This week's marketing winners, losers and newsmakers.

Winners

Monopoly thimble: The retired token will return to the Hasbro-owned game this fall, after winning a vote last month. Hasbro asked customers to decide which of its six retired Monopoly tokens would replace the T-Rex token, which was voted out. The thimble was last in circulation five years ago. The other choices for return included the wheelbarrow, iron, boot, horse and rider and money bag. 

Merrell: The brand deployed a fresh angle on encouraging people to get outside by debuting a “Walk and Talk” hotline for customers to use while taking a walk outdoors. Those who call in will speak to an outdoors representative who will keep them company on their stroll. In addition, Merrell is offering a 15% discount to those who use the service. Other brands using a hotline as a consumer touchpoint include Zappos, which offered a COVID hotline to customers seeking someone to talk to during the early days of the pandemic.

Netflix: The streaming service got a much-needed boost following the May 27 debut of the first seven-episode installment of the fourth season of '80s-era hit “Stranger Things.” The series was viewed for 287 million hours during the week of May 23 to 30, breaking a record for the No. 1 ranking position that had formerly been held by Season 2 of “Bridgerton.” The second half of the penultimate season of “Stranger Things” will be released on July 1.

Read more: Netflix's 'Stranger Things' marketing offers clues to its streaming wars plan

Plus, see how Netflix took Milan back to the '80s to promote 'Stranger Things' 

Losers

McDonald's: The fast-food giant faced backlash when a Muslim customer said a Massachusetts outpost had intentionally put bacon on her fish sandwich. The Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a discrimination complaint against McDonald’s with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination as a result.

Elvis impersonators: In a blow to the King’s fans, Authentic Brands Group, which owns the licenses to Elvis’ image and likeness, sent cease and desist letters to Las Vegas chapels using Elvis impersonators. The letter alleged that such imitators violate trademarks. The wedding industry in Las Vegas generates about $2 billion annually, according to reports, and a substantial portion comes from Elvis-themed events. Heartbreak hotel, indeed.

Howard Johnson: The chain’s final location, located in Lake George, New  York, closed this week after a seven-decade run. At its heyday 50-some years ago, Howard Johnson had around 1,000 restaurants before growing competition from fast-food marketers such as McDonald’s eroded its popularity.

Tweet of the week

Quote of the week

“The No. 1 thing that has made a difference for us is to almost flip the model in terms of making these groups part of our mainstream communications and advertising. In fact, we're doing less specific advertising and more of just representing these groups in the right way by bringing them into the mainstream, which is also what these groups want. They want to see themselves represented in the whole. With older generations [for example], maybe they said, ‘No I want you to speak to me in Spanish only,’ There are new generations that are very respectful and proud of their heritage, but they also speak English." –Diego Scotti, chief marketing officer at Verizon, speaking about the first-year results of the company’s DE&I commitments. 

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Number of the week

50%: Number of adults who said they pay at least some attention to ethical and political matters when deciding which brands to shop, according to a recent Morning Consult report.

On the move

Dazn Group, a global sports entertainment company, hired Pete Oliver as chief marketing officer. He had been a managing director at telecommunications firm BT.