Weekly Roundup: Top stories of the year

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Happy Friday MARKETING-INTERACTIVE readers and welcome back to the weekly roundup. With 2024 coming to an end, this week, we look back at the top stories of the year. A dash of favourable lawsuits, a spoonful of humorous furniture ads, and a sprinkle of unusual in-flight entertainment, 2024 was definitely a melting pot of jaw-dropping stories.

If you need a quick summary, welcome to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's weekly roundup, a podcast and article feature in which we take you through the biggest stories of the week, and in this case, the year.

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1. BDS Malaysia thanks McDonald's Malaysia for suing them

In March, BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) Malaysia thanked McDonald's Malaysia for making the group famous. The remark came from a press statement in which BDS Malaysia shared its upcoming mediation session with the fast-food brand.

In a statement, the NGO said, "BDS Malaysia also thanks McDonald's because its lawsuit against us has helped make BDS Malaysia famous not only in Malaysia but also around the world." The fame, added BDS Malaysia, helped to publicise its campaigns to boycott Israel and companies linked to it. In tandem, it said that the lawsuit had made Malaysians and consumers worldwide even angrier towards McDonalds.

Read more here.

2. AirAsia brand sentiments soar after CEO jokingly 'punishes' passenger on flight

Capital A's CEO, Tony Fernandes, is no ordinary leader and regularly makes personal appearances on the group's airline, AirAsia's, fleet of planes to engage with customers personally. In February, Fernandes boarded a flight to help flight attendants hand out free drinks to customers.

During his rounds, the CEO noticed that one of the passengers had brought outside food onto the plane, something that is in violation of the airline's regulations. In a TikTok video posted by Fernandes, he can be heard jokingly saying, "Report, report. She brought illegal food."

Fernandes' joke took the Internet by storm with sentiments regarding him shooting up to 78.6% positive and 0% negative, up from 66.1% positive and 16.9% negative, according to media intelligence firm CARMA.

Read more here.

3. IKEA taps on uniquely Singaporean humour in hilarious National Day post

Hyper-localised memes are certainly a Singaporean thing, and IKEA is jumping on the bandwagon in honor of Singapore's 59th birthday on 9th August with a hilarious social media post.

In the post, IKEA featured its KLIPPAN 2-seater sofa and its GLADOM tray table as well as its STOENSE low-pile rug. On the left, it shows the items in red and white with the caption, "me on 9 Aug". On the right, it shows the same items, but this time, in yellow, black and blue, some of IKEA's iconic brand colours.

"We wanted to hijack the trend we’ve seen often on social media of people comparing themselves before and after an event. At the same time, we wanted to tap into the humor of something so uniquely Singaporean: the passionate surge of national spirit that only happens during the season of our nation’s birthday," said a spokesperson from The Secret Little Agency which worked with the brand on the post.