Latest news with #influencers
Japan Times
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Japan Times
The 'internet' hated Switch 2 — consumers bought it anyway
Online, gamers declared the Switch 2 "anti-consumer.' In reality, no one cared. With Nintendo charging $450 for its new device — and up to $80 for some games — influencers and TikTokers took to their accounts to warn it was too expensive. Across social media, others decried how new terms of service gave the Japanese firm the ability to remotely disable the latest machine if they detected unauthorized activity. Many games sold in physical packages were, they complained, glorified download codes. Anyone expecting the backlash to dent sales was disappointed. The Switch 2 is not only Nintendo's best-selling device ever, it has become the fastest-selling games console of all time with 3.5 million units snapped up in the first four days alone. Shares have hit record highs. For executives, it's the latest example of an increasingly pertinent lesson: While the internet has given consumers a voice, you must not confuse it for reality. Separating the signal of genuine consumer sentiment from the noise of the most terminally online is a challenge. Early feedback can often be useful: Sony Group Corp. changed the design of the original "boomerang' PlayStation 3 controller after online mockery; Nintendo itself should have responded quicker to complaints about broken original Switch controllers. But frequently, digital conversation is divorced from actual consumer behavior. Consider how, as smartphones grew larger during the 2010s, online users demanded smaller devices that could be easily used with one hand — something Steve Jobs had championed before his death. But when Apple finally responded with the iPhone Mini in 2020, those users simply didn't show up in large numbers and it was discontinued in 2023. Having coined the slogan "think different,' Apple is used to facing down fuss, from its removal of MacBook disk drives to abandoning the headphone jack. Nonetheless, in the noise there is sometimes signal — the firm ignored the iPhone 4 "Antennagate' issue for much too long and was forced into an embarrassing climbdown. Online communities are frequently too far in the weeds to represent the average consumer. On social media, advocates for preserving physical games are upset with the Switch 2's Game Key cards, which are essentially just a code to download the game from the internet. The move is good for software makers, who pay less for the memory cartridge, but in future years means Nintendo will have to keep those downloads available. Still, it's a niche issue: The average Switch 2 buyer, raised on Netflix and Spotify Technology SA, likely couldn't care less about physical ownership of most games. It's also increasingly hard to isolate genuine fan engagement from click-chasing rage-bait. Online revenue-sharing creates incentive for insincere actors to generate controversy that often matters little to the wider public. There was much ink spilled and calls for boycotts ahead of the launch of Warner Bros. Discovery's "Harry Potter" game Hogwarts Legacy, owing to author J.K. Rowling's views on gender and trans issues. None of that stopped it becoming one of the best-selling of all time. Meanwhile, right-leaning activists have led backlashes over Sony's The Last of Us Part II (decried for inclusive changes from the first game, including a lesbian protagonist and transgender character) and Ubisoft Entertainment's Assassin's Creed Shadows (due to its choice of a Black samurai hero) that have had little sales impact. Knowing who to ignore isn't just a tech issue. A growing theory among those on the political left posits that the movement's failure to stop the election of U.S. President Donald Trump could be due to ideological capture by overly active online voices on the fringes — leading politicians to focus on niche concerns of little interest to the majority of voters. Of course, online issues can end up being important. The backlash to faded social network Tumblr's decision to eliminate adult content preceded a decline in popularity that saw it sold for a fraction of the $1.1 billion it cost in 2013. The #MeToo movement emerged from testimonies shared over social media to become a worldwide phenomenon. And indeed, much of the success of the Switch itself comes from Nintendo's responding to gamers' complaints about its predecessor, the Wii U. But consumers often simply don't know what they want. Henry Ford may not have actually said that if he'd asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses. But it's nonetheless true that users will say one thing when their revealed preferences show otherwise. Social media is acclaimed as the "global town square' where grand ideas are debated and exchanged. But in reality, it's often more like a crowded bar — where the loudest voice usually isn't the one you should pay attention to. Gearoid Reidy is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Japan and the Koreas.
