The 1980’s blockbuster film E.T. took the world by storm. With it came opportunities rarely seen in marketing: video games and toys based on the movie, and a powerful new form of advertisement - product placement. 

Ever wonder where they find the houses used in television shows and moves?  If you play your cards right, your place could be next.

The plot of Minority Report includes a futuristic form of policing that arrests bad guys BEFORE they commit a crime.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could do that in real life?  Well, we kind of do, and it gets complicated.

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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://mwmblog.com/2019/06/16/e-t-mms-vs-reeses-pieces/
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/18383/stories-behind-10-famous-product-placements

https://www.wsj.com/articles/using-your-house-for-a-movie-or-tv-set-can-be-lucrative-but-also-disruptive-11633547149

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/18/stash-house-stings-carry-real-penalties-for-fake-crimes

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Like over 90% of internet users, you utilize Google for all of your search needs. Heck, Google is synonymous with search! But what about the distant second place option: Microsoft’s BING?  Shouldn’t BING concede to Google and quietly go away?  It’ll never happen. We’ll tell you why.   

Near the North Pole there’s a facility that  guards mankind’s most critical resource. It’s not a medicine, it’s not a fuel, it’s not Santa’s workshop. What could it be?

Abercrombie & Fitch used to be the official uniform of hip teenagers everywhere - until it wasn’t.  Another tale of massive corporate failure … or is there still hope for A&F?

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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://medium.com/decodein/how-did-bing-survive-over-the-years-a17fb649ac9b

https://time.com/doomsday-vault/

https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-clothing-brand-abercrombie-and-fitch

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A few years ago, in an attempt to revise struggling sales, JC Penney hired a new CEO and immediately changed its sales strategy - doing away with coupons and discounts in exchange for “fair and square” pricing. The result? Well, seven months later, that CEO was looking for a job.

Netflix. Hulu. Apple TV+. Disney +. Quibi. One of these is not like the others. 

The latest version of the popular Sims video game has user-created challenges. One has players portrayed as a homeless person. Is this a good way to better understand homelessness - or just cruel?

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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/27/business/jcpenney-history/index.html

https://qz.com/1907265/why-quibi-failed/

https://www.wired.com/story/sims-homeless-challenge-youtube/

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In 1996, Microsoft debuted a virtual assistant to help folks navigate Microsoft Office - a cartoon paper clip named Clippy. What started as “Aw, that’s kinda cute,” quickly turned to “Let’s kill him!”  How did it go so wrong?

In the 1990s, a movie about a goofy genie captivated the hearts of American moviegoers. No, it wasn’t Disney’s Aladdin or the Shaquille O’Neil feature, “Kazaam.” This movie was called Shazaam - and it doesn’t exist. We explore the bizarre reason that so many people are convinced that it does. 

Would you spend $4.99 on :30 of a hit song? Chances are that in 1999 you would have (and probably did). We’re exploring the history of HitClips - is it the strangest way we’ve ever consumed music?

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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/504767/tragic-life-clippy-worlds-most-hated-virtual-assistant

https://ourcommunitynow.com/film/sinbads-shazaam-the-strange-case-of-a-movie-that-doesnt-exist

https://mashable.com/article/hitclips-toys-music-nostalgia

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You’ve tried to use Wikipedia as a scholarly source, only to have it rejected because anyone can edit Wikipedia.  Right…?

McDonalds had not only Ronald McDonald (ep 9) in its advertising, but an entire gang of wacky characters.  Hamburgler, Grimace, and The Pirate (??) to name a few. What happened to them?

If you were rich how would you spend your money? A couple of houses? A few cars? Maybe even a private island?  Billionaire Marc Lore has an idea of his own on how to spend his - build a brand new city.

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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedia-anniversary-game-rpg/

https://www.mashed.com/136474/how-mcdonalds-stole-their-mcdonaldland-characters/

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/telosa-marc-lore-blake-ingels-new-city/index.html

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**Episode 7 Rebroadcast**


On this episode:

Over the last 20 years, you’ve probably owned a computer with the Windows XP operating system. Remember the legendary default wallpaper photo of the green rolling hill? Yea, that’s a real place.

