Object Of The Week

After more than a year of travel being ground to a halt, timing is everything — Object of the Week is a column exploring the objects a culture obsesses over and what that reveals about us. A year deep into a deadly pandemic that crippled the travel industry — U.S. …

At a time when women have been hit hardest by the recession, brands are making International Women’s Day about themselves — “There is no Hershey’s without ‘SHE,’” the candy behemoth announced recently. The occasion for this, uh, insight was International Women’s Day, this past Monday. To mark the day — and March as Women’s History Month — the company “developed a small batch” of its flagship chocolate bars, with the package…

”My Home Office” for kids lands somewhere between dark satire and a meme — Object of the Week is a column exploring the objects a culture obsesses over and what that reveals about us. It looks like a parody, and a rather dark one at that: The Fisher-Price My Home Office play set includes a fake laptop, headset, latte cup, pretend phone, and “4…

The new fleet of electric vehicles paints a brighter future where the post office actually still exists — Object of the Week is a column exploring the objects a culture obsesses over and what that reveals about us. It’s been a rough year — well, a rough decade or two — for the U.S. Postal Service. So it’s notable that in addition to enduring another round of criticism…

How a shortage of the most boring cereal turned it into a pandemic sensation — Object of the Week is a column exploring the objects a culture obsesses over and what that reveals about us. Of all the shortages the country has endured in the pandemic era, surely the scarcity of Grape-Nuts is among the least important. No lives are at stake; it is not…

The story of a hippie sandal, a six-figure handbag, private equity, and a very mischievous art collective — Object of the Week is a new column exploring the objects a culture obsesses over and what that reveals about us. Birkenstocks, “fashion’s original ugly shoe,” as the Business of Fashion put it the other day, are having a moment. …

The meme investor mob came after a physical commodity, and it didn’t go well — Object of the Week is a new column exploring the objects a culture obsesses over and what that reveals about us. Over the past week or so, the meme-crazed, Reddit-fueled “stonk market” phenomenon careened in a new direction. Instead of aiming to drive up the share price of yet another…

Explaining our obsession with the most banal gadget left in the Oval Office — Object of the Week is a new column exploring the objects a culture obsesses over and what that reveals about us. A presidential transition requires a heady array of delicate and complex challenges and coordination, ensuring that the mighty apparatus that is the United States government moves forward as smoothly…

They tried to overthrow our government, and all they got was a stupid T-shirt — Object of the Week is a new column exploring the objects a culture obsesses over and what that reveals about us. Nearly two weeks after the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building that left five dead, including a law enforcement officer who was beaten to death by the…