Clarence O. Smith, who convinced skeptical mainstream advertisers of the power and worth of the Black female consumer market as a founder of Essence, the first general-circulation magazine directed at Black women, died on April 21. He was 92. Mr. Smith, who lived in Yonkers, N.Y., died in a hospital …
Betty Boop has arrived on Broadway, nearly a century after she first boop-oop-a-dooped her way onto the big screen. “Boop! The Musical,” like the “Barbie” and “Elf” films that preceded it, imagines a transformational encounter between an anthropomorphic character and the real world (well, a fictional world full of people). …
Mikalah Harp’s weekly Whole Foods run starts in the produce section, dutifully winds through the store and ends with the best part. On a shelf at the far end of the store is her favorite treat: Olipop’s grape-flavored “prebiotic” soda. This category of beverage, which appeared seemingly everywhere almost overnight, …
It’s hard to be ubiquitous in Tokyo, one of the largest cities in the world, but Shohei Ohtani has found a way. The Los Angeles Dodgers star seems to be everywhere: on billboards, on products, in television ads and news and entertainment shows and, of course, on the field when …
In a room full of cubicles, workers in headsets read from their computer screens, addressing callers who dialed a 1-800 number. They have a script. “Were you or your loved one sexually abused by Sean ‘Love’ Combs, known as Diddy, Puff Daddy and P. Diddy?” “If the abuse occurred at …
Cassandra Orakpo had enough. Too much, in fact. Shopping on her phone had become so easy it had turned into a bad habit. She bought a cake decorating kit, thinking she’d make her own birthday cake, and never even took it out of the box. She has at least 80 …
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity TV doctor nominated by President Trump to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, has been a relentless promoter of controversial private insurance plans for older Americans. “I’d be signing up,” he told viewers, directing them to a call center in an episode that is still available on …
Last month, the Golden Globes drew 10.1 million viewers. No, wait, maybe 9.3 million. The very same night, “Sunday Night Football” attracted 28.5 million people. Scratch that, perhaps it was 25.8 million. The “Yellowstone” finale? Possibly 11 million — or 8 million? Ratings have long been the currency of the …
Here is my annual critical ranking of the Super Bowl commercials. This is the pregame edition, with all the available national ads that I could track down; the list will be updated after Sunday’s game. The trends so far? Nothing controversial, as you would expect, but also — and perhaps …
The most awards at the 67th annual Grammys went to Kendrick Lamar, who swept the biggest song prizes with his Drake diss “Not Like Us” on his way to five trophies. But the story of the night was Beyoncé, who after losing album of the year four previous times, won …