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Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Who's speaking at Fancy Farm 2025? See the list of who will and won't be there
Fancy Farm and its zingers are almost here. Kentucky's annual political picnic is set to take place Saturday, Aug. 2, in Western Kentucky at St. Jerome's Catholic Church, with political speeches beginning at 2 p.m. Central/3 p.m. Eastern. While it isn't an election year in Kentucky, the political speaking portion is still expected to bring entertainment, with primary candidates allowed to speak ahead of the 2026 election. Here's what to know about who will — and won't — be there: Who is speaking at the 2025 Fancy Farm picnic? Ashli Watts, president and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, will emcee the 2025 picnic. All three high-profile Republican U.S. Senate candidates — Andy Barr, Daniel Cameron and Nate Morris — will give speeches. Steve Elder, Fancy Farm's political chairperson, previously said event organizers decided to invite primary candidates to speak because "the political landscape is constantly evolving, and we too must adapt to the times." Event organizers typically limit invited speakers to those holding state office or running in a general election. "Campaigns are launching earlier than in years past, and we want to ensure the picnic continues its tradition of strong participation from across the political spectrum in the Commonwealth," Elder said in a press release. More: Is Kentucky's Fancy Farm picnic still relevant in a changing political climate? Other speakers who have confirmed their attendance so far are: Republican state. Rep. Kim Holloway Republican state Sen. Jason Howell Republican U.S. Rep. James Comer Democratic candidate John "Drew" Williams, running for Kentucky's 1st Congressional District Republican state Agriculture Commissioner Jonathan Shell Republican state Treasurer Mark Metcalf Who is not speaking at Fancy Farm 2025? Democratic Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman declined her invitation to speak. In a statement, spokesperson JT Henderson said while Coleman appreciated the invite, she believes "it should be reserved for candidates who are currently on the ballot so they can share their vision for the commonwealth with our neighbors in West Kentucky." Democratic state Rep. Pamela Stevenson, who is running for U.S. Senate, also declined to give a speech. Who hasn't confirmed or declined their Fancy Farm invitation? The following politicians have not yet responded to their invitations to speak at the event: Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear Republican state Auditor Allison Ball Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams Reach reporter Hannah Pinski at @hpinski@ or follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @hannahpinski. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Fancy Farm 2025 speakers: See who will and won't be there
Fast Company
19 minutes ago
- Fast Company
What legacy brands can learn from the hype cycle
Back in 2015, Microsoft claimed our attention spans had dropped to eight seconds—shorter than that of a goldfish. No one's definitively proven it, but it feels about right in the age of TikTok. Ten years later, goodness knows how long we're able to hold it. It's one of the major social shifts of our lifetimes, and it's one that a new generation of start-up brands—and their investors—have jumped on. These 'dopamine' brands, such as Starface, Graza, and Poppi, provide younger generations with striking visual hits to draw them in with an instant high. Their packages, messages, and social content all pop, their drops sell out in minutes, and their fans queue virtually just to get their hands on them. Those limited drops, seasonal flavors, and unexpected collabs fuel hype and scarcity. These aren't just products; they're events. But with every dopamine hit comes a comedown, and many challenger brands are now struggling with staying power. Meanwhile the legacy brands languish on the sidelines, wondering what to make of it all as a chunk of their audience is tempted away. There's a lot to learn in creating fresh news for these classic heroes, but they shouldn't feel threatened by the dopamine gang; rather, they should see an opportunity in it. If you've got iconic assets and built emotional trust over decades, you're more than halfway there. The nudge is to deliberately disrupt yourself by bringing ideas in from the outside, while finding ways to retain what it is people love about you at the core. Packaging is a powerful touchpoint to do it. It's your shop window, your sensorial hook, your cultural signal. When you get it right, it should create not just fleeting excitement, but a deep