Good morning dear reader,

I don't hope you spilled your coffee reading today's supplement to the Sunday AM headline. However, there is a reason for it - and if you are easily offended, don't read on.

Have a great day,

/Morten

BUSINESS

This week's business will be very short. I have been traveling in North Italy the past week and have been very busy visiting successful companies. I just wanted to share this with you since Omet, Logica, and DURST all seem to thrive despite the pandemic. I believe that the companies who dare to invest, are innovative, listen to their customers, understand the importance of technology, and have the best employees, will be the winners. So, when you look at your future suppliers to your printing company, maybe this could be an excellent starting point evaluating if you believe in your supplier being part of the future. To be honest. Not all companies in the industry are on that trajectory, or what do you think?

TECHNOLOGY

With new lockdowns on the radar, I can't say how sorry I am over the people who choose to jeopardize the life of other people. Regardless of your stand on getting your vaccinations, I want to talk about the fantastic technology making vaccinations possible. The first vaccinations were not very pleasant—a cut with a knife and then infected with the disease. The body started to produce antigens and made you immune to the disease when exposed to the thread.

Today, vaccines are produced entirely differently. The AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, the Russian, Chinese, and Indian vaccines are all made in eggs, from which the vaccines are refined and ready for distribution. Gigantic egg farms are used to grow the virus, so tiny parts of the virus can be used in the vaccine doses.

The mRNA vaccinations (Phizer and Moderna) are entirely different. Not only is there no actual virus in the vaccination doses, but a synthesized protein that has a surface like a virus, but no active virus, which will let the body kickstart the body's immune defense against anything looking like the surface of the virus.

All vaccines are, of course, carefully tested. They work differently, but the goal is the same, to kickstart your body's defense mechanisms.

I think this is simply amazing to think what the pharmaceutical industry today is capable of. I believe the mRNA vaccines have potential like never before, and you should watch this amazing story about how mRNA came around.

Katalin Karikó is the woman behind the mRNA - and a little funny side story to the vaccines is that the development teams at Moderna, Phizer, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson were all led by women.

CULTURE

It all started with a radio program I was listening to while driving. It was about an American rapper, and when listening to the program, I couldn't help deciding to bring on this exciting topic.

The global population is almost 8 billion people. Though the split between men and women is about 50/50 - and no, in this context, I don't give a shit about the people that define themselves differently. Regardless of sex being one of the everyday things between the genders, it still raises all kinds of emotions - from religious to political, to well - in today's context, marketing.

Sex has been regulated since ancient times, with religion being one of the most dominating factors to control, manage, manipulate, stigmatize, and define our moral standards. The history of how sex has been a tabu, to today become mainstream is why sex is so dominant even in public.

Even before sexual images became legal, the use of, if not sexual, then at least emotional objects, like lips, legs, and after the sixties, bikinis were used to promote the most amazing things.

With more liberal societies - and yes, I know this doesn't apply to all countries, the language also changes. A long time ago, I read an article about swearing. Swearing is widely used in some people's language, but it changes character based on historical time. Cursing often refers to diseases, religion, genitals, and sex. Swearing becomes an additive rather than literal, so when people curse at you - it's the curse that should offend, not the actual words.

For some cultures, this is very different, and therefore also something complicated to understand.

Sex sells, but the images and the stories told, of course, change with fashion, societies in general, and of course, what is socially acceptable. Below is a few examples of what wouldn't be accepted today, though we consider our societies widely more liberal. Thank God that these standards have changed!

Today's standards will, of course, also be judged in the future. When porn became legal in many places in the '60s, many saw this as the ultimate liberation of women, which, of course, is widely debated among feminists. Today, I am not so sure that this is what most people believe.

Many are also concerned about how porn and sex influence our younger generations, but regardless, marketing people keep using sex as a driver for campaigns - also when targeting young people!

Reality shows push the boundaries, and easy accessibility to all kinds of sex will most likely change our views on everything from monogamy to marriage to sexual orientations. Therefore, also affect how sex will be used in marketing in the future.

Globalization is for most people for the better. I also LOVE meeting people from different cultures. However, in the past, where communities were smaller, more even, many societies shared more values. Today, I believe many people have a constant search for identity. Where do I belong, what tribes do I belong to, what defines me? Sex is about intimacy, being loved, and being admired; we also feel good when advertising uses something so profound to most people. BUT - I think one of the biggest challenges of our time is that humans have become marketing objects. Whenever I see a webinar, a website, a post, a whatever, I am exposed to something that I essentially don't want or need. I just want to be me!

