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If youre planning to see the new Minecraft movie and havent heard of the viral chicken jockey trend wreaking havoc in theaters across the country, read on. The trend gets its name from the block-shaped zombies in the video game Minecraft that occasionally ride chickensthereby becoming chicken jockeys. In a scene from the new film A Minecraft Movie, based on the popular game, Jack Blacks character Steve at one point screams out, Chicken jockey! The phrase has since become a battle cry for teen-filled audiences to yell at the top of their lungs, flash phone lights, and launch popcorn and drinks at the screen. In one video, a moviegoer perched on anothers shoulders holds up a live chicken as chaos erupts around him. they brought a live chicken pic.twitter.com/t2FELBbEZt— HOURLY shitpost (@hourly_shitpost) April 9, 2025 According to Entertainment Weekly, some screenings have been so rowdy that police officers were called in to escort audience members out. Other theaters have issued disclaimers at the start of the film, warning against antisocial behavior. The trend is largely harmless funteenage boys being teenage boysunless you’re the minimum-wage cinema staff tasked with cleaning up the mess.Please dont ruin our theater and the movie experience for other guests just for imaginary internet points. Real employees have to clean up this nonsense, a Sandy Springs-based movie theater posted on Instagram last week. Enjoy Minecraft, but not like this. View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Springs Cinema & Taphouse (@thespringscinema) In some locations, unaccompanied minors and large groups of teen boys are now banned in an attempt to curb those chasing their five seconds of viral fame. The movies director, Jared Hess, has embraced the trend. “It’s been way too fun. People are sending me these really hilarious speeches that a lot of teenagers are giving right before the movie. It’s so hysterical, man. I’m staying up way too late, Hess told Entertainment Weekly, adding that he finds it funny that cops are getting called for popcorn. Others, including Jack Black himself, arent so amused. During a surprise appearance at a weekend screening, Black warned: For todays presentation of A Minecraft Movie, please no throwing popped corn, and also no Lapis Lazuli, and also absolutely no Chicken Jockeys! Whether you find it funny or not, the trend has undoubtedly contributed to the films impressive box office numbers. After just two weeks in theaters, A Minecraft Movie is already the highest-grossing Hollywood release of 2025, earning $80.6 million during its second weekend. It Ends With Us told fans to wear their florals, while Barbie turned movie theatres pink. Now, A Minecraft Movie fans can expect to leave the theater dressed head to toe in someone elses soda and popcorn.
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E-Commerce
Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Companys workplace advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer the biggest and most pressing workplace questions.Q: How can I get my boss to stop emailing me in the middle of the night?A: This dilemma is closely related to the question of how to say “no” at work without feeling guilty and how to push back if your workload is too much. All are part of setting boundaries, but in an uncertain job market, drawing firm lines between work and personal time can feel more fraught.That doesnt mean that you shouldnt set boundaries. In fact, the most valuable, creative, productive, and innovative employees are never the workaholics who respond to messages at all hours. Numerous studies have shown that an always on culture not only destroys employee morale but causes stress that negatively impacts job performance.While you cant control your bosss behavior or work style, you can set clear expectations for how you work. Here are a few ways to do it: Create office hours for yourself Most of us work in some kind of remote or hybrid capacity, which means we often work with people in different time zones. Even those in the same time zone may have different chronotypes, or times of the day you are most productive. For this reason, many people have found it useful to put a message on their email, Slack, and other communication platforms that says something like My working hours from 9 a.m. EST to 5 p.m. EST. I will respond to your message within those hours. You can include that as part of your status or signature or as an auto reply to messages received outside of those hours.If you tend to on a less traditional schedule, you can also signal to those you work with that while you might be emailing them at 9 p.m. or 6 a.m., you dont expect them to respond. Including a signature line like: “My working hours may not be your working hours. Please do not feel obligated to reply outside of your normal work schedule,” can go a long way in showing that you have reasonable expectations.Both of these approaches can be a good start to let your boss know that you wont be responding to off-hour messages without being confrontational. You can also just set your status to snooze notifications or better yet, put your devices away in a separate room. Have a direct conversation At least 60% of my workplace advice boils down to have a direct conversation. It may feel obvious, but most people avoid uncomfortable workplace discussions. However, once you get over the initial fear and awkwardness of bringing something up, a direct conversation is often the best way to address an issue. In this case, you can bring it up in during another regular check-in when you are already talking about projects you are working on.Try something like By the way, I think our hours are a little misaligned. Ive noticed some off-hours messages from you. I snooze my notifications on weekends and after 5 p.m. on weekdays, so thats why I dont respond right away. You can also often advice if you think theyd be open to it: Did you know you can schedule your messages to send during work hours?If both of those approaches dont work, you can just not respond to the messages and if your boss brings it up you can point to overtime laws in many areas that make it illegal for bosses to contact employees outside of work hours. Work often doesnt fit neatly in a 95 box, and you should always first assume good intentions (and have empathy for your boss who might themselves be under a lot of pressure). But you should always protect your work-life balance, because thats what makes you the best employeenot the your 11 p.m. email response time.Want more advice on setting boundaries at work? Here you go: 5 reasons why answering work emails and texts after hours is backfiring What sending after-hours emails does to your productivity How to get better at setting boundaries How can I push back if my workload is too much?