connection that creates a lasting memory. Here's how to do dopamine design, without right. Inject hype at the edges, don't break the system Limited editions are an obvious, and often fruitful, place to start, but legacy brands can sometimes get overexcited here. Often there is a temptation to create disruption by sidelining the rule book and going crazy with the new news. When limited editions aren't rooted in what people already love about the brand, they land as lazy, insincere. They often fall flat with consumers, who see straight through it. Smart design evolves from what's already there; celebrate the core brand essence by coming from a place of authenticity, then create the disruptive newness. So, when Jaffa Cakes was developing a limited-edition flavor, they began by acknowledging the product truth: the joy is in the jammy center. To make it feel more special than the established orange, an unexpected idea came about in cola-bottle flavor. This delivered an exciting dose of 'I'm not sure that'll work' intrigue mixed with reassuring nostalgia for the consumer. Crucially, we restrained ourselves with the packaging design in responding to this. We retained the existing layout and the brand's visual consistency, while dramatizing the new story within it to create something new. It's a simple but effective technique, all too often brushed aside in favour of total 'pack takeover' disruption. Short-term impact, long-term value Limited editions from brands work best when they riff on the thing people already love about them, whether it be format, flavor, origin story, or something else. These kinds of designs don't just deliver a momentary dopamine hit. When a drop gets it right, it builds trust and respect with consumers. Moreover it builds a momentum that has a positive halo effect back into the main brand. Look at Johnnie Walker's Squid Game Limited Edition—another entry from a brand that continues to cross-pollinate categories to deliver the unexpected. Here it's bringing popular culture in to give its audience exactly what they never knew they needed. While the launch design felt dopamine, the core pack design confidently fused both brands' assets together with mutual respect and consideration. It was a wisely thought through approach and showed us that the brand can deliver both quality whisky and moments of playful humor simultaneously. The total effect of such one-offs is that the entire brand benefits from them. Collaboration should amplify, not dilute The Heinz x Absolut collaboration was a good example of how good design can multiply brand value. Its success lay in both brands celebrating their distinctive assets in tandem in the launch collateral (Heinz's silhouette and red tones, Absolut's bottle shape and stripped-back typography). The creative idea—vodka pasta sauce—was playful, but it was the campaign work and the packaging that sold the credibility, where the two brands came together in a way that felt creative and made sense for each partner. The most effective collaborations aren't necessarily about giving each brand equal space, or one giving way for the other. It's putting egos aside to create something entirely new together, the genius child of both. Legacy brands at the center of culture Legacy brands don't need to reinvent themselves to stay relevant, but they do need to stay alert to what's happening around them. Packaging is a hugely impactful area to showcase this. It is the most visceral, sensorial, and tangible touchpoint a brand can have. A good idea at the heart can be taken to the next level when form, finish, and feel are also taken into account. Legacy brands should be more confident in the strength of their assets. Changing them creatively just a little can a have a powerful outcome. Building both brands' assets through co-respect can help place a brand in the center of culture effectively enough for the audience to reappraise it on a deeper, more lasting level. It can reenergize products and brands, putting them in front of new audiences who will become the next generation of loyalists. A design that is oversaturated in dopamine can have the opposite effect, creating confusion around your brand's identity, leaving your crowd alienated and cynical. The key is to build from what people already know and love. That's what gives brands the permission to try something new on their packaging, and the credibility to be taken seriously when they do. Once you've cracked the code in an authentic way and succeeded at it, the stage is set for a future of endless creativity that people will come back for time and again. The super-early-rate deadline for Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Awards is tonight, July 25, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.
