Victoria"s Secret Staff Think The Chinese Are Spying On Them

Stories about the shambolic Victoria’s Secret fashion show – which is slated to take place Tuesday Nov. 28 in Shanghai – just keep getting weirder.

Chinese bureaucrats have so far refused to cooperate with the show’s producers and planners, denying visas to Gigi Hadid, one of the show’s highest-profile models, and Katy Perry, the US pop superstar who was slated to be the musical guest.

The Communist Party has also inexplicably refused to issue press passes and visas to members of the western media who were supposed to travel to China to cover the event.

Already, we imagine the marketing brass at L Brands have learned their lesson, and that this will be both the first, and the last, VS fashion show held in China.

But as if all this weren’t enough, the New York Post is now reporting that the show’s organizers believe the Chinese government is spying on them. Which, of course, is probably true, given Chinese authorities’ well-known penchant for monitoring foreigners.

The Post says e-mails of VS show staffers and production crew are apparently being monitored by Chinese authorities.

TV and media-industry insiders who are desperately trying to figure out what’s going on amid the production chaos are getting frustrated by messages from colleagues in China simply saying that they can’t speak frankly about the issues with the government because their communications are being watched.

Perry had her visa application declined because she once showed support for Taiwan (which is in an independence struggle with China) during a Beijing concert. Hadid’s was denied because of a picture her sister, Bella Hadid, published on Instagram that the Chinese public deemed offensive. Plus, fellow Angel Adriana Lima’s visa application has been imperiled by an unknown “diplomatic issue.” Meanwhile, a host of other models have also had their visas denied.

Many fashion bloggers have also been denied visas, and TV producers have discovered that they need permits to shoot outside of the Mercedes-Benz Arena, where the show, which is slated to air on CBS later this month, is set to take place.

As one source put it, “If you’re going to China you want to show that you’re in China!”

The surveillance is apparently making it difficult for the show’s organizers to find replacements for the models who have been denied entry. Harry Styles has already been booked to fill in for Perry.

“They want to discuss what’s going on as far as replacements for those denied visas and alternative arrangements, but they have to be tight-lipped because it seems that the government is watching their e-mails,” said a source.

With more than a week to go before the show, we can only imagine what fresh entanglements will crop up as the date draws nearer.
 

"It"s A Nightmare" - Chinese Bureaucrats Are Killing The Victoria"s Secret Fashion Show

The marketing brass at L Brands are probably starting to regret their decision to hold this year’s Victoria’s Secret fashion show - expected to have the largest audience in the show"s history - in Shanghai.

As the New York Post reports, the fashion show, which takes place in two weeks and will feature  Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio and Karlie Kloss, among other internationally recognized supermodels, is transforming into an international diplomatic crisis.

Chinese government officials are refusing to work with the show’s producers and grant the necessary expedited visas so fashion bloggers and other media types who’re supposed to cover the show, according to the New York Post.

Bureaucrats have also stubbornly resisted other seemingly routine requests, like approving shooting locations for the TV crew.

We’re told fashion bloggers booked to cover the glitzy event are canceling their trips because the Chinese government won’t give them visas; TV producers are grappling with bureaucrats over permission to shoot outside the Mercedes-Benz Arena, where it’s being held (“If you’re going to China, you want to show that you are in China!” fumed an insider); and Victoria’s Secret staffers in China can’t send out press releases because they have to be approved by government officials.

 

“It’s just a nightmare for all the media trying to cover [the show],” said a jet-setting insider. “These TV companies are spending a fortune on it, and they don’t even know what they can shoot when they get there."

 

We’re told that producers charged with coordinating the coverage for various outlets are “on the verge of nervous breakdowns."

The show, which will be broadcast on CBS, has mostly been held in the US since 2001, but the popular purveyor of ladies’ undergarments has had a run of bad luck in the past few years since trying to host the show overseas, the Post reports. Last year’s show (which was held in Paris) was also plagued with production issues caused by a terror attack and Kim Kardashian’s high-profile robbery.

For that event, every journalist covering the event had to submit to background checks and provide government ID, and security was so tight that cars dropping off VIP guests were only allowed to stop momentarily outside the venue, so celebrities had to circle the block before being dropped off.

This year, they’d be lucky to get a visa.

