Business

Multiple releases allegedly sent from Adidas are fake, according to the retailer.
The hoax campaign announced a new fashion line and that a Cambodian worker-turned-whistleblower was named co-CEO.
The Yes Men, an activist group that has a history of creating spoofs to draw attention to how corporations respond to social issues, confirmed it was behind the releases.

Pedestrians walk by a large Adidas logo inside the German multinational sportswear shop.
Miguel Candela | SOPA Images | LightRocket via Getty Images

Several press releases allegedly sent from Adidas about a Berlin Fashion Week launch, its treatment of workers abroad and other topics related to its business structure were fake, according to the company.
“We’re not commenting on these fake emails/releases,” said Claudia Lange, the retailer’s vice president of external communication, in an email to CNBC.

One faked release said that Vay Ya Nak Phoan, who was described as a former Cambodian factory worker and union leader, had been appointed co-CEO to ensure ethical compliance in manufacturing.
The Yes Men, an activist group that has a history of creating spoofs to draw attention to how corporations respond to social issues, confirmed to CNBC it was behind the releases along with other groups. The groups hope Adidas signs onto the Pay Your Workers labor agreement, which advocates for garment worker pay and the right to organize.
“In the wake of several scandals, it seems like it would be a great thing for them to turn over a new leaf,” said a member of The Yes Men identified as Mike Bonanno.
Two of the faked press releases claimed Adidas was launching new clothing called REALITYWEAR from celebrities Pharrell Williams, Bad Bunny and Philllllthy. The hoax release announcing the Berlin Fashion Week debut on Jan. 16 claimed it was part of a push for a renewed focus on workers’ rights and material sourcing.
Adidas outlines its stance on workers’ rights on a “Workplace Standards” page dedicated to the issue, spelling out its code of conduct for worker health, safety, pay and “responsible sourcing.”

The Guardian first reported that The Yes Men were behind the campaign.
The multi-layered Yes Men campaign also referenced the now-ended partnership with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West who has come under fire in recent months for anti-Semitic statements, and included a “response” from the company, providing fabricated responses to points raised in the first releases.
— CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge contributed reporting