Can you buy an unused superhero from Marvel Comics and make it your own? Ya know, one of the weird ones that no one has heard of? The team at NPR’s Planet Money decided to try.  Free The Doorman!

At some point in the past, your parents thought they’d get rich off that Beanie Baby collection. The rise and fall of one of the strangest investment strategies ever.

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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/Windows-XP-Bliss-Hill-Sonoma-Charles-O-Rear-15976588.php
https://www.npr.org/series/967404527/planet-money-buys-a-superhero
https://thehustle.co/the-great-beanie-baby-bubble-of-99/

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Before we paid constant attention to our cell phones, many of us did the same to something else in our pocket - a digital pet called a Tamagotchi. A virtual animal that ate, pooped, and, sigh, could even die.

Prep school Bishop Sycamore recently lost a high school football game to the national powerhouse IMG academy. But here’s the thing - Bishop Sycamore might not exist.

All the movies you can watch for $10 a month?! Movie Pass seemed too good to be ….


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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/642373/tamagotchi-history

https://theathletic.com/2798560/2021/08/30/how-the-washington-generals-of-high-school-football-conned-espn/?redirected=1

 https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/highschool/2021/08/31/bishop-sycamore-football-director-andre-peterson-espn-controversy/5652257001/

https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/19/20872984/moviepass-shutdown-subscription-movies-helios-matheson-ted-farnsworth-explainer

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Real cash prizes in real-time - the quiz show game “HQ Trivia” exploded in popularity in 2018 and was one of the most downloaded apps in the world - and then fell into obscurity in 2019. What happened? Well, a lot.

Real players with actual stats on fake teams. The fantasy sports industry has taken over our attention and our bank accounts. But as the interest in fantasy sports continues to climb, will the actual games suffer?

What if you could vacation… forever? Mario Salcedo has lived on a cruise ship for the past 20+ years. But is the self-proclaimed “happiest guy in the world” really that happy?




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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://bettermarketing.pub/the-spectacular-rise-and-fall-of-hq-trivia-6b29748ed485

https://www.gq.com/story/the-crazy-ass-dystopian-future-of-fantasy-football

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/82645/life-aquatic-meet-mario-salcedo-full-time-cruise-ship-passenger

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For years we’ve heard about the rise of virtual reality and its inevitable march into our culture. But If this is virtual reality’s time to shine, why is it still so niche?

Go look in your coffee mug cabinet. Go ahead - we’ll wait. Happen to find a mug with a single word or simple phrase on it, like “Blessed” or “Family” among your collection? If so, you’re probably among the millions of people who own a product from Rae Dunn. These have developed a cult-like following and often bring in a haul on resell, but did Rae herself ever crave that level of success?

For some of us it’s not enough to tell people we don’t like something. We have to buy a decal of the comic strip character Calvin urinating on it. Are all those decals legal? What does the creator of Calvin & Hobbes think about all this?

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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/technology/virtual-reality.html

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/03/10346458/rae-dunn-tj-maxx-popular-pottery-trend

https://triviahappy.com/articles/the-tasteless-history-of-the-peeing-calvin-decal

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A lot of us pop or crack our knuckles. But are we giving ourselves a higher chance of arthritis? Let’s see if Harvard can help us figure this out.

Regardless of whether you think his chicken is Finger Lickin’ Good or not, the white suit-wearing face of Kentucky Fried Chicken was a complicated man. Oh, and wait until you hear what he thought about the gravy.

Usain Bolt is the fastest human alive. His 2009 world record of 9.58 seconds in the 100-meter dash has remained unbeaten. Will anyone ever run faster than him? Is it even humanly possible? And house cats can run HOW fast?!


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Episode Sources/Go Deeper:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/knuckle-cracking-annoying-and-harmful-or-just-annoying-2018051413797

https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-tragic-life-and-struggles-of-colonel-sanders-2e1f685c34b5

https://www.wired.com/story/why-even-the-fastest-human-cant-outrun-your-house-cat/#intcid=_wired-most-popular-right-rail_b1cc4607-4cee-495a-8c1f-495ed23a9971_popular4-1

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