the buzz log
A Cosmetic Solution to an Ugly Recession
In a recession, people turn to comfort foods and longer skirts…but not make-up? Like journalists and electronic retail employees, the Avon Lady at first looks to become another endangered species in budget-conscious times.
The cosmetics company that relies on the face-to-unmade-face approach posted news that its quarterly profits have dropped by more than a third. That downer pales in comparison to Estee Lauder's Monday report of a 70% decline in quarterly profits.
On the, er, face of it, that sounds like bad news. But, like in so many desperate situations, standards are lower in a bad economy. For one thing, Estee Lauder actually beat analyst expectations, and its announcement actually helped shares rise on all cosmetic companies.
For its part, Avon long understod the need for a make-over, and has been retooling its products to be more affordable. Even better, the company wants more ladies to go door to door, giving the ranks of the unemployed a sporting chance to make the world a prettier place. Or at least tone down those shiny spots.
Buzz Week in Review
Bail or no bail? Debate or no debate? In a suspenseful news week, the Buzz took some time to seek out true beauty, true courage, and true happy endings ... at least for a cat. Here are some stories you may have missed this past week.
Makeup Stunts Your Growth?
From the same people who stirred up a tizzy over sunscreens comes a study about how cosmetics and puberty don't mix. The Environmental Working Group poked needles and took urine samples from 20 teenage girls and found what blog Ecoplay called "13 different hormone-altering chemicals in their bodies." To help girls avoid paying the price for beauty, EWG offers a shopper's guide to safe cosmetics. For ladies past puberty, Glam blogs about products that have earned Beauty with a Conscience awards.
A CEO Who Says No?
Bailout or not, many CEOs who helmed financially troubled companies have already collected their millions in severance packages. Several news outlets, including Philly.com, have singled out Robert Willumstad not for his three months as primo honcho for the failed AIG, but for rejecting a $22 million payout. His predecessor, who left in June, got $15 million plus a $4 million bonus.
A Hemingway Tale with a Happy Ending?
Ernest Hemingway wasn't what you'd call the cheeriest novelist, so who knows what kind of ending he would've planned for a colony of six-toed cats in his Florida home. However, a five-year legal catfight between the USDA and the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum ended peaceably this week. The USDA had demanded that the Home obtain an animal exhibition license for the descendants of the writer's pet
Snowball, but the agency allowed the felines to remain after a fence was installed. The literary darlings can be seen here.
Also buzzing this week ...
• As "fall foliage" Web interest intensifies (+688%), scientists will be among the leaf peepers to study whether global warming puts a damper on pigment changes. For people who think less kindly of the mess autumn leaves can make, RedPlum blog scopes out power tools that sweep up after Mother Nature.
• If this week's economic news prompts comfort-food cravings, see Forbes Traveler's daring declaration of where the nation's best chocolate chip cookies are.
• Don't share chocolates with airport security dogs. NaturalNews has taken up the legal cause of chocolatiers accused of drug smuggling, after Toronto pups mistook two pounds of cacao as hashish. The blog reveals how cacao registers false positives for NIK field kit drug tests. And you thought poppy seed muffins were bad.
Filed under: Literature, Finance, Animals, Cosmetics, Autumn, Chocolate
Keeping It Real
Now that anyone with a camera phone can be an instant paparazzo, a new Internet pursuit has sprung up: "celebrities without makeup." Searches on the term recently surged to an all-time high.
Blogs, videos, and media galleries have tracked stars in their natural state for a couple of years. Some sites do it out of mean-spirited cattiness while others are cosmetic-free activists.
It may seem like the sort of investigation conducted primarily by females, but guys are interested too. Another twist: It's not just lady celebs in people's scopes, as number 8 suggests. Here are the 10 celebrity visages that people want revealed.
Most Searched Celebrities Without MakeupFiled under: Celebrities, Cosmetics
Buzz Makes Up
Military recruiters thought they had a tough job. But when it comes to enlistment and deployment, the Army could take a page from two giants of the cosmetics-industrial complex: Avon and Mary Kay. These makeup powerhouses truly know how to draft new blood; make house calls; and maintain a sweet-smelling, rosy-cheeked, powerful force.
In recent years, both firms set up shop in China. Both contribute to the $29.7 billion that the direct-sales industry earns in the U.S. each year. And both have sophisticated web sites. But when the two beauty warriors face off, things can get ugly. In a question on Yahoo! Answers over "which is better," Mary Kay earned "best answer," though Avon picked up some passionate support. So how does the Avon lady fare against the Mary Kay girl when it comes to Search? Here's how it played out...
| Avon vs. Mary Kay | |||
| Avon | Mary Kay | And the Winner Is... | |
| Rank in Buzz | 1,411 | 990 | Mary Kay wins. |
| Most Popular In... | Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, Baltimore, Dallas-Fort Worth | Omaha, Oklahoma City, Cincinnati | From Orlando to Omaha, who can say? It's a tie. |
| Related Searches | avonwalk.org, selling avon, avon products, avon collectibles | mary kay cosmetics, mary kay products, mary kay consultant, mary kay ash | Remember those little Avon perfume bottles? The sentimentality award goes to the Big A. |
| Best News | Avon's Skin So Soft moisturizer reportedly removes... Super Glue? | Rolanda Blake's new ride. | The gross-but-practical factor gives Avon the lead. |
| Speaking of Cars, the Best One Is... | What do Avon Associates drive, anyway? The Dodge Stratus? | The legendary pink Caddy, of course. | Mary Kay wins easily. We just want to know what they're doing in the back of their pink Cadillacs. |
| Detractors | Lewis "the attack cat" can't stand his Avon lady. | At least one post-Mary Kay support group is scouting for members. | Angry felines aside, Avon comes out unscathed and wins the scrimmage. |
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nidal Malik Hasan | Breakout! |
| 2 | Fort Hood Shooting | Breakout! |
| 3 | Tyrannosaurus Rex | Breakout! |
| 4 | Fort Hood | 43518% |
| 5 | Tropical Storm Ida | 4377% |
| 6 | Willie Aames | 3325% |
| 7 | Shannon Dedrick | 3299% |
| 8 | Gretchen Rossi | 2702% |
| 9 | Epic Mickey | 2583% |
| 10 | Lee Harvey Oswald | 1907% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danica Patrick | +194 | 207 |
| 2 | Fort Hood | +185 | 185 |
| 3 | Angelina Jolie | +114 | 164 |
| 4 | Rihanna | +39 | 157 |
| 5 | New York Yankees | +54 | 154 |
| 6 | Alicia Keys | +139 | 153 |
| 7 | +1 | 153 | |
| 8 | NFL | +6 | 138 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
For more detailed information, visit our FAQ.