling symbol means they can toss it in the recycling bin and, voila, everything is hunky dory. Except that’s not what really happens, and if the piece of plastic you’re holding bears a resin code of 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7, it’s likely going to a landfill or incinerator, depending on if your local waste management company can sort and repurpose it.
That’s why the EPA is teaming up with environmental activists and asking the FTC to remove the recycling symbol from plastics, because throwing those granola wrappers in the green bin is nothing more than wishcycling.
OK, But What About Taco THURSDAYS?
I was yesterday years old when I learned that the Wyoming-based Taco John’s trademarked the term “Taco Tuesday” in 1989, and have ever since been sending cease and desist letters to any would-be taco slingers using the phrase.
Now, Taco Bell wants to liberate us from the tyranny of Taco John’s lawyers by filing a legal petition with the USPTO Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to cancel the Taco Tuesday trademark so that all restaurants can use it, but also mostly Taco Bell.
Anywho, this is definitely living mas.
Census Taker, Beware
Kudos to Rudy on his history of the fiasco, aka the chianti bottle with a straw basket. And, yes, there’s a dark reference to the Manhattan Project.
Frankly, Oscar Mayer, I Don’t Give A Damn
I am happy that I once got to ride around in the Oscar Mayer Weimermobile, you know, before they changed the name to the Frankmobile, a rebranding sparked by their latest 100% beef franks.
Let it be known that this is a terrible idea, and it absolutely waters down one of our country's beloved pieces of kitsch.
Mommy & Me
Shout-out to Jessica for her article on kids’ medical packaging, which almost always features moms and their kids on the packaging, and not the dads. And, no, I certainly didn’t see any packaging weirdos on LinkedIn make comments about how it’s “aspirational” and how moms are the primary household shopper.
U Better U-Bet
This ain’t your grandpappy’s La Croix.
Really fun piece here from The New York Times about the Brooklyn Seltzer Boys, the “last old school seltzer shop” in New York City. Not only do they have a museum and a century-old carbonator, but they sell seltzer in the old-timey glass bottles you’d find in Three Stooges shorts with the nozzle tops:
“The seltzer-making area is a Willy Wonka series of units connected by pipes. The star of the show—and the company’s workhorse—is a squat, century-old carbonator that blasts bubbles into triple-filtered tap water at a 43-degree chill. Its 65 pounds per square inch of pressure—too strong for plastic bottles, hence the use of handblown glass bottles made in Europe—breathes bite into an egg cream.”