Latest news with #Weet-Bix
Daily Mail
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Footy star Jaidyn Stephenson confesses he spent $28,000 on Uber Eats in one year - and that's not even the most shocking thing about his diet
Former Collingwood star Jaidyn Stephenson has come clean about the insane Uber Eats bill he ran up when he first broke into the AFL as he revealed some mind-bending diet secrets. The 26-year-old admitted to spending almost $30,000 on home-delivered takeaway food in 2018 when he first made the Magpies' top side - and then there's the incredible number of Weet-Bix he went through. 'In my first year in the AFL system I spent $28,000 on Uber Eats,' he told SEN radio. 'I was living with [former teammate] Jack Madgen and his girlfriend, who is his wife now, and they'd have their chicken and veggies every night. 'They were six years older than me and they understood how life worked. 'I think I cooked twice the whole year. I would order Uber Eats for lunch or dinner, whenever I needed to. The 25-year-old (pictured playing for Collingwood) said he only cooked for himself twice during his first year in the AFL 'Luckily the club cooked us food for breakfast and lunch, but everything else was Uber Eats or going out for dinners.' Stephenson - who shocked fans when he retired at the end of last season aged just 25 - has also revealed that he ate 95 Weet-Bix with full-cream milk every week while he was at the top of his game. 'Five for breakfast, lunch, and usually after dinner,' he explained. 'I just love them. Ever since I was one or two and could start eating, I have always had Weet-Bix. It's a nice little treat.' When he was a highly rated teenage prospect back in 2017, before the Pies were cooking some of his meals, he admitted his nutritional choices left a lot to be desired. 'I didn't have the greatest lunches,' he said. 'I used to have two Nutella sandwiches with packets of chips.' Incredible as Stephenson's Uber Eats bill is, it still isn't the biggest tab that's been run up by a footy star. That honour goes to former Carlton and Brisbane star Brendan Fevola, who stunned tennis legend Andy Murray when he told him he'd spent $36,000 with the delivery service in a single year during a radio interview in January. 'I want to tell you a little stat. I order Uber Eats all the time… we sent a letter to Uber Eats to see where we rank [nationwide] in a year,' Fevola told Murray. 'Fi [Fifi Box] had spent about $3,500 AUD… and I was ranked in the top 0.001% of Australians. I was pretty much the number one Uber Eats [customer].' Murray was stunned by the confession. 'You should get knighted,' he said. Fevola then informed the tennis champion he'd spent $36,000 on Uber Eats a year. 'This is genuine?' asked Murray. Fevola replied: 'This is fair dinkum, yeah.' Murray was intrigued and wanted to know how the former athlete was splashing out so much cash. 'Yeah, breakfast, lunch… and so, dinner, because Uber Eats is so good,' explained Fevola. 'I don't know what to choose so if I want a steak, a chicken Parma, some dumplings… I just order all three and just nibble at them all.'