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Young people have always perplexed their elders. Today’s youngsters are no different; indeed, they are baffling. They have thin wallets and expensive tastes. They prize convenience and a social conscience. They want their shopping to be at once seamless and personal. They crave authenticity while being constantly immersed in an ersatz digital world. As these youngsters start spending in earnest, brands are trying to understand what these walking paradoxes want and how they shop. The answers will define the next era of consumerism.Their absolute numbers are formidable. The European Union is home to nearly 125m people between the ages of ten (who will become consumers in the next few years) and 34. America has another 110m of these Gen-zs and millennials, a third of the population. The total annual spending of households headed by American Gen-zs and millennials hit $2.7trn in 2021, around 30% of the total. Although they are the group with the least to spend per head today, by 2026 American Gen-zs (those born between 1997 and 2012) may make up the majority of the country’s shoppers.A good place to start dissecting the psyche of the young consumer is to consider the economy that has moulded them. At the older end of the scale, today’s 30-somethings came of age in the midst of the global financial crisis of 2007-09 and the ensuing recession. Their younger peers had a bit more luck, beginning their careers in years when tightening labour markets had pushed up wages. Until, that is, the covid-19 pandemic upended many of their lives.These two big shocks, of the sort that their parents were mostly spared in a more benign economic era between 1990 and the mid-2000s, have fostered pessimism among the young people who experienced them. A study by McKinsey, a consultancy, published in 2022, found that a quarter of Gen-zs doubted they would be able to afford to retire. Less than half believed they would ever own a home. Uncertainty about the future may be encouraging impulsive spending of limited resources in the present. The young were disrupted more by covid than other generations and are now enjoying the rebound. According to McKinsey, American millennials (born between 1980 and the late 1990s) spent 17% more in the year through to March 2022 than they did the year before. Despite a short-term rebound from the dark days of the pandemic, their long-term prospects are less good. American millennials and Gen-zs have accumulated less wealth than Gen-x or Boomers at the same age. Easy access to means of spreading payments may also encourage splashing out. According to another McKinsey survey from October 2022, 45% of Europeans in their teens and early 20s intended to make some kind of splurge in the next three months whereas 83% of baby boomers, born before 1964, said “no” to such profligacy. Forrester, a market-research firm, found that most users of “buy now, pay later” apps are a few years either side of 20. Megan Scott, a 20-year-old student from London, speaks for many of her peers by admitting that, when it comes to shopping, she has no restraint—until, she chuckles, the bill arrives. In many ways youngsters’ shopping habits—like their lives—are defined by the “attention economy”, where buying stuff has been made far easier without a trip to the shops. A proliferation of social media means that there are many new ways of attracting consumers’ eyeballs. Most young shoppers never knew a world without smartphones. More than two-thirds of 18- to 34-year-old Americans spend four hours or more on their devices each day. A heightened expectation of convenience comes with being raised in the age of Airbnb, Amazon and Uber. Young people want their shopping to be totally hiccup-free. The light-speed online world also appears to have lowered tolerances for long delivery times. A study by Salesforce, a business-software giant, found that Gen-z Americans are the likeliest of all age groups to want their groceries delivered within an hour. They are more likely than the rest of the population to use their phones to pay for shopping, according to Forrester, and are put off if the range of payment methods is limited. These “always-on purchasers”, as McKinsey has christened them, often shun a weekly shop for quicker fixes of everything from fashion to furniture. They like subscriptions, frequently favouring shared access to products rather than outright ownership. This has buoyed online-rental sites (like Rent the Runway for fashion) and streaming services. Investors may have fallen out of love with Netflix but Gen-z has not; the company remains one of the most popular brands among that age group in America.The internet has also changed the way the young discover brands. Print, billboard or television advertising has given way to social media. Instagram, part of Meta’s empire, and TikTok, a Chinese-owned video-sharing app, are where the young look for inspiration, particularly for goods where looks matter such as fashion, beauty and sportswear. TikTok’s user-generated videos can propel even tiny brands to speedy viral fame. Such apps are increasingly adding features that allow users to shop without ever leaving the platform. According to McKinsey, by 2021 six in ten Americans under the age of 25 had completed a purchase on a social-media site. Some are following the Chinese model of “social commerce” by mixing live-streamed entertainment with the chance to shop. For the time being, though, young Western consumers prefer to make purchases outside social media, and often scour sites like Amazon for bargains from the brands they have discovered. According to a survey by Cowen, an investment bank, spending on subscriptions to Prime, Amazon’s home delivery and entertainment service, trails only phone bills, food and travel in young people’s shopping baskets. Physical shops are not entirely shunned, as long as the experience feels personal and, ideally, integrates virtual and physical worlds. Nike, for example, is successfully targeting young buyers by allowing them to design their own trainers on its website, to pick up in person after attending an in-store dance class, and then encouraging them to tag the brand in a review on TikTok or Instagram.The new world of shopping has also allowed the young to take a more informed view of the companies that they buy from. The attention economy’s information overload has not dulled youngsters’ senses. On the contrary, it appears to have made them hypersensitive, especially to any brand that pretends to be something it isn’t. Edelman, a public-relations firm, found that seven in ten Gen-zs across six countries fact-check claims made in adverts. Citing survey data that show some teens have stopped using certain brands because of their shady ethics, Forrester has taken to calling young consumers “truth barometers”. Brands that do not match up to the long list of requirements had better watch out. If they do not get what they want and how they want it, youngsters are happy to try something new. According to another McKinsey survey from October 2022, nine in ten Gen-z and millennial Europeans had changed how they shopped, where they shopped or the brands they bought in the previous three months. How the young shop is clearly in flux. What they buy, too, is changing. What older generations consider discretionary, such as wellness and luxury, have become essentials. Self-care is all the rage. On the hunt for clothing that will set them apart, the young are turning to posh brands at an ever more tender age. According to Bain, a consultancy, the average Gen-z shopper makes their first luxury purchase when they are 15; their 30-something counterparts were 19 when they entered the luxury market. Some buy posh items as a hedge, believing that such items can hold value even during tough times. Helpfully, these can now be traded easily on second-hand sales platforms such as Vinted and Vestiaire Collective. More broadly, young consumers profess to be more values-driven than previous generations. Research by Forrester shows that this attitude is even more common among teenagers and 20-somethings than among slightly older counterparts. Some of these values are centred around identity (race, gender and so on). Others stem from things the young care about, such as climate change. kpmg, an accounting firm, found that the Gen-z crowd across 16 countries worry more about climate change and natural disasters than any other generation. According to a survey by Credit Suisse, a bank, the young in emerging markets are more fretful still. Revealed preferences paint a more nuanced picture. On the one hand, Forrester has identified Patagonia, a premium outdoor-clothing brand with a record of green do-goodery, as a Gen-z favourite in the rich world. The young are the most likely of all age groups to try—and stick with—alternative proteins such as oat milk and plant-based meat alternatives. But not at any price. Credit Suisse found that on average, consumers globally will pay an average premium of 9% for more environmentally friendly grub. Young consumers in the rich world are less willing to pay premiums for these alternatives than their counterparts in emerging markets.Youngsters’ appetite for instant gratification is also fuelling some distinctly ungreen consumer habits. The young generation has virtually invented quick commerce, observes Isabelle Allen of kpmg. And that convenience is affordable because it fails to price in all its externalities. The environmental benefits of eating plants rather than meat can be quickly undone if meals are delivered in small batches by a courier on a petrol-powered motorbike. Shein, a Chinese clothes retailer that is the fastest in fast fashion, tops surveys as a Gen-z favourite in the West, despite being criticised for waste; its fashionable garments are cheap enough to throw on once and then throw away. Like everyone else the young are, then, contradictory—because, like everyone else, they are only human. ■ More

