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Do you know how many pens are in the average American household? The answer is 114and Gonzalve Bich, CEO of Bic, the French manufacturing giant for pens, lighters, shaving razors, and more, is likely one of the few people in the world to know that. Thats because its his job. As the 46-year-old chief executive of the company that was originally founded by his grandfather in 1945, Bich also likely has intimate knowledge of how many disposable razors the typical American uses every year, and how many lighters we burn through as well. But hes also ready to hang it all up at a relatively young age. In December, Bich announced that he would step down by September, and make way for a new CEO to assume the companys reins. And while many business or political leaders are seemingly unwilling to retire, even at much more advanced agesPresident Trump is 78, President Biden was 82 when he left the White House, and Warren Buffett is 94, to name a fewBich, a relative spring chicken, is ready to focus his energy in other areas. From “sell more pens to “a human expression company” Bich tells Fast Company that he feels that age 46 sounded better to try something else and reinvent myself, adding, I did a lot, and I think that there are other opportunities Im equally excited about. I joined this business over 20 years ago as a family member and held a lot of different positions, he says. When I became CEO, I wanted to transform the business and needed to. Bich notes that when he assumed control of the company, nearly everything was trending in the wrong direction, and that interestingly enough, Bic never really had an overarching business strategyso, he set about implementing one, allowing that to be his legacy at the company. We never had a strategy. Every year, it was just grow, but there was no concerted plan to take the organization forward in terms of growth, Bich says. And that in terms of overall goals, he says Bic was merely looking to sell more pens, or open another factory. So, he decided to reimagine the companys verticals; and over the past several years, he was able to turn Bic from being a pen company to being a human expression company. That included strategic acquisitions in some surprising areas, such as the acquisition of Tangle Teezer, a hairbrush company, and Tattly, a temporary tattoo brand. Tattoos are an area that Bich is passionate about, and as Bic digs into the temporary tattoo space, it will offer an expanding range of offerings, including temporary tattoos that can last from a few hours to several weeks. Its that type of diversification thats helped put Bic in a better financial position and helped Bich become more comfortable with the idea of allowing the company to find a successor. Today, if I hit pause on the movie, Bic is a dynamic organization with people who are highly capable and a brand that is closer to consumers than ever, he says. Whats next Looking ahead, Bich says that he has his eye on a number of potential projects, but his immediate attention will turn closer to home. Specifically, Bich is gearing up for the launch of a foundation thats close to his heart; one that will support projects in and around local communities to help families with autistic childrenwith a focus not only on helping parents but siblings of those children too. Bich, a father of four, has an autistic child, and knows firsthand how difficult it can be for the entire family. I want to help families in our communities go through this differently, with support and structure, he says. But thats not all. I intend to also have professional activities beyond that, he says, though he remains mum on what, exactly, those could be for now. Looking back, though, Bich is bowing out at a time when his company is profitable, diverse, and growing. Im proud of our financial results; we get our investors and stakeholders a very healthy return, he says. The numbers speak for themselves: Bics latest earnings report, released February 19, showed sales and profitability increasing company-wide. As for whats next for the company, Bich says he plans to work with his successor for a smooth handoff, which should be completed in the fall. Succession is absolutely a part of business and a part of leadership, he says. As such, Bich says, he will pass the pen.