ABC News
30-04-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Gruen Nation unpacks the campaign trail tricks that politicians use to snag your vote
From corflutes on street corners to 'brain rot' memes on social media, political parties have pulled out all of the stops in an attempt to snag your vote this election. Gruen's panel of advertising brains are here to break down the tricks from the (campaign) trail, telly and TikTok. From silly to thought-provoking, here's how they work. Campaigning as 'emotional warfare' Cost of living has been a popular theme throughout the campaign, and former ALP strategist Annie O'Rourke says Labor would have braced for an onslaught of emotional ads from opposition parties. "You've got to grab someone's attention, and then you've got to flood their guts with feelings," Ms O'Rourke says. But, she says some ads depicting families doing it tough have not struck a chord with audiences. "Instead, they got served up [a] sad guy eating his soggy Weet-Bix," she says. "Election campaigning is emotional warfare. It's visual warfare. "Luckily for the ALP, these ads don't do that." A Liberal National Party ad depicting cost of living pressures. ( Supplied: LNP ) Advertising executive Todd Sampson says ads of this nature show the major political parties are working off the premise that "if you're ahead, be positive, if you're behind, be negative". "Fear has been used in political advertising since the beginning of political advertising, because it works," he says. " Research shows that when people are scared, they're less likely to research policy and more likely just to react illogically in many cases. " He says ads will often use dim colours and "droning" sound effects to bring the message home. The truth, the whole truth? Some might be surprised to find that political parties aren't bound to tell the truth when it comes to advertising. Sampson says there are more legal requirements and regulations around selling toilet paper than there are around selling the country's political leaders. "There is no legal requirement for political advertising to be factual; it is incredible," he says. According to the Australian Electoral Commission, the AEC has "only limited powers with respect to regulating the content or truth of electoral advertising". Former Liberal strategist Toby Ralph says it's all about persuasion, not information. He says political strategists use the foundation of truth to create a narrative, "and hope it doesn't collapse before the vote comes". Media and marketing brain Russel Howcroft says it's also common to see political ads that aren't particularly well made. "It's almost like part of the idiom of political advertising is that it's cheap, and you want to spend as much money as you possibly can on the media, not on the production of the actual advertising itself." It's left to the voters to do their own research on what the truth really is. 'Brain rot' advertising not about the message From a party leader fighting an octopus to skeletons being engulfed in flames while filling up their car, there has been a new approach to political advertising when it comes to attracting younger voters. An Australian Labor Party ad depicting Peter Dutton fighting an octopus. ( Supplied: ALP ) As absurd as some of the videos may seem, Cheek Media Co founder Hannah Ferguson says it's not about the content itself. "[These videos] don't work in the sense that they're actually spreading any kind of message," Ms Ferguson says. "They're only working in the sense that they communicate to young people that there's an obsession with achieving their vote, with earning it. "They're trying to appeal to me and that want is enticing. It's not about the message, it's about the ego stroke. "We're now trying to find the worst one to enter the group chat, or to call my brother or sister about, because people think it's hilarious." Read more about the federal election: Want even more? Here's where you can find all our 2025 ALP strategist Ms O'Rourke says the pay off really comes for political parties when young people engage with the memes. "If they're sharing it and looking at it, even getting to the end of it without scrolling on, it actually improves the algorithm," she says. "A lot of the time, these ads are [there] to do the job of scaling for the other ads, because these things get the eyeballs." A new media and celebrity influence What do Grindr, Fortnite, OnlyFans and a corflute have in common? They've all been Celebrities and influencers have also regularly featured on the campaign trail, after the 2024 US election saw party leaders engaging with new-age media. Former US president Joe Biden was interviewed on the SmartLess podcast, while President Donald Trump appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience. Abbie Chatfield posing while Greens leader Adam Bandt DJs. ( Supplied: Australian Greens/Abbie Chatfield ) Back home, Ms Ferguson interviewed both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Greens leader Adam Bandt on her podcast The Big Small Talk. Podcast host Abbie Chatfield has also interviewed the ALP and Greens leaders, and has appeared in advertising for the Greens. Sampson says the reach of influencers and podcasters shouldn't be dismissed. "They're called influencers for a reason, because their reach and impact is huge, particularly podcast influencers, because podcasts have out-mainstreamed mainstream media," he says. Photo shows a male politician talking to a young woman on a podcast The AEC has issued advice after the prime minister appeared in a co-authored Instagram post with social media personality Abbie Chatfield. "Why pay for a 30-second ad when you could have a two-hour ad? Would you rather be grilled by Sarah Ferguson or hugged by Abbie Chatfield?" Ms Ferguson says this is the first time Australia has seen politics "made hot". "I think in the US, it's like a fun conversation where celebrities get involved, but this is the first federal election in Australia where people are actually excited and think it's cool to get engaged," she says. "I think that Abbie Chatfield and other influencers in this space are saying it is cool to care. "We expect that you wear your values on your sleeve, and you communicate with your friends and family about [them], and that's one of the most powerful parts." Election ads coming from every angle So, if you're having trouble switching off from the avalanche of political advertising, there are good reasons why: advertising tricks and sheer volume. Our phones are overloaded with According to Gruen Nation host Wil Anderson, more than $27 million has been spent on election advertising during the federal election campaign so far. "The major parties have over 500 unique ads on YouTube, 300 on TikTok and 800 on Instagram," Anderson says. Watch at 8:00pm Wednesday on ABC TV, or on ABC iview.