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E-Commerce
Quiet is out and the swicy trend has calmed down. Now our taste buds are screaming for crunch, gritty textures, and noisy flavor experiences. Last year, noiseless squishy gummies and sweet-and-spicy, or swicy flavoring, were the breakout food innovations that took over the snack aisle. Remember the peelable mango gummy candy that went viral on TikTok? In 2025, food trend watchers, with a little help from TikTokers, have identified our top cravings. They include crispy foods, bold flavor mashups, and edible aquatic plants. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-04-at-7.22.40\u202fAM.png","headline":"Subscribe to Bagable ","description":"Discover the brands and trends to shop, by Parija Kavilanz. To learn more visit bagable.com","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.bagable.com","colorTheme":"salmon","redirectUrl":""}} The crunchier the better Crunch is one of the trends that Im excited about, says Alyssa Vescio, Whole Foods Markets senior vice president of center store merchandising, sourcing, and product development. An area where we tend to see a lot of innovation is in the snacking category because people are always looking to discover the next taste and texture. I think crunch connects easily into the trends that weve seen in snacking. But now were seeing it come out of snacking and go into other spaces, Vescio says. Whole Foods, which operates more than 500 stores across the U.S., identified crunch as the texture of the moment in its annual food trends report, which highlights the grocery chains top food predictions for the year. According to Vescio, food shoppers are searching for crunchiness across their meals, from breakfast to lunch to dinner. Food brands are responding by delivering plenty of innovative crispiness, such as crunchier versions of the chili crisp, crunchy dehydrated fruits and vegetables such as mushrooms and okra, crunchy chocolates, fermented nuts, roasted chickpeas, and mushroom chips. The crunch texture is also popping up in beverages and desserts, she says, such as crunchy cinnamon sugar crystal toppings on coffee beverages and the crme brlée espresso martinis with a hard crunch sugar surface that you crack before you sip. [Photo: Subway] Fast-food chain Subway planted its flag in crunchland, pairing up with Doritos to introduce a quirky limited-time concoction this month called the Doritos Footlong Nachos. Not to be left behind, Taco Bell announced last month that it is adding more crunch, cheese, and sauce to its toasted Cheddar Street Chalupas. It doesnt end there. Youre also seeing crunch in spices and seasonings. The number of people that I talk to who say, Every time I make eggs, I put chili crunch on them or Every time I have a dinner I put this textured seasoning on it, has increased tremendously, Vescio says. A cultural signal Tastewise, an artificial intelligence-powered consumer research platform, continuously mines tremendous amounts of online datamillions of social media posts, online reviews, online recipes, and restaurant menusglobally to surface emerging food and beverage trends. Using its methodology, Tastewise analyzed the crunchy trend in the U.S. and found that over the past 12 months, social discussions involving the term crunchy have increased by about 13%. This indicates not only a rising appetite for the sensory experience of crunch but also its resonance in how consumers talk about food online, says Alon Chen, cofounder and CEO of Tastewise. According to Tastewise, three emergent consumer patterns are defining the crunchy trend. The company analyzes consumer needs at any given moment in time through how various dishes, ingredients, flavors, and textures are framed in menus, recipes, and social posts. It found that the number one reason fueling the need for crunch, based on significant growth in discussion on social media, was an association with comfort, such as comfort food. This insight reframes crunch not just as energetic or exciting, but as comforting. This could be a new lens through which brands can market crispy products, Chen says. Crunchy is increasingly associated with vegan offerings, showing that consumers are looking for textural satisfaction even in plant-based foods. And Peruvian cuisine has emerged as the fastest-growing culinary context for crunchy dishes with chulpi (or roasted) corn, crispy onions, and fried yucca being the top ingredients fueling the crunch texture in it, according to Tastewise. Among menu items, Tastewises analysis showed that 26% of restaurants in the U.S. currently offer items described as “crunchy” on their menus, which Chen says represents a strong foothold in food service, often a bellwether for broader retail and CPG [consumer packaged goods] trends. [Photos: Whole Foods] A new kind of crunch Crunch isnt just for chips. Tastewise says the texture is being paired in several interesting waysfrom indulgent to savorywith ingredients such as chocolate and pistachio (Hello Dubai chocolate viral TikTok craze!), cinnamon sugar, blood orange, chicken, and caramel apple. I consider crunch a