Nutty Flavor Blog

"We have got to all put our stock in something that is true and we need to have reliable media and news sources that are telling us the truth," the Duchess of Sussex told Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit in a video message on Tuesday. If award shows still meant anything, that statement might win Meg a Best Irony award.  Fortune is no longer "Fortune Magazine" First of all, Fortune is no longer the glossy Fortune Magazine that once lay on every CEO's mahogany desk.  It was purchased by the Iowa-based Meredith Corporation in 2017 as part of its takeover of Time, Inc. Meredith is best known as the publisher of Better Homes and Gardens, and it quickly went about selling off most of the Time Inc. magazine titles piece by piece to the highest bidder. Fortune went to Thai billionaire Chatchaval Jiaravanon, head of the Chaoren Pokphand Group, a conglomerate with pharma, agriculture, and telecommunications interests.  The $150 million price was cheap for an estab...

 Duchess Meghan is working quite hard at the moment to be an "influencer." She recently took the opportunity to go on video, with Harry, to suggest that people "vote against negativity"  in the upcoming US election (given Meg's simping for Michelle Obama, that means not for Donald Trump) and also took time to send a video message offering encouragement to an America's Got Talent contestant who served time in prison while being wrongly accused of a crime.  (The contestant was named Archie, the same as the Sussexes's possibly mythical child, and the Daily Mail reports that he "smiled in disbelief" upon seeing the video. He may have been smiling uncomfortably because he had no idea who the Duchess was.) Cause and effect Cynically, I believe that the Duchess' political pronouncements are more about ingratiating herself with the Hollywood "in crowd" than any actual heartfelt beliefs.  The question is, is anyone really being influenced ...

 Prince Harry is 36 years old today, roughly halfway through his time on this mortal coil, if you go by the average life expectancy for a British male.  99-year-old Prince Philip is really an outlier; most of the men in Elizabeth's family didn't make it past their mid-70s, and Diana's father died at 68. Thirty-six has a special poignancy for Harry, of course, because it is also the age at which his mother died. The cult of celebrity Diana helped create the turn-of-the-century cult of celebrity and the media to support it. Harry, ironically, has exposed its emptiness. Once-respected establishment media names like Vanity Fair  and  USA Today  are coo-ing over Harry's fabulous new Hollywood mansion, generous Netflix producing deal, satisfying marriage to an intelligent and glamorous woman, and proud fatherhood to a red-haired baby boy. Does anyone really believe this? And even if they do, do they care? In a time of pandemic, mass demonstrations, and violence, the p...

There's a new CDAN blind item today, suggesting that there are "still no takers for the alliterate one and her ginger boy to speak at an event." That's hardly surprising; first of all, there aren't many big in-person events or conventions going on right now, and Enty says that "even for virtual speaking they wanted the same fee as in person." But fees aren't the only problem. What do the Sussexes bring to an event?  Do they have business knowledge, like how to increase an organization's sales , improve its branding, or inspire better product development? Do they have an inspirational story, like people who have overcome terrible circumstances and excelled ? Or are they extremely popular (and non-controversial) celebrities that almost everyone would enjoy meeting ? Bragging rights No, they're not any of the above, and for that reason it's difficult for any meeting planner to justify to his or her clients spending a great deal of money hir...

 According to the New York Times, Harry and Meghan have signed a contract with Netflix to make documentaries, docuseries, feature films, scripted shows and children's programming.   In a statement quoted in the Times, the couple say, "Our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope. As new parents, making inspirational family programming is also important to us."   Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer and co-chief exec, added, "We're incredibly proud they have chosen Netflix as their creative home and are excited about telling stories with them that can help build resilience and increase understanding for audiences everywhere." What do you make of this development?