Sydney Morning Herald
26-04-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Cheek, confidence, performance: How Harley Reid became the AFL's most wanted
Reid and Puma agreed to a six-year extension at about the same time, with the company announcing the deal in a social media video with two hands counting to six, book-ended by two middle finger references. The accompanying message was succinct once more: 'We've got your back. For six more years.' Puma's marketing director Neysa Goh said the company identified Reid early as a standout with his on-field performance, but also his 'confidence and sense of cheekiness' that aligned with its brand. 'Puma is all about celebrating our athletes in a unique way, and pushing the boundaries with our creative,' Goh told this masthead. Loading 'We want to be able to find a way to work with their individual personalities if we can, so we will adapt our approach to the individual. With Harley, he comes across as a quietly determined individual, but there is a real fire and passion there. That enables us to think outside the box – it also helps that he has a sense of humour. 'It is important to us that our athletes know we have their backs.' The Gemba Group rates Reid as the AFL's second- most marketable player, behind only Collingwood's Nick Daicos, across the past year, with a methodology that factors in reach, interest, influence and momentum. Reid ranked comfortably as No.1 in momentum, third in interest and eighth in influence. Rennie Gilchrist, a senior marketing consultant at Gemba, said Reid was an ideal case for companies to 'get in first' and establish a relationship to 'give them the best opportunity to reap the brand and commercial benefits down the road'. Gilchrist likened what brands were doing with Reid to Sanitarium's decision to sign Alex de Minaur as their first tennis player 'Weet-Bix kid' five years ago, which has paid off with the Australian blossoming into a top-10 star. '[De Minaur's] marketability has significantly grown over this period, delivering exceptional outcomes for the brand,' Gilchrist said. 'We suspect Harley's brand partners have the same strategy in mind.' Loading Perhaps the best example of Reid's mass appeal is how other sports, including basketball and horse racing, asked him to serve as an ambassador for their events. He did that for the Caulfield Cup carnival, the NBL finals and Hoopsfest last year. The NBL's head of marketing, Ben Jenkins, said the purpose behind Reid's ambassadorial role was to help them attract new fans, similarly to how they engage retired AFL champions Jack Riewoldt and Eddie Betts. 'There is a big crossover between AFL fans and basketball fans in general, so leveraging Harley's growing fan base made a lot of sense, in terms of reaching fans who may not have been exposed to, or seen, NBL games before,' Jenkins said. 'Harley is a basketball fan, and his cult brand status is well aligned with the cultural and lifestyle aspects associated with the NBL.' Reid's marketability also secured him deals with the likes of Tempur, the Herdsman Market, Cleanskin Laser and DripHouse, while he walked out of Wanderlust's Perth store in February with two ACE-X e-bikes, which was, of course, all documented for his 127,000 Instagram followers. Tony Barlow Perth kitted him out for last year's AFL Players' Association MVP awards night, when he was crowned the game's best first-year player, and he also appeared on Kayo Sports to promote UFC 305 in Perth. Reid's commercial deals compensate for any financial shortfall from him being part of the original batch of top-20 draftees whose pay is capped into their third season in the newest collective bargaining agreement. Either way, he is set to earn an enormous annual salary on his second contract – north of $1.5 million, and potentially approaching $2 million – whether he stays at West Coast or returns to Victoria, where Hawthorn, Geelong and Essendon are among the clubs hoping to lure him home. 'As a player, he is worth this [a significant salary], as a marketing tool, he is worth this ... and as a potential recruiter, he's worth that – you can't put a price on that,' Melbourne great Garry Lyon said on SEN of Reid late last year. In another sign of Reid's popularity, his Swysh account, where fans can pay for personalised video messages from him, is currently booked out. He is proving himself a natural in advertisements, including chugging a V Energy drink while featuring in a Toyota Hilux promotion. Reid also stars in a new Optimum Nutrition commercial – which is on high rotation during AFL match broadcasts – where he mock apologises in a fake press conference that he ends with a wink as he plops a big tub of protein powder in front of him. 'I know I've caused some pain, turning my idols into rivals, and for that, I'm deeply sorry,' Reid says deadpan down the camera. 'So, to anyone that has [been], or will be, impacted, by my 'don't argues'; I wish you a speedy recovery. With whey protein isolate – the No.1 ingredient, unlike others – Optimum Nutrition gold-standard whey is absorbed fast into muscles to help your recovery.' That cheekiness and confidence clearly doesn't just appeal to Puma.