texture, not a flavor, and it gives you an experience, says Sally Lyons Wyatt, global executive vice president and chief industry adviser for market research firm Circana. Crunch has always been something that consumers have gravitated to when you think about chips and crackers. But there are some innovations that have gone across the texture, like freeze-drying in foods that gives a different texture in the mouth, she says. Lyons Wyatt believes the big food trends for 2025 will be rooted in experimentation. When I eat that food or drink that drink, what is that unexpected moment, through crunch, through freeze-dried, through flavors evolving while I eat? she says. I do think that crunch is going to be part of that. The Whole Foods food trend report also highlighted the growing popularity of edible aquatic plants, such as seaweed and sea moss, for snacking or adding to food recipes. Duckweed, or water lentils, for example, is emerging as an alternative high-protein choice to other leafy greens, the report says. I want to mention international snacking, too, because thats an extension of crunch, says Whole Foodss Vescio. Its this idea of taking global flavors or fusion of foods and bringing it into the snacking category. One of my favorites is the Geem Korean seaweed chips. They have a thicker texture and with more substance than in a traditional seaweed snack. Her other top pick is an artisanal snack brand out of Afghanistan called Ziba. Its a trail mix that has some really unique ingredients, like mulberries and apricot kernels. This fusion of flavors and discovery is really exciting and it also has a perfect crunchy texture, Vescio says. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-04-at-7.22.40\u202fAM.png","headline":"Subscribe to Bagable ","description":"Discover the brands and trends to shop, by Parija Kavilanz. To learn more visit bagable.com","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.bagable.com","colorTheme":"salmon","redirectUrl":""}}
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To promote its newest shoes, the Swiss athletic apparel brand On filmed a fictional movie trailer with Zendaya. Zone Dreamers stars the actress as an elf-eared astronaut who wears athleisure, trains in space with her flight crew, andOn hopessells some merchandise. It’s all an elaborate ad campaign for On’s new low-profile sneaker, Cloudzone, its one-piece Studio Knit Bodysuit, and other offerings from the companys Spring/Summer 2025 Movement Lifestyle collection, which Zendaya wears throughout. (Consumers hoping to get their hands on the futuristic space suit Zendaya sports in one scene will be disappointed to learn that it’s not part of the collection. Celebrity stylist Law Roach, who styled the shoot, commissioned the white-and-clear suit from creative studio Chrishabana. “Some of my best work!!!” Roach wrote on Instagram.) [Photo: On] It’s also a high-production way to sell workout apparel in a market that’s more competitive than ever. Global athleisure sales are expected to grow by more than $173 billion from 2024 to 2028, according to data from Technavio, a market research firm, and lifestyle, yoga, and women’s athleisure are expected to be major drivers. Challengers like On and Lululemon have cut into the market share of legacy brands like Nike since the pandemic, and today apparel companies are jockeying for many of the same consumers. On’s campaign suggests that having a celebrity spokesperson isn’t enough in a product category this competitive. The truth is that celebrity brand ambassadors are everywhere. Athleta and Lululemon have partnered with athletes like Simone Biles and DK Metcalf for years, Fila recently tapped model-influencer Hailey Bieber to promote a tennis-inspired athleisure line, and Nike just teamed up with Kim Kardashian’s Skims for a first-of-its-kind collaboration due out later this year. Skims is also a leader in advertising innovation, often engaging external collaborators who bring artistic vision to tentpole campaigns. [Photo: On] On is leaning into that approach. Visual artist Nadia Lee Cohen, whose work has been featured in Interview magazine and the Dolce & Gabanna X Skims campaign, directed the spot. The resulting work allows On to “push the limits of creative storytelling,” as Alex Griffin, the companys chief marketing officer, put it in a statement. With elevated production and an unconventional concept, Zone Dreamers sets itself apart from traditional fashion photo shootsand that’s the point. [Photo: On] The rise of hi-fi marketing campaigns, from the likes of Skims and now Onfeaturing magazine-style editorial execution and big-name creative talent both in front of and behind the camerapoints to how well-suited narrative storytelling is for today’s biggest distribution channels: social media feeds. They’re attention-grabbing, create conversations, and can draw out launch-related buzz over multiple posts and days in a way that echoes box-office-style marketing for movies. Zendaya’s leading role in the new Zone Dreamers video shows there’s room to take high-production marketing concepts to the movies, outer space, and beyond.
