Winner

Despite the boycotts and the heavy scrutiny—including congressional hearings—Big Tech keeps raking in ad revenue, with Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon all posting results for the third quarter that show them weathering the pandemic and uncertain environment quite nicely.

Loser

We doubt it will dent her social media following, but Kim Kardashian West’s tone-deaf tweet about celebrating her birthday on a private island with a close circle of friends—to “pretend things were normal just for a brief moment in time”—drew heavy outrage and plenty of mocking, with brands piling on. You know it’s bad when even the Planters mascot, aka Peanut Jr., makes fun of you. See more reaction here.

Popular

This is the final Trending column before the election, which means maybe, just maybe, it will be the last time we cite The Lincoln Project as being behind our most-read posts of the week. The anti-Trump PAC struck again, with stories on its “Biden’s moment” ad  and “Covey Spreader” spot drawing the most Ad Age eyeballs this week. Politics aside, readers were also drawn to this explainer on Amazon’s new ad technology, including its demand-side platform application programming interface. 

A donkey and an elephant walk into a fair ...

Brands have a long history of touting unity around election time—a safe play that avoids taking a risky stand that could alienate half their consumer base. But is the country really in the mood for this kind of messaging when people seem more wedded to their beliefs than ever before? Oreo is the latest brand preaching kumbaya, with a new ad from Martin Agency that shows a stuffed donkey (a Democrat) and elephant (Republican) overcoming their differences and sharing a cookie and milk together at a fair. “Life is sweeter when we come together” is the tagline. Sounds nice ... but also like wishful thinking. It’s a safer bet that come next week, or whenever the election is decided, social media will be filled with insults and outrage—no matter who wins.

Quote of the week

“Some people might cancel, but I bet it would pay off for them,” analyst Ross Benes to The Verge, on the price hike Netflix announced this week.

Tweet of the week

Drunk on non-publishing revenue

According to Cosmopolitan magazine, its readers have tipped back 36 million glasses of wine in the last seven days. It cites this data point as part of a pitch for the new Uncorked by Cosmopolitan wine brand, a partnership between Guarachi Wine Partners and Cosmo owner Hearst Magazines, in a deal brokered by IMG. “Young women represent a massive wine consumer base, and yet they’re underserved by the current market, which doesn’t target young women at all,” says Jessica Pels, Cosmo editor-in-chief. The launch follows other moves by the mag to grow revenue outside of publishing, including a furniture line with Wayfair, and a perfume brand, called Eau de Juice, introduced at Ulta Beauty last year. Cosmo’s wine launch comes six months after Rolling Stone put out a branded beer.