The Age
26-04-2025
- Business
- The Age
Cheek, confidence, performance: How Harley Reid became the AFL's most wanted
Reid and Puma agreed to a six-year extension at about the same time, with the company announcing the deal in a social media video with two hands counting to six, book-ended by two middle finger references. The accompanying message was succinct once more: 'We've got your back. For six more years.' Puma's marketing director Neysa Goh said the company identified Reid early as a standout with his on-field performance, but also his 'confidence and sense of cheekiness' that aligned with its brand. 'Puma is all about celebrating our athletes in a unique way, and pushing the boundaries with our creative,' Goh told this masthead. Loading 'We want to be able to find a way to work with their individual personalities if we can, so we will adapt our approach to the individual. With Harley, he comes across as a quietly determined individual, but there is a real fire and passion there. That enables us to think outside the box – it also helps that he has a sense of humour. 'It is important to us that our athletes know we have their backs.' The Gemba Group rates Reid as the AFL's second- most marketable player, behind only Collingwood's Nick Daicos, across the past year, with a methodology that factors in reach, interest, influence and momentum. Reid ranked comfortably as No.1 in momentum, third in interest and eighth in influence. Rennie Gilchrist, a senior marketing consultant at Gemba, said Reid was an ideal case for companies to 'get in first' and establish a relationship to 'give them the best opportunity to reap the brand and commercial benefits down the road'. Gilchrist likened what brands were doing with Reid to Sanitarium's decision to sign Alex de Minaur as their first tennis player 'Weet-Bix kid' five years ago, which has paid off with the Australian blossoming into a top-10 star. '[De Minaur's] marketability has significantly grown over this period, delivering exceptional outcomes for the brand,' Gilchrist said. 'We suspect Harley's brand partners have the same strategy in mind.' Loading Perhaps the best example of Reid's mass appeal is how other sports, including basketball and horse racing, asked him to serve as an ambassador for their events. He did that for the Caulfield Cup carnival, the NBL finals and Hoopsfest last year. The NBL's head of marketing, Ben Jenkins, said the purpose behind Reid's ambassadorial role was to help them attract new fans, similarly to how they engage retired AFL champions Jack Riewoldt and Eddie Betts. 'There is a big crossover between AFL fans and basketball fans in general, so leveraging Harley's growing fan base made a lot of sense, in terms of reaching fans who may not have been exposed to, or seen, NBL games before,' Jenkins said. 'Harley is a basketball fan, and his cult brand status is well aligned with the cultural and lifestyle aspects associated with the NBL.' Reid's marketability also secured him deals with the likes of Tempur, the Herdsman Market, Cleanskin Laser and DripHouse, while he walked out of Wanderlust's Perth store in February with two ACE-X e-bikes, which was, of course, all documented for his 127,000 Instagram followers. Tony Barlow Perth kitted him out for last year's AFL Players' Association MVP awards night, when he was crowned the game's best first-year player, and he also appeared on Kayo Sports to promote UFC 305 in Perth. Reid's commercial deals compensate for any financial shortfall from him being part of the original batch of top-20 draftees whose pay is capped into their third season in the newest collective bargaining agreement. Either way, he is set to earn an enormous annual salary on his second contract – north of $1.5 million, and potentially approaching $2 million – whether he stays at West Coast or returns to Victoria, where Hawthorn, Geelong and Essendon are among the clubs hoping to lure him home. 