INBOXIFY ORIGINAL's [04/Augest/2023]

Hello, Happy Friday and welcome to our weekly newsletter. As we bid adieu to the workweek, let's embark on a journey of discovery, inspiration, and positivity. Stay tuned for the latest updates, exciting stories, and a dash of Friday magic. Have a wonderful day and an even more amazing weekend ahead!

ENTERTAINMENT

Sound of Freedom: The anti-Hollywood box-office hit

A story about a former federal agent on a mission to save a child from sex traffickers in the Colombia jungle has made more money at the box office than Tom Cruise battling an omnipotent AI superbeing.

With an estimated budget of $14.6 million and zero A-list talent, Sound of Freedom has raked in over $149 million in the US and Canada since its July Fourth premiere, putting it ahead of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and not far behind the latest Indiana Jones movie. And the two Hollywood heavy hitters had budgets of $291 million and $294.7 million, respectively.

Why the resounding success?

An unconventional marketing strategy is fueling sales: The lead actor, Jim Caviezel, appears on screen after the movie ends and urges viewers to “pay it forward” by buying tickets for others. More than 20% of opening-day tickets were purchased in response to this method, bringing in $2.6 million. A decent critical reception also helped (though some experts have criticized the film for misrepresenting aspects of real-life human trafficking).

But, perhaps even more importantly, Sound of Freedom’s focus on children’s issues and its Christian themes have made it particularly popular among conservatives.

• Former President Trump screened it for political allies at his private club in New Jersey, and GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy held a viewing event for a group of lawmakers.

• It’s also reportedly been embraced by QAnon conspiracy theorists who believe that liberal elites are running a child sex trafficking ring.

The film itself has become a subject of conspiracy theories. Some viewers have claimed that theaters sabotaged screenings through nefarious tactics like withholding A/C. AMC Theaters CEO Adam Aron called allegations that the chain is suppressing viewership for Sound of Freedom “bizarre,” pointing out that the movie is available at 570 of its locations

RETAIL

Amazon is struggling to conquer the grocery aisle

SOPA Images/Getty Images

Amazon has begun the largest overhaul of its grocery business since it planted a flag in a Whole Foods papaya six years ago.

The revamp comes after the tech giant has struggled to work its usual industry-reinventing magic on grocery sales.

Now, under the guidance of seasoned grocery executives, the online purveyor of every product ever is launching new strategies to beef up its in-person stores and grow its share of the $1.5 trillion US grocery market, which Walmart and Kroger dominate. The big changes:

• Amazon Fresh delivery is now available to non-Prime members in a dozen cities, with plans to expand nationwide by year’s end.

• To make Amazon Fresh stores feel more…human…the redesigned supermarkets will feature brighter colors, Krispy Kreme stands by the front door, and self-checkout lanes to supplement its E-ZPass-esque “Just Walk Out” system.

• Online, the shopping carts for Amazon Fresh, Amazon.com, and Whole Foods will merge into one, eliminating the need for separate checkouts.

We’ll see if it works this time…Amazon’s past attempts to master the grocery space have resulted in four lawsuits over stalled Amazon Fresh store openings and, last week, layoffs of hundreds of store workers. One ex-employee told the Washington Post this year could “make or break” Amazon Fresh.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Maybe social media isn’t why we hate each other

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Do Facebook’s and Instagram’s algorithms create echo chambers that widen political divisions and erode democracy in America?

Ask 100 people and 95 might say, “Yeah, that seems logical.” The idea that social media platforms are largely responsible for political polarization has been accepted as a proven fact by elected officials, regulators, and anyone who’s been tagged in a “Denver Airport is the HQ of the Illuminati” post by their uncle. Big Tech critic Scott Galloway, an NYU professor, declared in 2019 that Facebook “intentionally drives our society apart” by “deepening users’ beliefs & magnifying outrage.”

But landmark new research complicates that narrative. Four studies released last Thursday found that while echo chambers do exist on social media, they don’t drive political polarization in the way Facebook’s critics have described.

Here’s why

Researchers arrived at this conclusion by tweaking the content US Facebook users saw from September to December 2020 and measuring their behaviors during and after the experiment.

• In one study, the researchers swapped out an algorithmic feed for a reverse chronological feed for tens of thousands of Facebook and Instagram users, which meant changing the type of posts from what the company wanted users to see to a stream of posts the company did not put its thumb on.

• The changes had no impact on political polarization, and even led users to see more untrustworthy content. Another side effect: The chronological feed also made people bored and, consequently, spend less time on the platform.

How the researchers summed it up: “These findings challenge popular narratives blaming social media echo chambers for the problems of contemporary American democracy.”

Looking ahead...independent experts caution against drawing broad conclusions from these studies, which examined behavior during just a few months. But more clarity could come soon since at least 12 more peer-reviewed papers on the topic are on the way.

This research is also not without controversy, because Meta (the object of inquiry) was a key collaborator by providing the data. The company and the researchers are already butting heads around how to interpret the findings.

GRAB BAG

Key performance indicators

Francis Scialabba

Stat: Welp—cheap gas prices were fun while they lasted. The average price for a gallon in the US rose to an eight-month high yesterday of $3.71, per AAA. While that’s far below last summer’s peak of $5.02 per gallon, gas prices have been creeping up due to refineries going offline unexpectedly and higher demand for oil at a time when supply isn’t there to meet it. Bloomberg Opinion’s oil guru, Javier Blas, notes that global oil consumption has likely reached a record high.

Quote: “This quarter, if I’m being honest, the theme was Grimace.”

McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski was all smiles when talking about how Grimace’s birthday—a promotion for the chain’s big purple mascot—caught fire on social media and helped fuel 10.3% sales growth in Q2 at US locations open for at least 13 months. Fresh off its success with Grimace, McDonald’s is leaning into nostalgia again: It’s planning on opening spinoff restaurants themed around another old character, CosMc, next year

GAMES

The puzzle section

Jigsaw: Earlier this month, nearly 500 golden retrievers gathered in Scotland to celebrate the anniversary of the breed’s founding. Here’s a puzzle with all of their beautiful mugs.

Friday puzzle

Below are the names of five countries with alternating letters missing. What are the five countries?

1. EA*

2. IH*A*I*

3. NO*E*I*

4. IB*B*E

5. IA*A*U*

MEME

ANSWER

1. Nepal

2. Lithuania

3. Indonesia

4. Zimbabwe

5. Nicaragua

📬 The true story of ‘Oppenheimer’