I'm an Arkansan,too. But in my area, we talk to our neighbors. No one wants to live next door to someone who hates them, so you work it out like civilized adults. We don't make silly signs or sign our own individual rights away to be part of an association. We buy in neighborhoods that seem to be a good fit for the sort of life we want to lead, and then work out the kinks with our neighbors neighbor to neighbor when we have differences. It's not that tough. A plate of brownies or couple cold beers on the porch or passed over the fence and everyone practices a little give and take and is happy with it.
I could possibly see it being okay, since there is another way in, if it were stand alone stores in existing buildings that would need to be expensively renovated to make it so that the front entrance was easily accessible for all. Like if they were operating in a Victorian era building, it could be a major challenge to retrofit it. But the one in the pic at least and the only other one I've ever seen,too,are mall stores. It's not that expensive and difficult to make a mall store accessible. Pretty much every other mall store manages it. And I could see maybe not automatically thinking about the disabled when you're designing your entrance (though really, you should. assuming you pay professionals to do that, they are absolutely used to making public places very accessible and totally ADA compliant.), but when the problem is pointed out, you fix it, politely and as quickly as possible.
While I don't usually side with the ADA trolls who go around just hunting for settlements by targeting non-compliant businesses, I'd be all for them targeting these a-holes. Every Hollister shop in every state in the country ought to be a target for a suit. Since the company clearly has no heart, they should be hit in the pocket book mercilessly.
My guess is that they're over-reacting a little to fear of brand dilution, that if the Nutella Day thing catches on enough that it might become the kind of deal where Nutella might come to mean all hazelnut spread. Like "kleenex" coming into general use for all facial tissue or "google" for all search engine queries or "xerox" for all photocopies. They want to help make sure that they control the Nutella name and keep it only meaning the official Nutella branded product.
Or the celebration could take a weird unforseen turn and become associated with something they wouldn't necessarily want connected with their brand. Like maybe people all getting naked and smearing themselves with Nutella and doing something naughty. Or someone having a big Nutella Day event and someone who didn't know they were diabetic eating a ridiculously huge amount of Nutella in a Nutella eating contest and dying from the sugar overdose. Crazy stuff that could make them look bad even though they did nothing as a company to prompt or support it.
If I were them, it's not nearly a big enough deal to worry about that yet. I'd be much happier to be getting all the free positive publicity than I would be worried about maintaining an iron grip on the name.
It could be a bit of a form letter over-reach,too. Lots of corporations have big batches of cease and desists that get sent to just about anyone and everyone using anything connected with their brand name. It doesn't have to legally hold water. It doesn't have to be relevant. There may be no human beings doing much if any checking at all as to what the site is and if they are infringing or not. It may just get sent in bulk to the holder of the domain just because the keyword "nutella" is triggered automatically.
I would never buy a new fur, mostly because for me fur would be all about the look. My leather jacket (it was new when I bought it, but it's a quality one, so it's served me about 15 years and I expect I'll still be wearing it another couple of decades from now) is a much warmer,durable, more sensible choice for my lifestyle. I'd have a tough time justifying buying fresh fur for myself because it'd be impractical and 100% a fashion choice and I don't feel good about cruelty just for fashion.
But I'm totally okay with vintage fur. That animal is already long dead. He was dead before my mother was born, maybe even before my grandmother was born. It's never going to bring him back to just let the old coat made out of him sit until it rots. And purchasing it's not helping keep a currently operating fur farm in business. No one is going to have to breed or kill another animal to replace the one in the collar of a vintage jacket. My dollars spent on the vintage fur aren't going into the pockets of people currently engaged in fur. They're going to the antique shop vendor or thrift shop or estate sale family. That's okay with me. I'm not contributing directly to suffering. And I get to enjoy wearing the fur. And it gives the fur a longer useful lifespan,too, and I find that respectful of the animal. It's already dead, might as well get the most use out of it possible now. Wear it till it gets too shabby to be beautiful as a garment anymore, then maybe craft with the salvageable pieces, or donate them to one of the causes like in the article that use them for baby animals.
The tooth fairy isn't supposed to be about chores or rewarding good behavior or witholding rewards for not-so-good behavior. It's not supposed to be a teaching tool or a motivator or have a purpose other than being fun. This parent is missing out on the joy and magic of the tradition and robbing their kid of it,too. Sad.
If they were to embrace it as an experience and something for entertainment worthy of charging admission for, they would need to bump up the entertainment factor, like with performers, speakers, exhibits, food, drinks, social stuff, that kind of thing. I've been to things like holiday markets where you paid admission to shop, but they added a lot to the event besides just the shopping part.
And they should waive the fee if you buy something of a decent value. Like if it cost you a two buck cover to get in, you could get your two bucks back at the register if you spent at least 10 bucks.
Or it could be done like a club type thing, too. You could pay so much to become a member of the club, and then you could browse and partake of the whole rest of the experience for free (or a lot of the things free, some premium with a discount for members, some members only). And the rest of the public could pay the cover to partake as guests. If it were more club-like it would help encourage folks to really feel more a part of it, and to make sure and buy there more loyally,too. It would be more of a community, a scene, than just a retail environment.