'As a player, he is worth this [a significant salary], as a marketing tool, he is worth this ... and as a potential recruiter, he's worth that – you can't put a price on that,' Melbourne great Garry Lyon said on SEN of Reid late last year. In another sign of Reid's popularity, his Swysh account, where fans can pay for personalised video messages from him, is currently booked out. He is proving himself a natural in advertisements, including chugging a V Energy drink while featuring in a Toyota Hilux promotion. Reid also stars in a new Optimum Nutrition commercial – which is on high rotation during AFL match broadcasts – where he mock apologises in a fake press conference that he ends with a wink as he plops a big tub of protein powder in front of him. 'I know I've caused some pain, turning my idols into rivals, and for that, I'm deeply sorry,' Reid says deadpan down the camera. 'So, to anyone that has [been], or will be, impacted, by my 'don't argues'; I wish you a speedy recovery. With whey protein isolate – the No.1 ingredient, unlike others – Optimum Nutrition gold-standard whey is absorbed fast into muscles to help your recovery.' That cheekiness and confidence clearly doesn't just appeal to Puma.
ABC News
25-04-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
Moesha Johnson on recapturing her desire at the Australian Swimming Championships
There can't be many Australian swimmers who clock more kilometres through the water than Moesha Johnson. Whether it be 10-kilometre races in the ocean or engaging in the brutal monotony of the 1,500 metres in the pool, Johnson is not afraid to put in the miles in order to achieve success. It's not just in the pool, either. Johnson has been earning plenty of air miles since Photo shows Mo Johnson hugs a swimmer in the water As Moesha Johnson powered to a superb silver medal in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games open water swim in the River Seine, officials were celebrating simply getting the event underway. Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Portugal, Hungary … Johnson has competed in them all over the past eight months. But no matter what country Johnson finds herself in, she will always be the country farm girl from northern New South Wales, desperately proud to represent her country. "I've moved around a lot recently," she tells ABC Sport at the Australian Open Championships in Brisbane. "To get that experience and expose myself to competing against a lot of different athletes, and trying to learn from them as well. "But I've recently moved to Miami Swim Club on the Southern Gold Coast [from Griffith], just bringing myself closer to home, because I just I love my origins. "I'm from northern NSW, actually on the farm, just a country farm girl, and it's just so special to come home and really ground myself. "When I'm overseas representing Australia, every day I wake up and every time I go into a competition I've got Australia attached to my name, and to come home and just really embody that and be amongst it, and be with the friendly faces and our personalities and our culture, it's something that I am so proud of, to be an Australian and to be from the northern rivers and southern Gold Coast." Moesha Johnson said she is desperately proud to represent Australia. ( Getty Images: Deepbluemedia/Mondadori Portfolio ) Of course, you can take the Aussie away from home, but thankfully, that Aussie can always take a little bit of Australia with them when they go. "Yeah, I do try and travel with Milo or something like that," Johnson says, a beaming grin spreading across her face. "Like my Weet-Bix, I always try and take some Australian packs with me. "I did a race in Saudi Arabia end of last year and one of the organisers was Australian and we all just really bonded and he sent me a care pack of Weet-Bix, Vegemite and some Twisties, just to last me through some short course competitions." It might seem strange to some that Johnson has been so active since her Paris heroics. "I took a reasonable break," Johnson says — 49 days according to her World Aquatics profile before she won silver in the 1,500m at the Australian short course championships in Adelaide, before taking on her first marathon swim in Portugal just over two months after the Olympics. Moesha Johnson has been doing a lot of swimming since the Paris Games. ( Getty Images: Dean Mouhtaropoulos ) "But I decided to throw myself in every competition possible, basically, to get myself going again." When pushed, Johnson admitted that, had she stopped for too long, the inertia of being so relaxed would prove too difficult to overcome. "I chose to start racing