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E-Commerce
A decade ago, streets in Paris were clogged with cars and exhaust. But now, if you ride a bike down a major boulevard at rush hour, youll be surrounded by a stream of other cyclistsand much cleaner air.Its an incredible feeling to ride your bikeit feels like Copenhagen, basically, says Vincent Thorne, a postdoctoral researcher in sustainable mobility at the Paris School of Economics, who moved to the city a little over a year ago.Since Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took office in 2014, the citys roads have radically transformed, speeding up a shift away from driving. More than 100 streets have been closed to cars. Tens of thousands of parking spots have disappeared. Hundreds of miles of bike lanes have been added. In response, car traffic keeps dropping. A new report shows what the changes mean for local air quality: pollution levels have dropped roughly by half compared to 2005.[Image: Airparif]Airparif, an organization that tracks the citys air quality, found that levels of particulate matter (PM 2.5) pollutiontiny pieces of soot, dust, or smoke that can lodge in the lungsfell by 55% over the last 20 years. Nitrogen dioxide pollution, one of the main ingredients in smog, dropped by 50%.When Hidalgo began fighting to speed up the citys transition to sustainable transportation, she was motivated both by the need to cut climate emissions and by Pariss dismal air quality, which regularly exceeded EU health limits. The previous mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, had introduced Pariss bike-sharing network, along with an electric car-sharing network, and closed traffic on the left bank of the Seine. Hidalgo pedestrianized the right bank, turning a busy highway into a pedestrian path and park. A new low-emission zone blocked the most polluting cars from the city center. The city started getting rid of parking spots, replacing some of them with trees and other green space. Speed limits were lowered. Streets next to schools were closed, making it easier and safer for students to walk. Hidalgo embraced the concept of the 15-minute city, the idea that you should live a short bike ride or walk away from work and errands. (To help, the city is helping redevelop some single-use buildings, turning offices into housing, shops, coworking spaces, preschools, and other uses under one roof.) The citys network of bike lanes keeps expanding. The way that people get to work has quickly changed. Between 2022 and 2023, alone, the use of bike paths doubled during rush hour. On some roads, bikes started to outnumber cars. Some of the bike commuters might not have switched specifically from a car, says Thorne, the mobility researcher. Many Parisians already took public transportation, for example. But even if some people previously took the subway, if theyve now switched to biking, that means that theres now more room on the train. With the train less crowded, some drivers might now be more willing to take it instead of their cars.Thorne has been studying the impact of adding bike lanes on air pollution in New York City, where he found that bike infrastructure helped some people replace short taxi rides. The situation in Paris is likely different, he says. On many streets, entire lanes of traffic were converted to bike lanes. The shrinking road space for cars is convincing people to drive less overall; some of them may be walking or on public transportation rather than riding a bike. As traffic has subsided, the city is also just a better place to live. Yesterday, I was having dinner [outside] at a restaurant on one of our main boulevards, and it was kind of enjoyable, Thorne says. It wasnt something that was completely overwhelming with gas vehicles and traffic noise.
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E-Commerce
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