The Independent
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
The internet adores Sofia Richie's new bob – here's exactly what to ask a hairdresser
In this week's beauty news, Sofia Richie-Grainge has gone for the big chop, taking her chest-length locks up to her chin thanks to hair stylist George Curran. The model and social media personality brought her fans along for the haircut at her Hotel Du Cap Eden Roc wedding venue, posting a five-minute video of the process on TikTok (@sofiagrainge). Describing her decision to viewers, she explains, 'I did one too many keratin treatments on my hair and, over the past six months, I've just been cutting at it and cutting at it hoping I could get this dead [hair] away – and it's just not going away. 'I know what I have to do to make this hair healthy again: it's to start over, so we're cutting a bob.' The result? A flicky, French bob – which Richie-Grainge has playfully dubbed her 'Cap Du Bob' – with face framing and blunt ends towards the rear. But when you're heading into a salon for such a drastic cut, you need a step-by-step guide. So we reached out to industry professional Samantha Cusick for the instructions to give your hairdresser, and found out her key bob maintenance tips. Expert hairdresser Samantha Cusick has styled influencers Zoe Sugg and Summer Fox, so we're in pretty good hands. She says, 'If you're after the Sofia Richie bob, ask your stylist for a classic above the shoulder (but below the chin), one length cut with subtle shaping through the front to frame the face.' 'The key to this look is that clean, French-girl finish with just enough bounce and polish to make it feel expensive but effortless,' she added. But despite thousands of positive comments, the haircut has proven surprisingly divisive. Several videos have been posted in response to Richie-Grainge's video declaring that women should 'not get the Sofia Richie bob.' One user even went viral after pointing out that Richie-Grainge will 'have licensed professionals on-hand' to tend to her hair in the months after the chop, which is unobtainable for most people. Maintenance is key if you've been inspired to get the same style. Cusick recommends the Ghd duet blowdry (£239.20, '[It's] a dream,' she explained, 'it takes the hair from wet to dry while smoothing and adding volume, so you get that signature bouncy texture in one step.' For topical products, it came as no surprise to hear that Cusick's an Olaplex fan. 'To lock in shine, use a drop of Olaplex No.7 bonding oil (£19.55, on the ends,' she described, elaborating to tell us how it imbues the strands with a luxuriously healthy and glossy glow. Finally, she looks to in-salon brand Authentic Beauty Concept: 'Finish with a mist of the airy texture spray (£25.75, soft hold and a bit of movement – you want it to feel touchable and undone, not overly stiff or styled.' Cusick also advises regular trims to keep your bob looking fresh and hammered home some age-old advice, warning 'do not skip heat protection to maintain that silky, healthy finish.'
CBC
a day ago
- Business
- CBC
Matcha is having a moment — and it's putting pressure on Japan's tea industry
Social Sharing It's the latest beverage du jour — and for people needing their morning pick-me-up, matcha tea increasingly beats espresso as their caffeine fix of choice. "I worked on the bar a few weeks ago and I think past a certain point, you don't just skim milk, you don't pull shots. Everything you do is matcha," said Nadiia Semenichenko, regional manager at 10 Dean, a café and bar in Toronto. Demand for the finely powdered tea — usually sourced from Japan and unmistakable for its vivid green colour and earthy taste — has gone supernova since the fall, mostly thanks to the legions of influencers swearing by it on social media and viral videos that are racking up millions of views, say experts who spoke to CBC News. But that fervour has shaken up matcha's delicate supply chain, ultimately leading to a global shortage that is putting pressure on Japan's tea industry to ramp up production of the scarce commodity. Semenichenko's cafe has sought out new suppliers to keep up with the demand, noting that one of them has put a cap on how much matcha the café could buy each month. "By the end of this year, we'll feel substantial price increases in matcha, for sure," she said, referring to the café's costs. And those who follow the Japanese tea industry say it's only a matter of time before customers who love the foamy, verdant drink get hit by a serious price hike. WATCH | How a matcha frenzy upended a delicate supply chain: Matcha frenzy upends delicate global supply chain 11 hours ago Duration 2:03 A sudden shortage Matcha is made from ground tencha, a type of green tea leaf that is shade-grown — giving it a more intense flavour and a deeper colour — before being steamed, dried, destemmed and passed through a milling machine to produce a powder. The highest-grade version of matcha, used for Japanese tea ceremonies, is harvested in spring. It's passed through a stone mill, making it a time and resource-consuming process that produces only a small quantity of the final product. Semenichenko says using ceremonial matcha as a baking ingredient or in lattes is like "if you buy really expensive whiskey and put it in whisky and Coke." But when demand for matcha ticked sharply upward last fall, people were suddenly rushing to buy the high-grade version of the product. "Even tea ceremony schools in Japan suddenly couldn't find the matcha they would usually buy," said Anna Poian, a