because, you know, I think I might have struggled to get back into the sport," she admits with refreshing candour. "But I definitely know I'm not done yet. "So that's why I put myself into the racing and I went on a bit of an open water tour and really found my feet with open water and the pool racing as well." It wasn't just the Seine where Johnson made a splash in Paris, The 27-year-old also competed in the pool at Paris La Défense Arena, finishing a hugely credible sixth in the 1,500m. So it was surprising to hear that she occasionally struggles to switch into the confines of the pool. Despite struggling with nerves in the pool, Moesha Johnson still swam well enough to finish sixth in the 1,500m at the Paris Olympics. ( Getty Images: Sarah Stier ) "[With] My pool racing, I struggled with a lot of nerves," Johnson says. "Having to front up to it a lot, and having back-to-back pool racing weekends, it's something that has really helped me work through that. "I still am working through it a lot, but that's been a significant thing in my development, and something that I definitely want to keep following up on." Johnson competed in both the 800m and 1,500m events at the Australian Open Championships, with her 1,500m time on Thursday (16:02.59) fractionally faster than what she swam in Paris (16:02.70), "I really want to be hitting under 16 [minutes] more frequently," Johnson says. "I just saw my splits, [I went] out a little bit slow but that's something that we'll go back and work on. "I actually think I found my rhythm better when I was by myself in that race, which was surprising. Moesha Johnson said the Paris Marathon swim was one of her favourites. ( Getty Images: Clive Rose ) "But I train long distances, I'm by myself all the time so that mental side of it, I train all the time and I'm used to that. "I have a good imagination, so I'm imagining people around me, I'm imagining my coach … waving me on and it all helps." Happy or not, both her 1,500 and 800m times were under the qualifying standard for the Singapore World Championships later this year. As an open water swimmer Johnson can use those times as her qualification marker and not rely on having to finish top two at the Trials in Adelaide in June — that way she won't have to taper for trials and then build back up for a marathon effort just three weeks later. "It goes up against the girls' times at trials," Johnson explains. "So this, for me, is a qualification and something we're trying in the distance space, which I think is really exciting. Moesha Johnson has thrown herself into action since the Paris Olympics. ( Supplied: Swimming Australia/Delly Carr ) "You know, Part of that involves another trip away, this time to encompass some altitude training: "In Australia, it's hard to access but it's best if you can get to a mountain," she explains. Photo shows A stylised graphic with three silhouettes of unidentified a female footballer, tennis player, basketballer ABC Sport and Deakin University have partnered to produce the first ABC Elite Athletes in Australian Women's Sport Survey. Going to these lengths to improve does not suggest that there are any lingering thoughts that retirement from the sport could be an option. "I think for me, I always plan at least a little bit beyond a competition, so I don't fall into a hole," she says. "So [before Paris] I said to myself, I wanted to go to [the 2025 World Championships in] Singapore, because if I just said to myself, Olympics and Olympics only, I I think I would have fallen over myself pretty badly. "So now I really try and have a vague goal in the back of my mind. "And if I don't, if I chose to stop then, like, that would have been fine as well, it's not like I have to do it. "But it's definitely something that helps me get myself moving again." Indeed, Johnson confirmed that her focus now is firmly set on LA, where she plans to go one better than her silver medal in Paris despite some of her rivals dropping away. "I definitely want to get on to LA," Johnson says. "There's some retirements are happening around me, so, yeah," she grins. The ABC of SPORT Sports content to make you think... or allow you not to. A newsletter delivered each Saturday. Your information is being handled in accordance with the Email address Subscribe