“One of the drivers of inflation was very much the supply shock related to global supply not being able to keep up with global demand … as swiftly as was required,” Cormann told CNBC’s Joumanna Bercetche at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“And so, China coming back into the global market in earnest and supply chains functioning more efficiently will help bring inflation down. Clearly, this is overwhelmingly positive.”

OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann on Monday said China’s reopening is “overwhelmingly positive” in the global fight to tackle surging inflation.
“We certainly very much welcome the easing of Covid related restrictions in China,” Cormann told CNBC’s Joumanna Bercetche at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“Over the short term, it will come with challenges and we’re seeing heightened levels of infection which are likely to have some short-term impacts,” he added.
“But over the medium to longer term, this is a very much a positive in terms of making sure that the supply chains function more efficiently and more effectively, making sure that demand in China and indeed trade more generally resumes in a more positive pattern.”
China abruptly ended most Covid controls in early December, leading to a surge in infections among the population of 1.4 billion.
Beijing reported on Saturday that almost 60,000 people with Covid had died in hospital since the country dropped its strict Covid restrictions last month, a sharp increase from previous figures.
China’s reopening, alongside a flurry of positive data surprises, has been cited by economists in recent weeks as a reason to upgrade their previously gloomy forecasts.

“One of the drivers of inflation was very much the supply shock related to global supply not being able to keep up with global demand … as swiftly as was required,” Cormann said.
“And so, China coming back into the global market in earnest and supply chains functioning more efficiently will help bring inflation down. Clearly, this is overwhelmingly positive.” More

As captain of the South Korean soccer team and a forward for English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, Son Heung-min knows a thing or two about becoming a pro athlete.
In an interview with CNBC, Son shared his top tips on going pro and handling the pressures that come with it.

