Connect with us

Published

on

Costa Coffee, a British coffee chain owned by The Coca-Cola Company, is facing fierce backlash over a cartoon advertisement that features a transgender man with scars on his chest after an apparent double mastectomy.

The image on the mural — which was spotted on the side of a Costa Express van and shared on the recently renamed Twitter app X — shows a surfer with large pink lips and bright blue hair sipping coffee from a to-go cup.

But it is the scars symbolizing a breast removal operation that’s causing a fury of criticism and calls for boycott — an echo of the push to cancel Bud Light over its tie-up with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

“Costa Coffee deserves the full Bud Light treatment for glorifying women and girls cutting their breasts off in the name of gender identity,” media personality Oli London tweeted.

“Why is a coffee chain pushing sex change surgeries on customers that just want to drink coffee?” he questioned.

“Its off my list of coffee shops,” another chimed in.

“They deserve more than bud light, this is appalling and sadistic on so many levels,” yet another disturbed user replied.

Costa Coffee — based in Buckinghamshire, England — has over 4,000 locations in more than 32 countries.

It opened its first stateside location in Atlanta, Ga., last August.

A Costa Coffee spokesperson told The Post in a statement that “the mural, in its entirety, showcases and celebrates inclusivity.”

“At Costa Coffee we celebrate the diversity of our customers, team members and partners. We want everyone that interacts with us to experience the inclusive environment that we create, to encourage people to feel welcomed, free and unashamedly proud to be themselves,” the spokesperson added.

“This is the sickest ad campaign in the history of marketing. Stop female breast and genital mutilation,” one user posted.

One reply featured a coffee cup on a Costa-branded saucer that was smeared with blood with a surgical blade in place of a spoon. “Bloody disgusting,” the gory photo was captioned.

“What about women who have had mastectomies as cancer treatment? They don’t need this shoved in their faces either,” another wrote.

One response pointed out that “there is a current trend in advertising to use images which some people might find offensive. It makes no sense to alienate potential customers.”

The tweet was seemingly in reference to a slew of companies’ progressive moves that, instead of inspiring positivity and inclusivity, have influenced consumers to push a “go woke, go broke” narrative.

Aside from Bud Light — whose parent company lost $27 billion in market cap since its controversial ad debuted on April 1 — Target also found its company bleeding value when it launched an LGBTQ-friendly Pride collection featuring items geared towards children and infants.

Just this week, the New York Times was bashed for publishing an article ranking the five best clitoral vibrators, but never mentioning the word “woman” unless it were part of a vibrator’s name.

Instead, the piece said the vibrators were for and tested on people with vulvas.

Last month, the CEO of tampon maker August, Nadya Okamoto, was dragged for promoting her brand on a segment of CBS Mornings and calling her customers “menstruators” instead of “women” as she claimed that tampons can be “gender inclusive.”

Continue Reading

Politics

The evolution of crypto payments and what lies ahead

Published

on

By

The evolution of crypto payments and what lies ahead

From Bitcoin to stablecoins, what’s next for digital currency? Stablecoins will continue to play a fundamental role in crypto payments, and their important role will only grow.

Continue Reading

Technology

Trump delays cancellation of de minimis trade exemption targeting China imports

Published

on

By

Trump delays cancellation of de minimis trade exemption targeting China imports

Employees package and sort express parcels at an e-commerce company on Nov. 1, 2024, around the Double 11 Shopping Festival in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province of China.

Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday that puts a pause on his closing of the de minimis trade exemption, a provision commonly used by Chinese e-commerce companies Temu and Shein.

The order states that de minimis will be restored for small packages shipped from China, “but shall cease to be available for such articles upon notification by the Secretary of Commerce to the President that adequate systems are in place to fully and expediently process and collect tariff revenue” on those items.

Trump on Saturday suspended the exemption as part of new tariffs that include an additional 10% tax on Chinese goods. The nearly century-old exception, known as de minimis, has been used by many e-commerce companies to send goods worth less than $800 into the U.S. duty-free, creating a competitive advantage.

It was predicted that its removal could overwhelm U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees, as the mountain of low-value shipments already making their way into the U.S. would suddenly require formal processing.

De minimis has helped fuel an explosion in cheap goods being shipped from China into the U.S. CBP has said it processed more than 1.3 billion de minimis shipments in 2024. A 2023 report from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party found that Temu and Shein are “likely responsible” for more than 30% of de minimis shipments into the U.S., and “likely nearly half” of all de minimis shipments originate from China.

Critics of the de minimis provision say it’s provided an unfair advantage to Chinese e-commerce companies, and created an influx of packages that are “subject to minimal documentation and inspection,” raising concerns around counterfeit and unsafe goods.

The Biden administration proposed a new rule last September to curb the “overuse and abuse” of de minimis. The rule proposes to strengthen the CBP’s information collection requirements for de minimis shipments.

Continue Reading

Environment

Tesla increases Model X price, brings back incentive Elon Musk said was ‘not coming back’

Published

on

By

Tesla increases Model X price, brings back incentive Elon Musk said was 'not coming back'

Tesla has increased Model X prices and brought back an incentive that CEO Elon Musk said was unsustainable and “not coming back to any vehicles.”

Today, Tesla updated its Model X configurator in the US to raise the prices of the electric SUV by $5,000.

The new prices are $84,990 for the Long Range version and $99,990 for the Plaid version:

The price increase means the Model X ino longer qualifies for the $7,500 Federal EV tax credit as it now exceeds the $80,000 price cap for electric SUVs.

But with the price increase, Tesla is ramping up the incentives.

Tesla brings the price down by $1,000 with a referral code, it gives one option for free if you buy the Full Self-Driving package, and it is bringing pack “free Supercharing for life.”

The latter, Tesla stopped offering because CEO Elon Musk said it was unsustainable.

Back in 2020, the CEO said that it will “not come back to any [Tesla] vehicles”:

“Just us being fools, but free Supercharging forever is not coming back to any vehicles. It’s not a good incentive structure.”

However, it did bring it back last year as an “end-of-the-year incentive.”

But now, Tesla is bringing it back for Model S and Model X, and it applies to orders from the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, Europe and Middle East.

Tesla has made some changes to the program. Instead of being linked to the vehicle, meaning free Supercharging would remain if you sell it, it is now attached to your Tesla account.

The automaker also says that it doesn’t apply to vehicles used for commercial purposes:

“Customers who purchase or lease a new Model X are eligible for free Supercharging during your ownership of the vehicle. Offer is tied to your Tesla Account and cannot be transferred to another vehicle, person or order, even in the case of ownership transfer. Used vehicles, business orders and vehicles used for commercial purposes (like taxi, rideshare and delivery services) are excluded from this promotion.”

However, Tesla also said that the last time, but it is hard to enforce.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Continue Reading

Trending