Past Shows
What does a reusable tote say about you?
08.14.19 | Tire pressure lights, reusable totes, and an excited posing doll is just the beginning. Robert Eckert of Mattel has a Business Birthday, and Berlin looks at drive thru booths for sex workers. Just another day on The Focus Group.
TFG Unbuttoned: Ellen Degeneres, Alabama Methodists’, and the demise of hotel minis
08.13.19 | Ellen Degeneres is being sued by a street artist for copyright infringement, and he has a good case. (Tim and John think they will settle out of court.) Alabama Methodist Church congregants apologize for their shunning of LGBTQ people, and major hotel chains are moving away from single use shampoo and lotion bottles. Many shelters say they are going to be a casualty of the demise of the mini toiletries.
The phone has made the world your office
08.07.19 | An Arkansas mom buys all the children’s shoes from a closing Payless Shoe Store and donates them just in time for back to school. Tim cannot get through paywalls for newspapers, and John never used an outside “drive-up” pay phone. Jenny Craig is our Business Birthday. Of course, we mourn the senseless loss of life over the weekend in El Paso and Dayton. Vote people, Vote!
TFG Unbuttoned: Drag Queen story hour has the right foaming at the mouth
08.06.19 | One Million Moms—a group with 93,000 members—is upset that Whole Foods Markets has sponsored Drag Queen Story Hour in their stores. (Shouldn’t they be on the lookout for bad food or something?) Tim and John discuss the horrific shootings in El Paso and Dayton, and the response from elected leaders.
What is a maintenance hole?
07.31.19 | More than 200 major U.S. corporations signed an amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court arguing that excluding sexual orientation and gender identity from federal civil rights law “would undermine the nation’s business interests.” Berkeley, CA eliminates the term ‘manhole’ in a push to remove gendered language, and the mystery of an ‘untouched’ In-N-Out burger found lying on a Queens street caught our eye.
TFG Unbuttoned: Anger, racism, and assault…just another day on earth
07.30.19 | An angry mother’s old tweet resurfaces and chides millennials for clogging-up Disney theme Parks, a One Dollar Zone store sells a black doll that encourages you to whack it against a wall, and a clown incites a brawl on a cruise ship. Can’t we all just get along?
Taking care of your money maker!
07.24.19 | Patrick Pan, CMO of Lumin Skin Management for Men, discusses effective techniques for taking better care of your face, and the unique challenges of marketing skin care to men. But first, a young boy’s “Ice Cold Beer” stand goes viral and children love their Woody Huggies. John is looking for advice about poor customer service from Lowe’s.
TFG Unbuttoned: Toledo Strip Club offers free sofas, but they may be stained…
07.23.19 | A strip club near Toledo is giving back to the community by offering up their old sofas while they refurb the place. But first, The Liberty Counsel lets us know that the “Q” in LGBTQ stands for pedophilia. (The hypocrisy and false accusations never cease to amaze. Pay attention and vote.) In honor of the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11, Sotheby’s auctions off 3 tapes acquired by a NASA intern in 1976 at a government surplus sale. The tapes sold for $1.82 million. Nice ROI!
Would you return a lost wallet?
07.17.19 | After a well-deserved vacation, we are back in the studio! A global experiment with lost wallets reveals some interesting findings—like the most honest countries. Vines are considered an eyesore at a nouveau tony beach enclave, and we discuss the country that has the highest racial discrimination record when it comes to hiring. Hint: the USA does better than most when it comes to hiring practices.
TFG Unbuttoned: Who cut the cheese?
07.16.19 | A suspected felon hiding from Missouri Police reveals his hiding spot with an unfortunate loud fart, MAD Magazine does a reboot and will serve-up recycled content from its 67-year-old archive, and people are loving Mattel’s newest Barbie.