co-founder of the Global Japanese Tea Association. Some of the most popular matcha brands in Japan — including Ippodo Tea, Yamasan and Marukyu Koyamaen — published apology notes to their customers and announced they would have to put limits on how much and what kind of matcha products they would sell to their buyers. At that time, matcha producers "were not really facing a real shortage, but they didn't expect so much demand," explained Poian. But the onslaught of matcha-related viral videos combined with record-high tourism to Japan — induced by a weak yen — had people clamouring for the tea, ultimately leading to a run on existing supply and a production shortage. Now, the craze has spurred major coffee shops and restaurant chains to step up their matcha offerings so they can cash in, too. Most Starbucks locations have served matcha drinks for years, but the coffee giant added a whole suite of specialty matcha drinks last summer. Matcha is on the menu at Booster Juice, Tim Hortons and McDonalds, too, though the companies didn't respond when asked when they added it. Big retailers aren't immune to the shortage, either. Second Cup, which added another matcha latte to its menu in April, has recently dealt with delays in receiving its matcha supply, a spokesperson told CBC News. Changing tides in Japan's tea-farming industry The shortage is also a product of changes in Japan's domestic tea industry over the last two decades. Within the country, both the consumption and production of tea have declined, and its tea-farming population is aging with few successors to take over. "They don't see much of a future because the Japanese tea industry has been in decline for the past 15 to 20 years, due to the decrease in local consumption," explained Poian, whose organization publishes monthly reports on the industry. Conversely, exports of Japanese tea to other countries are on the rise. In April 2025, total exports of Japanese tea were up 85.7 per cent from the same month the previous year, according to data from an industry group. Canada's own intake of green tea from Japan has increased by 118 per cent since 2015, a spokesperson for Global Affairs told CBC News. Compounding the problem is the fact that matcha makes up just six per cent of Japan's total tea production, according to Poian. "More farmers are shifting and focusing their production to matcha, but this unfortunately is not an easy switch," she said. Countries like China and Vietnam produce matcha, too, but the Japanese version is considered premium. The Japanese government's farming ministry, in an effort to ramp up matcha production for the export market, is reportedly recommending that farmers replace their sencha — another type of green tea leaf — with tencha. That shift isn't easy, even for the industry's experienced workforce, says Jason Eng, head of business development and partnerships at Kametani Tea, a tea production company based in Nara, Japan. "Many of these farmers don't have the resources to do that — to upgrade all the machines or just change the machines altogether. So the investment costs a lot," he said. Kametani Tea, which exports about 25 to 30 per cent of its product to international beverage companies, suppliers and wholesalers, will have to raise prices once the next harvest is ready. And those price shocks will eventually trickle down to matcha-loving consumers at cafés. "It's gonna be really hard to digest, I think, for the consumers at the end with this huge surge of demand," he said. 'It just gets sold out' After developing a taste for matcha, Cheena Lerum started posting recipe videos on her TikTok account. But the Toronto content creator noticed earlier this year that she got more views when she offered recommendations for where to buy and source matcha. "You know when bubble tea became really famous a few years ago?" she said, referring to the Taiwanese tea drink that exploded in popularity during the mid-2010s. "Matcha's becoming that now." Lerum, who has almost 30,000 followers on the platform, said she thinks "all the time" about whether she's contributing to the matcha shortage. She posts about the tea less frequently on social media now, partly because she hasn't been able to find her favourite products. "They say don't gate-keep, but sometimes there are brands that you like and then it becomes too popular and it just gets sold out," Lerum explained. She's also noticed prices creeping up: a 30-gram tin of matcha powder that she used to buy online for $35 now costs almost $50, she said. Back at the café, a few customers are sipping on matcha lattes. "I just find that it's a much better alternative to coffee," said Danielle Pineda, who says matcha energizes her without giving her coffee-like jitters. She has her own matcha whisk and often makes the drink at home. Tommy Tanga, another customer at the cafe, said he finds the current price of matcha reasonable — a café order usually costs about $5 to $7, depending on the type of drink. It's been his go-to order ever since he tried it during a trip to Japan. "I'm worried that it's going to get more expensive," he said.
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Bloomberg
Gap Has Been in the Midst of a Turnaround. Can It Handle Trump's Tariffs?
Never miss an episode. Follow The Big Take daily podcast today. At the start of 2025, Gap was cool again. The legacy American brand had started to turn around sales and rebuild its image. It was in the middle of a splashy ad campaign with the actress Parker Posey. Influencers were posting its clothes online.
