Weird Universe Blog — August 24, 2019

Sweat Perfume

Finnish ad agency Mirum Helsinki has created a perfume it's calling "Creative Essence." The raw material for it is sweat collected from employees, “in the midst of a workout, a sauna treatment, or in one case, gustatory sweating caused by extra spicy chicken wings.”

The agency is hoping the perfume will serve as a recruiting tool. Explains a rep:

“We believe sweat represents the creative passion we share as creatives. Excitement, goosebumps, the peak moments when our heartbeat rises during the visceral creative process that requires dedication and teamwork.… [It} may even shock people when they first hear about it, but it was a calculated risk we believed was worth taking since our target audience—the most creative people in the advertising industry—would be able to see behind the sweat… They would understand what we actually are talking about: creative talent and all the forms it can take.”

More info: creativeessence.mirum.fi, Quartz



Posted By: Alex - Sat Aug 24, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: Advertising | Perfume and Cologne and Other Scents

1904 Baby Parade

Children should be forced to do this nowadays.



Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 24, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: Parades and Festivals | Babies and Toddlers | Children | 1900s

August 23, 2019

Cremain Library

Shinjuku temple, located in Tokyo, is an ultra-high-tech Buddhist temple and cemetery. From Icon Magazine:

spanning several floors in the heart of the building is an off-limits high-tech vault system that can hold the cremated remains of up to 7,000 people – it has already acquired more than 300 since opening last year. After visitors swipe their entrance cards, family urns are automatically transported to the altar of one of eight viewing booths in the basement, alongside electronic photographs of the deceased.

image source: byakurengedo.net



Sounds expensive. Scattering ashes seems to me like both a cheaper and better option.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 23, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: Death

Mystery Gadget 80

What's happening here?



Answer at the link.

Or after the jump.

More in extended >>

Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 23, 2019 - Comments (3)
Category: Technology | 1930s

August 22, 2019

Every body needs milk

In 1969, the dairy industry launched an advertising campaign with the slogan, "Every body needs milk."

In Oregon, the marketing team decided to conduct an experiment to find out whether showing more skin on a billboard would attract more attention. To do this, they created two different versions of an image. Both showed an attractive young woman lying down, feeding milk to a kitten. But in one version she was wearing slacks and a long-sleeved blouse. In the other, she was wearing a bikini.

It took me a lot of searching, and I wasn't able to find very good-quality copies, but I believe these are the two different billboard scenes:

Source: Flickr



Minneapolis Star - Feb 20, 1970



So, did one billboard attract more attention than the other? The marketers surveyed 231 teenagers and concluded that there was "no indication that the amount of clothing made any difference in the awareness."

Salem Capital Journal - May 6, 1970



That was their conclusion, but I'm not sure I believe them, because the rest of the marketing campaign focused heavily on bikini-clad models. Two examples below.





They even made it possible to buy the bikini-themed images as a poster and towel. Which suggests the bikini billboards did attract more attention.

Oakland Tribune - May 24, 1970



The Capital Journal - June 3, 1970

Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 22, 2019 - Comments (4)
Category: Advertising | 1970s | Billboards

Crazy Cow Cereal



Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 22, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: Anthropomorphism | Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough | Food | Advertising | Corporate Mascots, Icons and Spokesbeings | 1970s

August 21, 2019

Barbecued Rat

A favorite treat in rural parts of Cambodia. From asianage.com:

As he tears off a leg of a charcoal-grilled rat at a roadside stall in western Cambodia, Yit Sarin hails the simple joy of rodent and rice washed down with beer. "It's delicious," he says of the snack...

Sarin tells AFP that rat is like "chicken or beef", whereas others say it's more like pork. He is one of many customers and Cambodian tourists stopping at a stall outside of Battambang town, where rows of grilled field rats are displayed over burning coals and served with dipping sauces made from lime juice, black peppers or chillies.

It sounds like something that, if I didn't know what it was, I would probably think tasted good. But if I did know, then no.... just no.

image via wikipedia



image via Gastro Obscura

Posted By: Alex - Wed Aug 21, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: Food

Nightmare Hand

Its creator is almost as disturbing.





Full story here.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Aug 21, 2019 - Comments (3)
Category: Art | Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues | New Zealand

August 20, 2019

Cannabliss Wallpaper

Scratch-and-sniff wallpaper that smells like marijuana. Available from Flavor Paper.

Just a wild guess: most of the people who will buy this already have rooms that smell like marijuana.

Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 20, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: Drugs | Smoking and Tobacco | Interior Decorating

Caveman Mask

After you have your genome analyzed and discover your percentage of Neanderthal genes, consider this purchase.



Source.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 20, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: Antiques, Anachronisms and Throwbacks | Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues | Stereotypes and Cliches | 1950s

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All original content in posts is Copyright © 2016 by the author of the post, which is usually either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.

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