Daimler One-Ups Elon Again; Reveals Electric Semi-Truck Weeks Before Tesla

Weeks before Tesla was supposed to shock the world by revealing their battery-powered semi-truck, Mercedes has once again one-upped the Silicon Valley darling by beating them to the punch.  As Bloomberg points out, earlier today Daimler revealed their E-Fuso Vision One prototype, an electric semi-truck that can carry 11 tons of cargo some 220 miles before having to recharge. 

Daimler AG is jumping the gun on Tesla Inc. by showing off a battery-powered heavy-duty truck weeks before the California electric-car maker’s own planned unveiling, in a sign of the growing rivalry between the companies.

 

The E-Fuso Vision One prototype can carry 11 tons of cargo as far as 350 kilometers (220 miles) before recharging, the world’s largest maker of commercial vehicles said Wednesday in a statement. The truck, which would be geared to shorter intra-city trips, could go on sale within four years in Europe, Japan and the U.S.

 

The truck is part of plans by Daimler’s Fuso brand to add electric and hybrid options across its range of trucks and buses. The announcement steals a march on Tesla, which plans to show off a concept truck on Nov. 16. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk engaged in a Twitter tussle with Daimler, a former Tesla shareholder, about electric-vehicle spending last month. Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz is also ramping up a line of battery-powered luxury cars to challenge Tesla models.

Of course, this comes as Elon was recently forced to delay Tesla"s much anticipated reveal celebration due to his Model 3 "production hell."

Tesla Semi unveil now Nov 16. Diverting resources to fix Model 3 bottlenecks & increase battery production for Puerto Rico & other affected areas.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2017

As we recently pointed out (see: Porsche And Mercedes Plot Musk Offensive With "Anything Tesla Can Do, We Can Do Better" Strategy), Tesla, once the only real electric car game in town, is suddenly facing an onslaught of competition from major auto OEMs who have already figured out how to weld steel on an assembly line.

Daimler AG plans to spend $1 billion to start production of Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles at its Alabama factory, setting the world’s largest luxury-car maker up to battle with battery-car specialist Tesla Inc. on its home turf.

 

The German automaker will build its fifth battery plant globally and create more than 600 jobs in the region, the company said Thursday in a statement. The Alabama factory will assemble electric sport utility vehicles, taking on Tesla’s Model X and making Stuttgart-based Daimler the first European company to assemble plug-in autos in the U.S.

 

“We’re celebrating our 20th anniversary at our production facility in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and we’re taking this as an opportunity to expand the operation and further fuel growth,” production chief Markus Schaefer said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “We’re very confident for future growth in the U.S. in the long-term. ”

 

Daimler’s investment shows the carmaker’s shift to electric vehicles is taking shape. The German manufacturer is also in talks to expand its Denza joint venture with BYD Co. in China with additional models, Chairman Wang Chuanfu told a group of reporters in the southern Chinese city on Thursday.

As Sanford Bernstein analyst Max Warburton recently noted, companies like Mercedes and BMW are pursuing an "anything Tesla can do, we can do better" strategy.

The company is pursuing an "anything Tesla can do, we can do better" strategy, Sanford Bernstein analyst Max Warburton said in a recent note to investors. "Mercedes is convinced it can match Tesla battery costs, beat its manufacturing and procurement costs, ramp up production faster and have better quality. It is also confident its cars will drive better."

Of course, the only question now is when will Tesla shareholders finally realize that their monopoly is slowly coming to an end?

Bacon Boom Busts

Great news America - After soaring to the highest price in three years, wholesale prices for pork bellies, the cut used for making bacon, are heading for a 25% loss over two weeks.

As Bloomberg notes, increased demand had more than doubled prices since August, but now bellies are so expensive that the high costs are stemming demand, according to David Kruse, president of Commstock Investments Inc.

And while the average joe may see his so-called pocketbook better off as pork prices plunge (or will obviously purchase more bacon), the above-average-joes (who drive their Beamers and Benz"s) are facing an ever increasing cost for their luxury lifestyles...

The premium gasoline that fuels luxury cars made by Mercedes-Benz to Audi has always been more expensive than regular, but the difference keeps getting bigger.

As Bloomberg points out, premium costs almost 50 cents a gallon extra, nearly doubling in the past four years. And don’t expect the trend to change -- environmental rules limiting sulfur that kicked in this year could make the higher-octane fuel scarcer and even more costly in the future.

So, it seems very clear that consumer confidence is soaring because bacon prices are plunging, not Trumptopian hope...

Never mind the collapse in real wages.