CNN
a day ago
- Entertainment
- CNN
Can you trust social media to sell you a couch? I tried the viral Albany Park Kova sofa to find out
Your couch is arguably the most important piece of furniture and decor in your home, where you and your family will spend countless hours each day interacting, unwinding, entertaining and more. And with so many direct-to-consumer furniture brands operating solely online these days, there's a strong chance that you might never actually sit on your couch until its already purchased and set up in your living room. So social media comes in handy, then, when it comes to gaining a better sense of what you're actually getting yourself into as you make this major purchase. But can TikTok and Instagram be trusted with such a big decision? That's the question I've been grappling with specifically in relation to the Albany Park Kova collection. A mainstay of my FYP, the Kova couch looks extremely comfortable and seems to be priced well, but is it all the influencers and creators out there say it's cracked up to be? Here's what I found out. Albany Park Kova Sofa and Ottoman The Albany Park Kova sofa has gone viral on social media for its pillow cushions and ease of assembly. It's available in a wide range of sizes and configurations, and you can choose from 33 fabric options. It started with the Restoration Hardware Cloud Sofa, aka the viral Cloud Couch. That ultra relaxed, sink-in feel of this couch's pillow-like cushions captivated the internet — and celebrities, who could actually afford the starting price tag of over $1,700 for a single armless section and more than $2,200 for a corner — back when it launched in 2015. But now, a decade later, that comfy, cushy vibe has been adapted by many furniture brands into sofas that are far more accessible in terms of price, but no less cozy and sought after. Related article The best couch and furniture deals to shop before prices increase The Albany Park Kova collection is one of the most popular pillow-cushioned options available today. I've personally seen dozens of videos on TikTok of creators putting the couch together with ease (at least according to their picture-perfect edited videos) before flopping onto the finished product and singing its praises. You'd be hard pressed to find a couch, especially for a smaller space, that's absolutely perfect, but there's a lot to love about the Albany Park Kova. My experience is based on the 86-inch sofa with a storage ottoman, and for the upholstery, I opted for the performance boucle fabric in mocha, a pinkish brown hue. First, delivery was relatively seamless. The couch arrived in five large, very heavy boxes. My delivery guys were able to drop them off inside my apartment building, and because I'm on the ground floor, I was able to push them into my living room myself. But if you live on a high floor of an apartment building or you're planning to put this couch upstairs in your home, just know that you'll need some help to actually get the boxes there. Prev Next Assembly was intuitive and straightforward, though again, I do recommend having a second pair of hands around to help. All the pieces of the couch are packaged securely, but not so securely that unwrapping them is much of a challenge, and once you remove the plastic wrap from around the cushions, they puff up pretty much instantly. There are no tools required to put the couch together; the feet simply screw into the base, so that process is a total breeze. Meanwhile, the bases attach to the arms and backs via metal brackets that nest together by sliding one into the other. In a YouTube assembly tutorial video, it looks like these brackets fit together without too much effort; in reality, they don't — this was by far the most challenging aspect of assembly and the reason I recommend having at least one other person around to help, and preferably someone with some muscle. Lucky for me, my mom happened to be staying with me, and we only got the pieces to fit completely together when one of us was bracing the base while the other threw their entire body weight against the arm/back. It wasn't the most difficult furniture assembly task we've ever encountered, but we did break a sweat. If you got a sectional (and you probably did), the sections have a gator clamp that pivots out from under the base and easily clicks into its counterpart. Initially, I actually forgot this step, but it's vital. You'll notice that the sections move around quite easily if you forgo it, which actually speaks to one of the brand's selling points: The ability to easily reconfigure the couch if you opt for one of the bigger sectionals. Finally, you're ready to put the cushions into place. For the actual couch, they're simply placed on top (the seat cushions have a textured side that faces down to prevent slipping and sliding), with the cushion for the ottoman is zipped into a cushion cover that's sewn on. Speaking of the ottoman, I highly recommend opting for the version that includes storage! I've been able to fit two regular and one large bolster pillow inside with room to spare, and this piece actually arrives fully assembled, so you don't have to mess around with assembling any hinge systems. I've been living with the sofa for over a month now, even sleeping on it for over a week, and I've been impressed with its level of comfort and durability. I expected to need to fluff up the pillow cushions rather often, but I've actually only needed to do that a couple times, as they hold their shape nicely. The performance boucle fabric has also surpassed my expectations: Despite my best attempts to deter her, my cat loves to scratch at the fabric, but so far there's no evidence of damage (this was not the case with my previous couch). It's also spillproof; liquids just roll off the fabric, rather than soaking in. For me, the Albany Park Kova lives up to the hype it's received on social media. It's priced well; comes in a variety of sizes, configurations and fabrics; assembly was more than manageable; the upholstery is impressively durable; and most importantly, it's really, really comfortable. If you're looking for a sofa you can really sink into, it turns out social media hasn't steered you wrong — this time. How deep is the Albany Park Kova couch? How deep is the Albany Park Kova couch? The Albany Park Kova's seat depth measures 29 inches for each section. Here at CNN Underscored, we rigorously test products from hundreds of brands to make sure everything we recommend is worthy of your money. In addition to hands-on testing products, we also consult top experts to understand what features, benefits and possible downsides each item offers. We also seek out important considerations and advice from our experts to help give you the information you need to make smarter shopping decisions. For this article, editorial director Chelsea Stone tried the viral Albany Park Kova sofa to see if it lived up to the hype it's received online.
