Business

You-know-who is going to go apeshit. The Advocate reports: The new Moschino Barbie is a huge hit (currently sold-out!), and its commercial is breaking boundaries by featuring a young boy in it. “Moschino Barbie is so fierce!” the boy screams as he and two female friends laud the doll, done up in designer Jeremy Scott’s sleek glamour. Barbie’s cellphone goes …

The Seattle Times reports: Not one single business has turned away Seattle police Officer Jim Ritter when he’s asked them to join a program aimed at offering help and a safe haven to lesbian, gay and transgender victims of hate crimes. Starbucks announced Wednesday that it, too, is partnering with the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) Safe Place program, even though …

Oh, brother. Yahoo News reports: Dunkin’ Donuts unveiled its seasonal coffee cup design for the holidays on Tuesday, giving java drinkers a cup sporting Christmas-themed colors and the word “Joy” in red script. While many praised the release, others thought the coffee brewer’s move was a transparent jab at its competitor, Starbucks, whose own holiday cup this week sparked a …

At tonight’s Out 100 event, title sponsor MassMutual will present Freedom To Marry head Evan Wolfson the Vow to Protect Equality Award. The clip below isn’t so much of an ad as the company’s logo only appears briefly at the end after several married couples tell their stories, which are alternately amusing and touching. You’ll enjoy this.

Today is Singles Day, the biggest shopping day of the year in China. Singles Day falls on November 11th because the written date is all lonely, lonely ones: 11/11. From the BBC: E-commerce giant Alibaba has broken its own record for sales on China’s Singles Day, the world’s biggest online shopping event. About half way through the 24-hour-long sale, the …

“The old cups had snowflakes and Santa’s elves – you know – all the things you find in the bible. Now look at THIS cup. You might as well call it a ‘Satan-Sipper’.”

“You know I’m passionate about protecting the heart of Christmas! And these next couple of months really can be ‘The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!’ Funny, though, how some grinches on the Left take things too far in attempts to make all us jolly revelers look ridiculous, lumping us in the same box concerning misplaced outrage over a coffee …

Faith Driven Consumer is exploiting the ridiculous Starbucks flap to promote the launch of this year’s Shopping For Jesus campaign. They write: “Starbucks is free to design cups and other materials as they see fit, and each consumer—driven by their values and ideals—will respond based on the relative appeal of these products. For those Faith Driven Consumers and others dissatisfied …

“It’s not the Holy Grail, folks. It’s a cranberry-colored, environmentally-friendly coffee cup. I stopped drinking Starbucks coffee years ago – back when their chief executive officer said he did not want to do business with people like me – a gun-toting, Bible-believing offspring of white privilege. So I figured – why spend my hard-earned money on a company that actively …

Former Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Seblius has joined the global advisory board of Out Leadership and penned an op-ed for the Guardian in which she calls on corporations to back the Equality Act. She writes: We can’t do this without the support of the business community, which was vital throughout the marriage equality fight and will be no …

With four days left before the referendum, Apple has joined dozens of major corporations in backing Houston’s LGBT rights law. Their statement: “Apple is proud to be a part of Houston with four stores that employ over 500 people. Our stores and our company are open to everyone, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, how they …

Just opened on the Lower East Side is Gotham’s third kitty coffee shop, where you can play with (and adopt!) felines over your nonfat extra-hot no-foam light-whip semen-free mocha latte. This one also serves booze! Gothamist reports: The Lower East Side grew ten cats stronger yesterday with the opening of Koneko, NYC’s newest cat cafe located on Clinton Street. Koneko …

Actor Wil Wheaton unloaded on the Huffington Post yesterday: I’m very lucky to not need exposure or “reach” or anything like that, at least not right now and not this way. I’m also very lucky to be able to walk away from things like this because I believe it’s the right thing to do. If I’d offered this to Huffington …

Via the Denver Post: The Lakewood baker who, citing his religious beliefs, refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, is asking the Colorado Supreme Court to hear his case. On Aug. 13, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld two previous rulings and found that Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips cannot cite his religious beliefs or free-speech rights …

Tech sites are up in arms about YouTube’s coming subscription service and what it might mean for consumers. First, the basics from the BBC: YouTube is to launch a subscription service offering original, exclusive videos – including feature-length films starring high-profile vloggers. Initially only available in the US, YouTube Red will cost $9.99 (£6.50) a month and have no adverts. …

The parent companies of Budweiser and Miller, the world’s two largest breweries, have agreed to merge and create an entity that would control one-third of the global beer market. After turning down five offers, British-based brewer SABMiller accepted in principle an improved takeover bid worth $106 billion from Anheuser Busch InBev, which along with Budweiser makes Corona, Stella Artois and …

Declaring that the “battle” to see naked women has been won thanks to the internet, Playboy Magazine says they will no longer publish nude photos. The New York Times reports: Last month, Cory Jones, a top editor at Playboy, went to see its founder Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Mansion. In a wood-paneled dining room, with Picasso and de Kooning …

Also marking National Coming Out Day yesterday was Google, which gave a nod to their famed LGBT employees group.

Yesterday Coca-Cola marked National Coming Out Day with the above tweet. Stand by for an avalanche of outrage.

Russian police are investigating whether Apple’s so-called “gay emojis” violate the national ban on gay propaganda. Billboard reports: The “administrative case” under controversial laws that prohibit the propagation of homosexual (termed “non-traditional”) relationships to minors, carry fines of between $12,000 and $15,000 if an offender is convicted. The case, brought by police in Russia’s Kirov region 600 miles northeast of …