Move to Mastodon? Well, needs Musk ➜

Hasn’t it been fun to watch the world’s richest person and his fellow Forbes friends fight, kiss, make up and fight some more over $44 billion? No, not really. As we watched an ego proclaim to be the saviour of online equality, democracy and free speech (for the price of $8 a month), 3,700 people lost their jobs and hate speech, specifically the use of the N-word, increased by 500% on the platform. In the wake of all this, interest in Mastodon, an open-source social media platform has spiked again. Posts are called toots, verification is free and ads are nil. However, the message behind all of this is not whether to toot or to tweet, it’s to not be a tw*t.

Brewdog at it again with Qatar World F*Cup! ➜

Slow hand clap for Brewdog for pulling another seemingly dead rabbit out of its marketing hat. The mega-brewer has taken issue with the appalling human rights record of World Cup host nation Qatar and – with the help of some Saatchi & Saatchi creative sauce – proclaimed themselves the official Anti-Sponsor of the global footy fest. They'll apparently be donating undisclosed profits from their Lost Lager sales to some (also undisclosed) human rights charities. All very opaque, but, commendable! Until, it transpires, this is occurring as they blithely air the games across their venues and bank the profits of their ongoing beer trading deal with the Qatari government. As social media is ablaze with Bristling Backlash against such Hard-faced Hypocrisy (both good beer names), we cant help but imagine the teams behind this latest campaign sitting back and slowly smirking. Sorry to say it folks, but we're all still being punk'd.

Down the rabbit hole of packaging design ➜

The world has trust issues, and rightly so. From greenwashing to politics nothing is sacred, and now the capitalist scythe has come for the bunnies! Peeling back the label to unveil the lawless and unregulated furry underbelly of the ‘cruelty-free’ market. With an influx of bunny icons take a look at how companies are carving up a big rabbit pie under the veil of conscientious consumerism. As avid animal lovers and creators of the Cruelty Free International kite-mark, which sets the highest global standards around the issues, we at Drumbeaters read the piece with an alarming sense of sadness.

Bright eyes, burning like fire…➜

Talking of bunnies... Whilst we’re not wanting to bring up any long-forgotten childhood trauma from watching Watership Down, there’s a new heart wrenching rabbit story on the loose. WWF’s newly released animation shows the devastating effects of wildfires and climate change on nature using a combination of stop motion, real fire and flammable props. Big love to London agency NOMINT who have managed to create something equally beautiful and terrifying. If this isn’t enough to stop MPs from faffing around in the jungle and start taking climate change seriously then we don’t know what is.

Switzerland’s swish, stylish and secure passport ➜

Whilst the red-faced-post-Brexit UK is still droning on about passport colours (and it’s definitely not blue by the way), here’s Switzerland unveiling their latest design in style. Celebrating their rivers and mountains in a way only the beautiful Swiss aesthetic can, the passport is a visual journey through the country’s 26 cantons (states). It’s state of the art too, with the latest in security features, UV light symbols, optically variable ink and watermarks. I mean we just really, really like the design. And the completely over-the-top launch video.


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