“Sleep well, eat well and do what you need, you know, like stay in the training ground when you need six hours, seven hours, eight hours,” he told CNBC’s Arabile Gumede in a video interview Friday.
Even if distractions are everywhere, the sport should always be the priority, Son believes.  
“You have so many options, like, I don’t know, like video games, or like, that you always want to do more, you know, like, playing with friends,” he said. “I think you should be always thinking the number one thing is football.”
Son left South Korea at age 16 to join the German soccer club Hamburger SV, with whom he made his first appearance in a top European soccer league in 2010. After then spending some time playing for Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen, he switched to London-based Tottenham in 2015 for £22 million ($26.9 million).
Son also addressed some of the biggest lessons he has learned from his career so far.

“I think the lessons are, just don’t try to chase your happiness,” he told CNBC. Many people constantly search for happiness, he says — when in fact it can come from things right in front of you like your family or job, Son believes.  

Soccer star Son Heung-min shares top tips for making it as a pro athlete the biggest lessons he’s learnt so far.
Photo by James Williamson – Ama | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

One of the key moments when this became clear to him was just before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when he got injured and was not sure if he would be able to lead the South Korean soccer team into the top international tournament. Son had a fracture around his left eye, which forced him to play with a protective face mask.
“I was there so I was playing with the mask,” he said. “I think it’s just a lesson that I learnt because I think positive. […] Happiness is the most important thing.”
Another way Son says he deals with the pressures of being a pro athlete is by falling back on his family and making sure he talks to them about his mental health.
“I’m sad, they’re sad, we are happy and we’re all happy,” he says. “You can always share the feelings; you can always go with the family.” More

Since 2020, the richest 1% of people have accumulated close to two-thirds of all new wealth created around the world, a new report from Oxfam says.
Taxes must be increased for the ultra-rich as a “strategic precondition to reducing inequality and resuscitating democracy,” Gabriela Bucher, executive director of Oxfam International said.

Skyline in lower Manhattan.
Gary Hershorn | Corbis News | Getty Images

Over the last two years, the richest 1% of people have accumulated close to two-thirds of all new wealth created around the world, a new report from Oxfam says.
A total of $42 trillion in new wealth has been created since 2020, with $26 trillion, or 63%, of that being amassed by the top 1% of the ultra-rich, according to the report. The remaining 99% of the global population collected just $16 trillion of new wealth, the global poverty charity says.

“A billionaire gained roughly $1.7 million for every $1 of new global wealth earned by a person in the bottom 90 percent,” the report, released as the World Economic Forum kicks off in Davos, Switzerland, reads.
It suggests that the pace at which wealth is being created has sped up, as the world’s richest 1% amassed around half of all new wealth over the past 10 years.
Oxfam’s report analyzed data on global wealth creation from Credit Suisse, as well figures from the Forbes Billionaire’s List and the Forbes Real-Time Billionaire’s list to assess changes to the wealth of the ultra-rich.
The research contrasts this wealth creation with reports from the World Bank, which said in October 2022 that it would likely not meet its goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030 as the Covid-19 pandemic slowed down efforts to combat poverty.  
Gabriela Bucher, executive director of Oxfam International, called for taxes to be increased for the ultra-rich, saying that this was a “strategic precondition to reducing inequality and resuscitating democracy.”

In the report’s press release, she also said changes to taxation policies would help tackle ongoing crises around the world.
“Taxing the super-rich and big corporations is the door out of today’s overlapping crises. It’s time we demolish the convenient myth that tax cuts for the richest result in their wealth somehow ‘trickling down’ to everyone else,” Bucher said.
Coinciding crises around the world that feed into each other and produce greater adversity together than they would separately are also referred to as a “polycrisis.” In recent weeks, researchers, economists and politicians have suggested that the world is currently facing such a crisis as pressures from the cost-of-living crisis, climate change, and other pressures are colliding. More

Many millennial couples in India no longer see the appeal of having wedding guest lists with hundreds of people.
Despite couples trimming the size of their weddings, they’re spending just as much.
Major spending for venues, food and decorations remain the norm, said one wedding planner.

Wedding ceremonies are held differently even within India with some couples choosing big religious ceremonies, while others lean toward a more intimate celebration.
Rvimages | E+ | Getty Images

Indian weddings are big business. But some of them may not be quite so big this year as they once would have been.
The celebrations are famously known for being week-long extravagant affairs filled with elaborate religious ceremonies, glamorous outfits, singing and dancing, and of course lots of jewelry. 