I think there will be room for both viewing styles, both for different people's preferences and for different kinds of content. Some shows lend themselves well to the all at once style, shows that are more moviesque, like Game of Thrones, where there is an on-going plot that's important to the series. Others lend themselves better to episode style viewing, like Pawn Stars, where there's not much of a plot that you're watching unfold and want to see it all at once. It's actually better in smaller chunks. And not just reality shows, but scripted shows,too, like sitcoms, are often better week to week than all at once. Yeah, there's sort of an overall plot sometimes that strings them together, but overall, it's not the big draw and not a big enough deal to want or need to see them back to back. And some people see some or all of their tv viewing as more of an event thing or a time-waster thing. There's going to be people and circumstances that work great for watching a full show beginning to end, like if you have friends over and have snacks and watch something for an entire weekend day. But there's other times while you're just unwinding after dinner and really only care to watch an hour long program or want to take in a half-hour show while breakfast is in the oven or before you hit the sack.
For a luxury pizza, assuming it's ordinary pizza sized, that doesn't sound too over-the-top pricewise. A pizza's not intended to be single serving. So if you gave everyone a slice, it'd $5.50 a slice. Not quite as cheap as typical by the slice pizza, but not just crazy. And if you ate it as a meal split between two people, both would get six slices (and even by American standards, that's a decent amount of pizza), that's 33 bucks a person. Not cheap like most pizza is, but still in the range you'd expect for a something like a steak in a nice restaurant. In the scheme of restaurant dinner prices, not a bargain, but not a one-percenters only kind of evening out. I'd give it a go.
It sounds like it doesn't do what I want "smellophone" to do. It doesn't transmit the smells it's exposed to, just sprays the smell you instruct it to. I can't use it to send my sister the smell of my mother's hot rolls baking while she's away from home during the holidays. I can't use it to send a friend the smell of the pool and the margaritas waiting for them to arrive. I can't use it to receive the smell of my grandmother's house while she's talking to me on the phone or share the smell of the state fair while I'm calling someone from there.
While I don't usually side with the ADA trolls who go around just hunting for settlements by targeting non-compliant businesses, I'd be all for them targeting these a-holes. Every Hollister shop in every state in the country ought to be a target for a suit. Since the company clearly has no heart, they should be hit in the pocket book mercilessly.
Or the celebration could take a weird unforseen turn and become associated with something they wouldn't necessarily want connected with their brand. Like maybe people all getting naked and smearing themselves with Nutella and doing something naughty. Or someone having a big Nutella Day event and someone who didn't know they were diabetic eating a ridiculously huge amount of Nutella in a Nutella eating contest and dying from the sugar overdose. Crazy stuff that could make them look bad even though they did nothing as a company to prompt or support it.
If I were them, it's not nearly a big enough deal to worry about that yet. I'd be much happier to be getting all the free positive publicity than I would be worried about maintaining an iron grip on the name.
It could be a bit of a form letter over-reach,too. Lots of corporations have big batches of cease and desists that get sent to just about anyone and everyone using anything connected with their brand name. It doesn't have to legally hold water. It doesn't have to be relevant. There may be no human beings doing much if any checking at all as to what the site is and if they are infringing or not. It may just get sent in bulk to the holder of the domain just because the keyword "nutella" is triggered automatically.
http://www.cracked.com/article_19882_6-insane-but-convincing-fan-theories-about-kids-cartoons.html
http://abcnews.go.com/International/Technology/stray-dogs-master-complex-moscow-subway-system/story?id=10145833
But I'm totally okay with vintage fur. That animal is already long dead. He was dead before my mother was born, maybe even before my grandmother was born. It's never going to bring him back to just let the old coat made out of him sit until it rots. And purchasing it's not helping keep a currently operating fur farm in business. No one is going to have to breed or kill another animal to replace the one in the collar of a vintage jacket. My dollars spent on the vintage fur aren't going into the pockets of people currently engaged in fur. They're going to the antique shop vendor or thrift shop or estate sale family. That's okay with me. I'm not contributing directly to suffering. And I get to enjoy wearing the fur. And it gives the fur a longer useful lifespan,too, and I find that respectful of the animal. It's already dead, might as well get the most use out of it possible now. Wear it till it gets too shabby to be beautiful as a garment anymore, then maybe craft with the salvageable pieces, or donate them to one of the causes like in the article that use them for baby animals.
And they should waive the fee if you buy something of a decent value. Like if it cost you a two buck cover to get in, you could get your two bucks back at the register if you spent at least 10 bucks.
Or it could be done like a club type thing, too. You could pay so much to become a member of the club, and then you could browse and partake of the whole rest of the experience for free (or a lot of the things free, some premium with a discount for members, some members only). And the rest of the public could pay the cover to partake as guests. If it were more club-like it would help encourage folks to really feel more a part of it, and to make sure and buy there more loyally,too. It would be more of a community, a scene, than just a retail environment.