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Issue 8


Bad news for fans of content-adjacent jam this week, as it emerges that Netflix has pulled out of the Duchess of Sussex’s luxury consumer products brand ‘As Ever’. Apparently, the company’s curation of high-end pantry goods was no longer cutting the mustard. And also the mustard costs $28.
And so Netflix has withdrawn its financing, we’re told, after the 360 commercial strategy of “filming Meghan preparing light-bites in someone else’s kitchen for her hairdresser to smile awkwardly at” somehow didn’t result in an overnight unicorn. Which is surprising, when you think of it. One of my favourite scenes in the Steve Jobs biography is that breakthrough moment when he and Mike Wozniak work out how to tie up some lavender stems in rustic twine. And it’s not like Meghan didn’t make all the right noises, either. The business started, apparently, when she finally asked herself the fundamental question (and here I quote directly from As Ever’s website): “What would it take to scale my fruit spreads into something I could share more broadly?” It’s a challenge that has plagued cornershops, mid-market grocery stores, and village church fundraisers for decades, to be fair. How can we disrupt marmalade? And should we pivot away from quince?
Mientras Meghan vuelve con energías renovadas para responder a esas preguntas —y más le vale: Variety afirma que Netflix tiene actualmente 10 millones de dólares en existencias de As Ever sin vender—, he aquí otros cinco negocios a los que la duquesa podría dedicarse.
«As Ever es más que una marca: es un lenguaje del amor», afirma la web de la marca en su página «Sobre nosotros». Lo cual resulta extrañamente poético, un poco como cuando Meghan acuñó el nuevo verbo «hacer de anfitriona», que creo que significa «hacer conservas con agresividad pasiva». La duquesa también posee, sin duda, la cadencia necesaria en su forma de hablar cotidiana para ganar literalmente decenas y decenas de dólares como exitosa poeta en las redes sociales.

Harry’s first book, Spare, was the fastest and best-selling non-fiction book of all time. But it was a little heavy. Perhaps Meghan could also become a talented ghostwritten author, via a sequel that brings things up to the present in zany style (Spare 2: Let’s Get This Party Started!). Or maybe a cookbook — Spare Ribs: How to Cook for Your Family (and also continue to profit off their legacy even while saying you hate them!)

La verdad es que se le daba bastante bien.

Because perhaps, you know, with their international outlook, good looks, interesting connections, and entrepreneurial mindsets, Meghan and Harry might be exactly what the one of the nation’s last world-recognised institutions needs right now, lending a sense of glamour, style, soft power, humanity and visible jawlines to the Royal Family in the way that, dare I say it, Princess Diana herself once did, and never — and this is a small point — having flown to the private island of a convicted sex offender or providing government trade secrets to the Chinese. Plus you’d probably get a castle.

Ah, espera.

Previous Issue
Issue 8

Don't miss next week
Get The Friday Five and the week's best stories straight to your inbox.

Bad news for fans of content-adjacent jam this week, as it emerges that Netflix has pulled out of the Duchess of Sussex’s luxury consumer products brand ‘As Ever’. Apparently, the company’s curation of high-end pantry goods was no longer cutting the mustard. And also the mustard costs $28.
And so Netflix has withdrawn its financing, we’re told, after the 360 commercial strategy of “filming Meghan preparing light-bites in someone else’s kitchen for her hairdresser to smile awkwardly at” somehow didn’t result in an overnight unicorn. Which is surprising, when you think of it. One of my favourite scenes in the Steve Jobs biography is that breakthrough moment when he and Mike Wozniak work out how to tie up some lavender stems in rustic twine. And it’s not like Meghan didn’t make all the right noises, either. The business started, apparently, when she finally asked herself the fundamental question (and here I quote directly from As Ever’s website): “What would it take to scale my fruit spreads into something I could share more broadly?” It’s a challenge that has plagued cornershops, mid-market grocery stores, and village church fundraisers for decades, to be fair. How can we disrupt marmalade? And should we pivot away from quince?
Mientras Meghan vuelve con energías renovadas para responder a esas preguntas —y más le vale: Variety afirma que Netflix tiene actualmente 10 millones de dólares en existencias de As Ever sin vender—, he aquí otros cinco negocios a los que la duquesa podría dedicarse.
«As Ever es más que una marca: es un lenguaje del amor», afirma la web de la marca en su página «Sobre nosotros». Lo cual resulta extrañamente poético, un poco como cuando Meghan acuñó el nuevo verbo «hacer de anfitriona», que creo que significa «hacer conservas con agresividad pasiva». La duquesa también posee, sin duda, la cadencia necesaria en su forma de hablar cotidiana para ganar literalmente decenas y decenas de dólares como exitosa poeta en las redes sociales.

Harry’s first book, Spare, was the fastest and best-selling non-fiction book of all time. But it was a little heavy. Perhaps Meghan could also become a talented ghostwritten author, via a sequel that brings things up to the present in zany style (Spare 2: Let’s Get This Party Started!). Or maybe a cookbook — Spare Ribs: How to Cook for Your Family (and also continue to profit off their legacy even while saying you hate them!)

La verdad es que se le daba bastante bien.

Because perhaps, you know, with their international outlook, good looks, interesting connections, and entrepreneurial mindsets, Meghan and Harry might be exactly what the one of the nation’s last world-recognised institutions needs right now, lending a sense of glamour, style, soft power, humanity and visible jawlines to the Royal Family in the way that, dare I say it, Princess Diana herself once did, and never — and this is a small point — having flown to the private island of a convicted sex offender or providing government trade secrets to the Chinese. Plus you’d probably get a castle.

Ah, espera.

Previous Issue
Issue 8

Don't miss next week
Get The Friday Five and the week's best stories straight to your inbox.