Many couples in India get married from November to February, which is viewed as an auspicious period in Indian culture.
According to Nikkei Asia, trade body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) estimated that 3.2 million weddings would happen during November to December of last year.
Celebrations in that month would have generated 3.75 trillion rupees ($46 billion) for businesses in the wedding industry, a steep increase from 2.5 trillion rupees in 2019, Nikkei Asia reported based on data from CAIT.
It’s therefore no surprise that lavish Indian weddings often draw up to 1,000 guests — and that comes with a hefty price tag.
However, the mindsets of millennials in India have changed, and many are starting to believe that less is more. 

Couples are moving away from “big, fat” Indian weddings toward intimate celebrations with a slimmer guest list, said Tina Tharwani, co-founder of Mumbai-based wedding planning company Shaadi Squad. 
They have chosen to give guests a more personalized experience at the event, rather than making it a competition with their peers on who can throw a biggest wedding, Tharwani told CNBC.

Smita Gupta, founder of Delhi-based wedding planner Wedlock Events, agreed.
“The success of weddings obviously depends on the guests, but it’s not the number of guests nowadays,” Gupta said. “They are more worried [about] the guest experience.”
“If you call 600 guests to your wedding, it’s just extra money that you’re paying,” said 29-year old Manika Singh. She is getting married in December 2023 and plans to invite only up to 250 guests for the main celebration, which will be held at the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand. 
Renting the venue for two days will set the couple back by 1,500,000 rupees ($18,400), or about 600,000 rupees ($7,400) more than what it was before the pandemic and higher inflation. 

Feeding people isn’t cheap

But cutting her guest list came with a caveat. 
To accommodate her parents’ desire for a big wedding, Singh will also have a lunch reception for 300 guests at the family home a day before.
“You won’t even know half of the people, they’re just acquaintances of your parents,” she said, adding that this is a common practice that couples often succumb to to pacify their families.
Despite couples trimming the size of their weddings, they’re spending just as much. Even with a shorter guest list, spending big on the venue, food and decorations remains the norm, Gupta said. 
Singh agreed, adding that inflation has driven up the cost of food, and rice prices “have gone through the roof.” 

Rising inflation has caused many soon-to-wed couples to spend a large amount of their budget on food.
Jupiterimages | The Image Bank | Getty Images

Although India’s retail inflation dipped from 5.88% in November to 5.72% in December, cereal and milk prices continue to rise, according to Reuters.
Singh anticipates food being the costliest item at both the lunch reception and wedding celebration in December. 
That affirmed her decision to scale down the number of guests at her wedding but spend more on her outfit and jewelry instead, which is costing her 700,000 rupees ($8,600) 
“More people means less luxury at your wedding,” Singh said, “We can splurge on that instead of feeding people.”

Pricey gold? No problem

Gold prices hit eight-month highs on Tuesday, with spot gold trading at $1,877 an ounce. 
But that isn’t stopping soon-to-be married couples from buying gold for their big day, Ramesh Kalyanaraman, executive director at Kalyan Jewellers said. 
High costs haven’t necessarily deterred people from making big purchases, but they may wait a couple of weeks to see if prices drop, Kalyanaraman said. “It is not a drop” in sales, he said, but “a delay in their purchases.”

According to the World Gold Council, India’s gold industry contributed 1.3% to the country’s GDP and is dominated by small and medium enterprises.
Bhawna Jain / Eyeem | Eyeem | Getty Images

And that was no different during Covid. 
Kalyanaraman said the ticket size for wedding jewelry was much higher during the pandemic, because people were unable to spend money on entertainment or rent big marriage halls due to government restrictions. 
“Gold jewelry is not a fashion accessory; it is actually a part of every custom and ritual,” he said. 
Kalyanaraman said that in some Indian cities, parents start buying gold for their daughters from birth and will continue adding to the collection as they grow older. Many of those pieces are then worn on their wedding day.
Singh said she has a different stance and won’t be decked out in expensive jewelry. She will purchase only one set of new jewelry, and use another from her engagement ceremony. For the rest of it, she is “just going to wear fake jewelry.”

