🦑 Squid Game Merch is Flying Off Shelves

Image: Netflix

Since the globally popular Squid Game’s debut, long-established print and runway model Jung Ho-yeon, who depicts North Korean defector Kang Sae-byeok in the show, has seen her Instagram follower count jump from 410,000 to… wait for it… over 19 million.

This popularity also translates to merch...

• Sales of white slip-on shoes from Vans have increased 7,800%.
• Global searches for retro-inspired tracksuits (+97%), red boiler suits (+62%), white numbered T-shirts (+35%), and even the color teal (+130%) have also spiked.

⏱️ Late to the punch: Google Trends shows Halloween costumes inspired by Squid Game – like all of the merch mentioned above – are in growing demand. But even though Netflix has added more Squid Game T-shirts and hoodies to its online shop than any other franchise, there are no uniform-adjacent pieces – and no plans to stock any before the holiday (per Fortune).

• There was also a two-week lull between the show’s release and the debut of any official show merchandise.

✋ Yes, but: This fits with Netflix’s M.O. – for now. The company launched its first official merch shop earlier this year, and its consumer products division is set up to be more nimble than a traditional mass-market strategy.

• Media companies, licensees, and retailers traditionally place bets on products that’ll arrive months later at critical times, like holidays. But it’s difficult to predict demand and people’s tastes, and this approach often leads to items going unsold.

💰 Zoom out: Netflix’s slowing subscriber growth has caused it to look elsewhere to sustain growth (like video games), and merch can be a big business. For instance, Disney brought in $4.2 billion from merch and licensing last year.

👁 Looking ahead... Netflix and Walmart announced the "Netflix Hub at Walmart" yesterday, a partnership aiming to sell branded gadgets, clothes, music, and games from some of Netflix’s biggest hits exclusively in Walmart’s online store.

🎁 Navy engineer Jonathan Toebbe and his wife Diana were arrested over the weekend after allegedly selling top-secret information on nuclear submarines – hidden in everyday items like a peanut butter sandwich – to someone they thought represented a foreign government.

What you need to get WellBefore you know it

You know us DONUT peeps love a company that gives back.

That’s why we’re extra-pleased to introduce y’all to WellBefore, a medical supplies company that boasts (well, not really… they put their heads down and help people. Just let us boast for them in peace, geeze, okay ?) – sorry, the little voice in our head got us distracted. Where were we ?

Oh yeah, giving back is one of the main pillars WellBefore was founded upon.

• Since its inception, the company has donated 1.2 million medical supplies to 195 nonprofits, impacting an estimated 1.44 million people. Cue DONUT boast:

So the next time you, your business, theater club, improv group, etc., places an order for masks, other PPE, incontinence supplies, medical supplies, or personal care products – you know just who to call.

Oh yeah – and they have top rated masks at awesome prices. For instance, their KN95, which has a 4.85 out of 5.00 rating (with a hefty 5,300 reviews) and starts at just $1.19 each with a hassle-free, no-contract subscription. And for your kids, they also have petite versions of the KN95 mask in multiple sizes, also starting at $1.19.

Explore the supplies you need to get WellBefore you know it.

+P.S.: If you have an organization, nonprofit, or even just an individual or family that should be included in WellBefore’s donation program, submit their information here and they’ll reach out for more details.

Image: Susan Walsh/AP

• Their plan is to kill two birds with one stone by cracking down on tax evasion and helping to pay for Democrats’ multi-trillion-dollar budget reconciliation proposal.

🤿 A deeper dive… Under the Treasury Department’s initial proposal in May, banks and credit unions would be required to submit annual reports on accounts with at least $600 in transactions or a balance above that much at any point during the year.

• The plan is framed as an attempt to narrow the “tax gap” between the amount of taxes paid and the amount owed (estimated at $600 billion per year). It would generate an estimated $460 billion in tax revenue over ten years.
• Theoretically, the new reporting requirements would help the IRS verify the details behind sources of income that don’t come with a simple W-2 (such as owning a business or rental property).

The IRS wouldn't receive details on each account’s individual transactions but, rather, gross yearly totals. There wouldn't be an additional burden on taxpayers since the added responsibilities would fall to banks and other financial institutions.

✋ Yes, but… The new reporting obligations would drive up costs for those institutions, likely resulting in more fees being passed along to customers.

• In addition, many lawmakers have expressed concern over the policy’s impact on relatively low-income people, as well as the potential for sensitive financial data to be exposed.

👁️ Looking ahead… After pushback from banks and Republicans, House Democrats late last month scrapped the $600 threshold and said they’re working towards a larger number (likely $10,000, per Bloomberg).

• They also revealed plans to exempt direct-deposited paychecks from the reporting requirements and discussed the possibility of excluding mortgage payments.

🎁 Southwest Airlines canceled more than 360 flights yesterday – or 10% of its schedule – bringing the airline’s total to more than 2,000 canceled flights since Friday.

Overwhelmed ? Anxious ? Need a mental hug ?

Close your DONUT hole. Breathe in today. Breathe out yesterday. The world is better with you in it, and we need you to be your best self.

Know what else we need ? You to subscribe to Positive DONUT.

This 100% free weekly newsletter from the DONUT aims to find and elevate good in the world that you won’t hear about anywhere else, as well as provide simple tools to improve our collective mental health.

• We’re talking mantras and mindfulness practices, journaling prompts, exercise and dance videos, music playlists, and more – all things to help bring some joy and community into our day-to-day lives.

Positive DONUT hits inboxes around lunchtime each Tuesday – and you especially don’t want to miss today’s edition.

Sign up for free.

💧 Hydro Homies

The hydrogen tablet (left); Image: UT Austin

According to some estimates, as much as one-third of the world’s population doesn’t have access to clean drinking water, and up to half of the population could live in water-stressed areas by 2025.

• Currently, the primary way to purify water around the world is to boil it or pasteurize it to remove pathogens. But these processes take energy, time, and work to complete, which can be impractical for those who lack the proper resources.

📝 Details, details… The Texas scientists’ new hydrogel tablets generate hydrogen peroxide that works with activated carbon particles to attack and neutralize essential cell components of bacteria in the water.

• The process requires zero energy, neutralizes pathogens at an efficiency rate of more than 99.999%, and doesn’t create any harmful byproducts.
• The hydrogel tablets can be easily removed once the process is complete, leaving behind one liter of safe drinking water.

💬 What they’re saying… “Our multifunctional hydrogel can make a big difference in mitigating global water scarcity because it is easy to use, highly efficient and potentially scalable up to mass production,” noted Guihua Yu, an associate mechanical engineer professor and co-author of the research article.

Images: NBC News

Rustam Nabiev recently completed an awe-inspiring summit of Mount Manaslu in Nepal, successfully reaching its peak located 8,163 meters above sea level.

• The most impressive part ? Rustam is a double amputee who hiked the entire way by pulling his body along with his hands.

🏆 Sweet victory... Rustam, who lost both of his legs in the 2015 Omsk barracks collapse, welled up from emotion at the top of the peak: “It was like a mission I had to finish. For all those people who were watching me,” he told NBC News.

Where in the human body is the vast majority of your blood produced ?

A) Bones
B) Heart
C) Liver
D) Kidney

(keep scrolling for the answer)

Access exclusive rewards and even an all-expenses-paid round trip to Austin, TX, just for sharing this newsletter.

Simply:

1. Copy your unique referral link.👇
2. Post said link on social media, drop it in your group chat, put it in your Tinder bio, etc.
3. Watch the rewards roll in.

No link found!

A) Bones

Bone marrow – the soft, spongy material in the center of bones – is responsible for producing ~95% of the body's blood cells.