If you feel that the news has grown more negative in recent years, it's not your imagination. From 2000 to 2019, the prevalence of "anger" words in news headlines increased by over 100%, while the prevalence of "fear" headlines increased by 150%. "Neutral" headlines, on the other hand, fell 30%.
Thank you for riding the Roca wave. Keep referring your friends since nobody deserves the junk Big News wants to feed you daily. Let's ride!
In today's edition:
Utah's bold new social media laws
Crazy March Madness betting numbers
Drink King of Canada
🔑 Key Stories
Utah’s Social Crackdown
Utah passed 2 bills that give parents significant control over their kids’ social media use
One measure requires social networks to let parents access their kids’ posts, messages, and comments
Another blocks under-18s from setting up social media accounts without parental consent
A third blocks kids from accessing their accounts from 10:30 PM until 6:30 AM, unless a verified guardian changes that setting
The laws take effect in March 2024. Some liberties groups and tech companies have opposed the bills and will likely sue to prevent their taking effect
Dig Deeper
Utah’s governor said social media use leads to “poor mental health outcomes” for kids. “We remain very optimistic that we will be able to pass [these laws] not just here in the state of Utah but across the country,” he said
Arkansas, Texas, Ohio, Louisiana, and other states are pursuing similar policies
American Killed in Syria; US Responds
A drone attack on a US base in Syria killed a US contractor and wounded 5 other Americans
The US deployed troops to Syria in 2015 to fight ISIS. It declared ISIS defeated in 2019, and left ~900 forces there to prevent its return and put pressure on Iran
The US said an Iran-backed militia sent a drone with explosives into the base, where it crashed into a building and exploded. The US responded with airstrikes that reportedly killed 8 militia members
“The United States does not, does not, I emphasize, seek conflict with Iran,” President Biden said. “But [we will] act forcefully to protect our people”
Dig Deeper
The US said that after its airstrikes, militias responded by launching 10 rockets at US bases. They reportedly caused minimal damage
Tornado Kills 26
At least 26 people died after a tornado devastated a swath of Mississippi and part of Alabama
The tornado started in western Mississippi on Friday at 7:57 PM and lasted until 9:08 PM, covering 59.4 miles with winds of up to 170 mph. According to US government data, it was the strongest, longest, and widest tornado to hit the country this year. It ranked a 4 out of 5 on the Fujita tornado scale
While the Midwest records the most tornadoes, the South accounts for more tornado deaths. Its tornadoes are more likely to hit at night, the region has more trees, and more of its people live in trailers
Trump Rallies Return
Former President Trump held the first formal rally of his 2024 campaign
A NYC grand jury is currently considering whether to bring charges against Trump in relation to a hush payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels
On Friday morning, Trump wrote that a charge would bring death & destruction” and be “catastrophic for our Country”
Trump said at his Saturday rally that the charges are “straight out of the Stalinist Russia horror show”
“Either the Deep State destroys America or we destroy the Deep State,” he said
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Dig Deeper
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🍿 Popcorn
ICYMI
Reeves it and weep: John Wick: Chapter 4 blew past its franchise record with a $73.5M opening weekend at the box office. Shazam! Fury of the Gods is still struggling
Cinderella goes hoo: The FAU Owls stunned Kansas State to advance to the Final Four. Prior to this year, they had 0 March Madness wins in program history
America the bet-iful: An estimated 68M Americans will have placed a bet on a March Madness game this year. That's about 10M more than how many bet on the Super Bowl
Wildcard
Saving private Bessy: A cow that escaped a truck and went loose in Brooklyn last week has moved into a farm in New Jersey. It was on its way to a slaughterhouse
They're g-g-g-gone! 2 tigers briefly went missing from a Georgia safari park after a tornado hit the area and tore down their enclosures
All the world's a stage: A 1655 copy of Othello lists stage actors who themselves died in a real-life tragedy. One actor was killed trying to save an actress being abducted
👇 What do you think?
Today's Question:
What’s your favorite room in your home and why?
Reply to this email with your answers!
See yesterday's results below the Wrap!
🌯 Roca Wrap
L ast week, White Claw announced the launch of its own vodka. It’s the latest expansion by the drink king of Canada: Anthony von Mandl.
Mandl was born in Vancouver in 1950. He grew up mostly in Europe but returned to Canada for college – and noticed a lack of good wine. After graduating from university, Mandly landed a wine-selling apprenticeship, then started a business importing European wines to Canada. In the company’s early days, he sold the bottles out of his car.
Using that business’ profits and taking out substantial debt, in 1981 the 31-year-old Mandl acquired a winery. He then got into the beer business, becoming Canada’s Corona importer in 1986.
In 1994, one of Mandl’s winery’s wines won best chardonnay at the International Wine and Spirits Competition. That “put the Canadian wine industry on the map,” the head of Canada’s wine growers association later said.
Yet Mandl’s attention had started to drift from wine. In the 1980s and 1990s, a new type of bottled wine drink – “wine coolers” – exploded in popularity. Mandl took note – and realized men weren’t drinking them.
Coolers were selling 60M+ cases annually, but “that was only basically to women,” Mandl noticed. “Men had to be in the closet, so to speak, to drink a wine cooler.”
“We found that up to 25% of guys didn’t particularly want to drink beer, but couldn’t be seen holding anything else in their hand,” he added.
In 1996, Mandl debuted his solution: Mike’s Hard Lemonade.
“We sold our first 10 million cases of Mike’s without spending one penny in advertising,” Mandl said in 2006. By 1999, it had 60% of the Canadian cooler market.
That year, Mike’s Hard debuted in the US and got off to another hot start. In 1999, it sold 2M cases – then 6M in 2000, 12M in 2003, and 20M in 2013. But as rivals – Twisted Tea, Four Loko, Smirnoff Ice – filled the market, it lost market share. In 2015, Canadian brewer Labatt bought the Mike’s brand for $350M.
With that cash, Mandl sought to capitalize on the trend toward low-calorie drinks. In 2013, a company called Bon & Viv launched a “spiked seltzer.” Mandl decided to give the market a go, and in 2016 his company launched White Claw, a 100-calorie hard seltzer.
Truly, another seltzer, launched that same year, sparking a seltzer boom. Nearly every drink brand – Corona, Bud Light, Smirnoff, Natural Light – soon released their own. But White Claw emerged on top, with a 60% share of the US hard seltzer market by 2020.
Mandl is now the world’s 4th-richest Canadian, with a $9B net worth. And last week, the 73-year-old announced that he’s moving into the vodka business.
In 2020, the US government modified a definition that said vodka had to be “without distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color.” The new change lets vodka be made in different ways, and Mandl says White Claw has created a way to make vodka that is smoother than any other.
White Claw Premium Vodka will hit the shelf soon in both 750 mL bottles and canned vodka sodas.
Can the beverage king seize yet more territory?
If you have thoughts, let us know at [email protected]!
🌊 Roca Clubhouse
Yesterday's Poll:
Favorite day of the weekend?Saturday: 76%
Sunday: 24%
Yesterday's Question:
Just 20 Qs!
🧠 Final Thoughts
We hope you all had a great weekend. A special shoutout to all the FAU Owls who are Roca Riders. We spoke in a class there in Roca’s infancy, and it makes us so proud to see our 20 minute marketing course Q&A inspired the team to reach the Final 4.
Have great Mondays!
–Max and Max