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The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation after two commercial airplanes narrowly avoided a collision at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Friday.
The FAA said a Boeing 737 operated by Delta Air Lines stopped its takeoff around 8:45 p.m. when air traffic controllers noticed another American Airlines aircraft crossing the runway.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a tweet Sunday that it is also investigating the incident.

Grounded Delta Airlines planes are parked at gates at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 11, 2023, in New York.
Yuki Iwamura | AFP | Getty Images

The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation after two commercial airplanes narrowly avoided a collision at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Friday, a spokesperson confirmed to CNBC.
The FAA said a Boeing 737 operated by Delta Air Lines stopped its takeoff around 8:45 p.m. when air traffic controllers noticed another American Airlines aircraft crossing the runway. The Delta flight “stopped its takeoff roll approximately 1,000 feet” from the point where the American Airlines Boeing 777 had crossed, according to the FAA’s preliminary analysis.

The agency told CNBC the information is subject to change.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a tweet Sunday that it is also investigating the incident.
Flight watcher @xJonNYC noticed the near miss and shared audio of the tense air traffic control exchange on Twitter Saturday.
“Delta 1943 cancel takeoff plans! Delta 1943 cancel takeoff plans!” one person can be heard saying.
“Rejecting,” another person responds.

A representative for Delta Air Lines said Flight 1943 was heading to the Dominican Republic, but after the aircraft stopped on the runway, it returned to the gate and customers deplaned.
The flight was delayed overnight due to crew resources and departed the next morning.
“The safety of our customers and crew is always Delta’s number one priority,” the representative said in a statement. “Delta will work with and assist aviation authorities on a full review of flight 1943 on Jan. 13 regarding a successful aborted takeoff procedure at New York-JFK. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and delay of their travels.”
A spokesperson for American Airlines said the company will defer to the FAA for comment.

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The food in your kitchen cabinets may not be what it seems.
“I guarantee you any time a product can be passed off as something more expensive, it will be. It’s that simple,” Larry Olmsted, author of “Real Food/Fake Food,” told CNBC.

Fraudsters motivated by economic gain secretly infiltrate the global food market through a variety of means, including counterfeits, dilutions, substitution and mislabeling.
This not only harms consumers’ wallets, but it also puts public health and safety at risk.
Some estimates say food fraud affects at least 1% of the global food industry at a cost as high as $40 billion a year, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
“We might not know the overall impact of food fraud because so much of what fraudsters do is hidden from us and has been for centuries.” Kristie Laurvick, senior manager of the foods program at the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention, told CNBC.
Even the FDA says it can’t estimate how often this fraud happens or its economic impact.

“Be aware of products that you put in you, on you or plug in the wall,” John Spink, director of the Food Fraud Prevention Think Tank, told CNBC.
Between 2012 and 2021, the most common type food fraud was lying about an animal’s origin and dilution or substitution, both ranking at 16% of recorded incidents by food-safety monitor Food Chain ID.
For example, dilution could entail adding a cheaper vegetable oil to an expensive extra virgin olive oil.
“If I drink scotch, I couldn’t tell you [the] difference between a $50 bottle and a $5,000 bottle. So, I know I could be deceived at that point,” Spink said.
The Food Fraud Prevention Think Tank suggests five questions a consumer can ask themselves to reduce their vulnerability to product fraud.

What type of product is it? Take extra caution with any product that you put on your body, ingest or plug in the wall.
Can you recognize the difference between products?
Do you know the retailer or supplier? Do you trust them?
Are you shopping online? If so, did you find the online supplier from a reliable source?
Complain. Is the supplier legitimate? If so, they will want to know.

Watch the video above to learn more about the different types of food fraud, how the industry is preventing risk, what consumers can do and where fraud in the olive oil, spices and seafood markets may be lurking.

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