MEDIA

This week, Jan Majnik and I were in Italy visiting Omet, Logica, and Durst - all great, with one exception - RyanAir.

I will spare you all the details, but one; RyanAir has started using the "new" Boeing 737 MAX. That is a terrible combination since RyanAir is known for inexperienced pilots (young), fuel competitions (the less fuel spent, the higher the personal reward the pilot can achieve), and distrust in Boeings' business ethics. The day after, a friend called me and asked if I was on the course to bash RyanAir like I, according to him, did with Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, to which I said no.

If I am bashing anybody, it should be Heidelberger Druckmaschinen and Boeing. Both companies used to be companies run by engineers, and today, both are run by excel guys. Companies that, in my opinion, short-cut everything they can for a short-term gain. As I mentioned last Sunday, Boeing has out-sourced so many parts of the 787 that security is jeopardized according to various flight sources and American authorities.

Heidelberg sues INKISH, as you may know, and when I try with the very best intentions to understand why I can only find one reason - they want to bully us to silence.

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen is a company living in the past. Giving up VLF and PrimeFire was the starting point of being totally disconnected from the world.

With constant rumors of a bullying culture on printers who decided to move from Heidelberger Druckmaschinen to other vendors - well - it looks amazingly like what Boeing is doing - on a much bigger scale.

The bullying culture is difficult to explain since we would never accept our kids to bully others. Still, grownups bully, and it becomes more sophisticated, and almost always because of money. Not so good.

Heidelberg's legal action against INKISH is strange. We live in an industry where freedom of speech and the free press has driven the entire industry to where we are today!

One of the largest companies sues INKISH for 'damages' on an irrelevant story since benpac holding was a hoax not able to deliver, as we anticipated already back in August 2020. Wondering why All Heidelberg's lawyers and M&A people weren't able to see that from the very beginning - or maybe that's where the real issue is - they did!

Amazing!

Politics

The world is changing. After years of globalization, the pandemic is starting to change the world and, unfortunately, dividing people. An effective COVID-vaccination was the tool to open up the world; anti-vax'ers now become responsible for new lockdowns, potentially new variants, and more people who will die - and for what? Before COVID, I believe most anti-vax'ers were against vaccinations because of a distrust in the vaccines themselves or for other health-related reasons. A minority of people, when you look at the countries who have had broad vaccinations programs against the common childhood diseases like polio, chick-pocks, measles, etc. With COVID, stupidness, and public statements that it's violating independence, etc. Simpy stupid, but even worse, since it will jeopardize the whole world, so maybe selfish is a better word for the anti-vax'ers.

I believe in science. If you look at where science has taken us from space, innovations, transport, infrastructure, to treatments, enable better lives for millions of people - and now some believe they know more and better?

Should it be a right to be vaccinated or not? Of course, but that doesn't mean that people who risk others should have access to everything - the risk is too high.

The other day I read a headline from NYC. A COVID patient was hospitalized and about to die and regretted not being vaccinated, but it was too late. That person is now no longer.

I feel sorry for the diseased family - and I feel sorry that stubbornness and 'I know better' apparently will give the world more lockdowns, more people to die, and financial consequences on a level simply incomprehensively.

This is, of course, my opinion, and I know that some of you readers may disagree, but please just promise me one thing. Think about - not politically, but at least from a health perspective, and not only yours, but maybe also your family, your neighbors, and the employees you see - or hope to see in the future.

TRENDS

No trends this week!

Have a wonderful Sunday, and see you soon! (we have some really good films and articles on INKISH.NEWS and INKISH.TV in the week to come!

Aug 08, 2021

Author: Morten B. Reitoft

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2 Comments

Two points raised I shall briefly address. 1. Vaccines and business- I will be getting my booster (third) jab in two weeks’ time. I want to stave off this virus, and any other virus for that matter. Health is a concern. And so is business. Every person I see not wearing a mask in close environs first strikes me as a risk of infection. Is this the first impression you want to make while doing business? 2. Sex and sexism- Sex sells. Always has. From the fabulous outdoor posters for Moulin Rouge by Toulouse-Lautrec to the (recently revised) Victoria's Secret Angels. Sex attracts the attention of every gender identification. If you can get eyes, your hook is set. Woman are the traditional object of attention, and in recent decades men have been added to the ‘meat-market’ advertising milieu. Societal advancement? Nope. Just marketing. If your sales go up, no one in the business really cares about exploitation. Have you washed your hands of the participation in exploitive ads? Likely not. Most proffered excuse is “I need the business”. Who doesn’t? #marketing #advertising #sales #printingindustry #printchat #inkish #sexuality

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