New York Times
21 minutes ago
- New York Times
An Era of Authenticity (or Something Like It)
When Kylie Jenner and her mother, Kris, admitted last month that they had gotten plastic surgery, it was hailed by many as the start of a new era in celebrity transparency around beauty. '445 cc, moderate profile, half under the muscle!!!!! silicone!!! garth fisher!!! hope this helps lol,' Kylie Jenner had responded to a fan asking for the exact specifications of her breast augmentation. The moment — casual, off the cuff, peppered with internet speak and made in the comments of a TikTok — immediately became a hot topic on social media, just as her mother's discussion of her face lift a few weeks earlier had. Other celebrities, naturally, jumped on the bandwagon. Kristin Cavallari, a former star of 'The Hills,' shared her own breast implant specifications on Instagram, while the real estate tycoon and 'Shark Tank' star Barbara Corcoran revealed a whole host of procedures she's had done, including three face lifts, a neck lift and a 'lower eyelid skin pinch.' Last week, Khloé Kardashian admitted that she used to 'heavily Photoshop' her photos until she looked like a 'cartoon character.' 'There was a time that I was around some people that would make me feel like I needed to,' Ms. Kardashian said on her podcast, 'Khloé in Wonderland.' 'I also think it was the era, too. I felt like a lot of people were Photoshopping or heavily Photoshopping more than they do now. I do feel like there was a time that we all just got consumed in this filter lifestyle and we couldn't see ourselves without a filter.' The beauty standards themselves are inauthentic — that is, unnatural and impossible to attain without surgical or technological intervention — but the open discussion around how to achieve them has been praised as a form of authenticity by fans, many of whom felt they had previously been gaslit by celebrities claiming their perfect forms were the result of diet and exercise. According to Dr. Kelly Killeen, a plastic surgeon based in Beverly Hills, Calif., the open discussion of plastic surgery has resulted in an uptick in patients asking for the exact same procedures their favorite celebrities have gotten. 'I'm seeing so many patients coming in with, like, a Burger King order,' Dr. Killeen said in an interview. 'They're like, 'I want the Kylie Jenner.'' The plastic surgery admissions, oddly enough, have come from stars who have seemingly built their careers on omissions and obfuscations. Between lavish birthday parties, multimillion-dollar mansions and unattainable bodies, there has been nothing less relatable and authentic in recent years than celebrities like the Kardashians. This is not the first time people have sought escapism in being a voyeur of luxurious lifestyles — think Paris Hilton in the early aughts, as Wall Street crashed — and as economic anxiety rises yet again, Dr. Killeen said the trend offers a chance to change the discussion around the celebrities. 'The Kardashians love to rage against the machine they created,' she said. In this case it seems to be working, possibly because the act of being open about their plastic surgeries and proclivities for Photoshop appeals to Gen Z — a generation that values, according to a 2023 report from the consulting firm EY, 'being authentic and true to oneself' more than anything else. 'More than 90 percent rated authenticity as very or extremely important,' the report said. 'This is driving a backlash against 'perfectionism,' or trying to conform to be like, look like and sound like the idealized versions of oneself shared through filtered selfies and retouched photos. Gen Z, instead, is increasingly embracing their authentic, unedited view of themselves and the world around them — and expecting others to respect them for the same.' 'We've left the Instagram era of perfectly crafted and edited photos into the era of TikTok, where people just pick their phone up and look the way they look and act the way they act, and share their experiences,' Dr. Killeen said. 'And I think especially Gen Z has transitioned into this era of, 'I'm not trying to be perfect. I'm just being myself.'' There is, however, some nuance to Gen Z's approach to authenticity. Despite an expressed desire to be true to themselves, members of the generation have said they care less and less about authenticity from influencers — perhaps because the efforts to appear relatable have fallen flat. Naming the aesthetic helpers, whether the celebrity in question is using plastic surgery or semaglutide drugs, may also demystify them, and make the celebrity's quest for perfection less interesting and, in turn, less relevant. But for now, the trend seems to have hit the pause button on celebrities pretending they 'woke up like this.' 'I think that young women understanding that these things aren't achievable without surgery is really important,' Dr. Killeen said. 'I hope that we don't go so far as young women starting to think you need these things, which is always a fear, but at least now people know, and it's not like the J. Lo, 'I look like this because I use olive oil on my skin.'' 'I mean, come on,' she added.
