DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
• Not every meal is a happy one. That’s the belief of staff at hamburger chain Burger King who, in a campaign clearly referencing another hamburger chain’s ‘Happy Meals’, have unveiled a range of “Real Meal” boxes targeting people in moods other than happy. Created in a collaboration with Mental Health America as part of a campaign dubbed #FeelYourWay, the new Burger King packaging – which can be ordered with the purchase of a Whopper meal – are decorated as the “Pissed Meal” (for those feeling angry), the “Blue Meal” (sad), the Salty Meal (bitter), YAAAS Meal (a variation on the word yes, it means excited) and the DGAF Meal (uncaring – don’t ask us to spell this out). It’s all about celebrating “being yourself and feeling however you want to feel”, says a press release from the MHA. But prepare yourselves for some mixed emotions – the meals are only rolling out in a very select few US cities.
• A Paris police station was forced to partially close recently – by a gang of fleas. The parasite apparently invaded the police station in the city’s 19th arrondissement, biting some officers and even sneaking lifts back to their homes where they’ve also wreaked havoc. Police union officials criticised the response of city officials and demanded the building be completely closed and fumigated. The union was meeting with officials this week – stay tuned.
• They’re strict about their no placard policy in Kazakhstan. The BBC report that young activist Aslan Sagutdinov was taken into custody recently when he went to the central square of the city of Oral in the country’s west and held up a placard in protest. Only thing is, the placard was blank – it had nothing written on it at all. The 24-year-old was later let go – “They clearly didn’t know what to charge me with”, he says – but the incident did draw some sad reflections on the state of freedom in the former Soviet republic on social media.
