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Chocolate-flavored stamps launched by Belgian postal service

After edible print ads, here’s the new insanity: Chocolate stamps (that allegedly taste and smell like exactly the original Belgian chocolate) have been launched by the Belgian postal service to celebrate the country’s popular national delicacy.

I already see as chocolate- and LSD addicts stand in line at the Belgian post offices to “choose the traditional mailing instead of emailing”. But attention: Probably it could be as addictive as eating chocolate or using drugs! :-)

Did you know that two actors who played “Marlboro Man” died of lung cancer?

The ‘Marlboro Man’ was a character, commonly featured from 1954 to 1999 depicted as a rugged cowboy, conceived by legendary advertising executive, Leo Burnett in 1954 to popularize filtered cigarettes (which at the time were considered feminine) of Philip Morris, the company owning Marlboro, and as a good advertising character, he built a huge fan base for the brand.

However, it turns out that the life in “Marlboro Country” was not so joyful. Namely, two of the actors who portrayed ‘Marlboro Man’ died of lung cancer, a disease caused by cigarette smoking.

Wayne McClaren (appeared in the cigarette advertisement in the year 1976 and died of lung cancer in 1992) and David McClean, who also died of lung cancer in the year 1995, were both hired as actors, and forced to smoke sometimes up to five packs of cigarettes a day for commercial filming and photoshoots for print ads. It’s no wonder that after only ten years of resigning as the character, both had passed away.

McClean’s family sued Philip Morris after his death claiming they held responsibility. Wayne McClaren lived for many years after being diagnosed lung cancer and promoted smoking-cessation campaigns.

According to the source of this article, it is said that the first owner of the company which produced Marlboro cigarettes, Phillip Morris too, died of lung cancer. However, the validity of this statement is questionable because the cause of Phillip Morris’s death was not mentioned in biographies available online. But the possibility remains there…

So, draw every smoker a lesson from this story!

Apple trademarks “distinctive design” of Apple Stores

As Patently Apple reports, the Cupertino, CA-based tech giant has trademarked the design and layout of its retail stores, nine years after the current look was first introduced in Pasadena, California, the way Steve Jobs and Ron Johnson, the company’s former head of retail, envisioned it.

The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office this week published the tech giant’s latest trademark certificate, which covers the “distinctive design & layout” of the 400 stores worldwide.

The trademark consists of the design of the typical Apple Store layout, with wide tables in the middle and benches around the sides where customers can try out the latest products, as well as the Genius Bar helpdesk at the back.

American Airlines rebranding

(via stereo-typo)