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The 2025 slate of Oscar nominees recognizes many writers, directors and actors whose scripts and performances dont necessarily reflect their own cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley, both white, co-wrote Sing Sing, a story about rehabilitation through art in a maximum security prison where the characters are almost entirely people of color. Meg LeFauve has now earned her second nomination for penning a script that gives voice the gamut of emotions surging through a young girl in Inside Out 2. Shes in her 50s. The director of Conclave, Edward Berger, its writer, Peter Straughan, and its lead actor, Ralph Fiennes, are all self-proclaimed lapsed Catholics. Yet they brought to life a political thriller set in the Vatican. The Brutalist was written entirely in English, but much of the films dialogue is in Hungarian, with two leads who are not native Hungarian speakers. Most screenwriters endeavor to craft characters outside their own backgrounds and experiences. But concerns about authentic language representation and cultural accuracy persist, and accusations of cultural appropriation and lazy research are commonplace. Emilia Pérez, for example, has been heavily criticized not only for unrealistic portrayals of gender transition but also for inauthentic depictions of Mexican culture and accents. The films director, Jacques Audiard, has even claimed his lack of knowledge of Spanish has been an artistic benefit. He says it gives him a quality of detachment to emphasize emotion rather than focus too strongly on the accent, the punctuation. His lack of interest in precise depictions of language and culture contrasts sharply with our recent research, which shows ample interest from practicing screenwriters in accurately representing dialects and accents in scripts. Wanting to get it right We surveyed over 50 current members of the Writers Guild of America, and they broadly told us that sensitivity to linguistic representation has increased since the 2010s. Several commented that theres been more commitment to hiring writers who represent the characters voices and backgrounds. Theres also more freedom to include diverse characters and worlds but a commensurate emphasis on authenticity and a higher bar for what that means, as one writer explained. Authenticity was consistently cited in our survey as a principal consideration when writing dialogue. Other concerns included scripts intelligibility, historical accuracy and believability. In most cases, screenwriters aspire to write dialogue that sounds authentic. But its not easy and often requires collaboration to get it right. Writers noted how theyll adjust their dialogue based on production needs, such as budgetary concerns, input from actors and directors, and feedback from dialect coaches and historical consultants. For example, spec scripts or noncommissioned film scripts are written before any casting or production decisions are made. The dialogue in these scripts will likely change once actors and other creatives are attached to the project. Recipes for capturing linguistic nuance In our study, we also reviewed screenwriting manuals published as far back as 1946. Manuals didnt begin to raise explicit ethical concerns, such as the use of inaccurate linguistic stereotypes in dialogue, until the 1980s. For example, many older films, such as Gone with the Wind, often used phonetic spelling in their scripts, with features such as g-dropping quittin for quitting to mark only the speech of lower-class or racially marginalized characters, despite the fact that all people, regardless of background, have accents. Writing in heavy phonetics is generally discouraged in modern screenwriting. There are practical reasons for this. Scripts are read before theyre seen and therefore must first appeal to the not so general audience of executives who buy them. As one writer explained, My script is targeted towards them. Take Trainspotting. Irvine Welshs 1993 novel about a group of heroin addicts in Edinburgh was written with heavy phonetics to capture the characters Scottish dialect: ah wouldnae git tae watch it. But the screenplay uses lines without phonetics, such as, I wouldnt have bothered. In this respect, theres a notable difference in novels and their respective adaptations. One surveyed writer avoids dialectal markers and will default to standard American English unless there is a reason not to. That doesnt mean the actors in Trainspotting should speak in an American English accent. Instead, screenwriters might simply indicate the use of language and dialect when describing the scene in a script or, as one surveyed screenwriter explained, make a note in the parenthetical that Brynn speaks with a heavy West Virginia accent to flag the work that the actor, dialogue coach, and writer will need to do together. This method is employed in The Brutalist. The film is partly in Hungarian, but writer and director Brady Corbet and his Norwegian co-writer, Mona Fastvold, wrote the Hungarian dialogue in standard English. They then used parentheticals to indicate any non-English delivery of dialogue. The films stars, Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones, worked with a dialect coach to hone their accents. Anora, which tells the story of an eotic dancer in a whirlwind romance, features characters who speak Russian, Armenian and English with varying degrees of fluency. Even though the characters frequently switch between these languages, the entire script is in unbroken English. Code-switching is simply marked with Russian, Armenian or English in the script before a piece of dialogue. But limiting oneself to standard U.S. English restricts diversity in the written dialogue itself. Some writers may want to use dialect or language to convey character authenticity on the page. Our survey respondents described this as flavor the strategic use of dialectal words or phrases to create distinct voices, with limited phonetics. Jesse Eisenberg, in his Oscar-nominated script A Real Pain, lightly blends American English with occasional Yiddish words to great effect: landed in Galveston for some fakakta reason, or crazy reason. AI chimes in Attempts at authenticity can become muddied when AI gets involved. When making The Brutalist, Corbet controversially used AI technology to refine the movies Hungarian dialogue. Some questioned the films authenticity due to the use of AI, arguing that nothing can be authentic if its achieved artificially. But the films creators, including editor and native Hungarian speaker Dávid Jancsó, defended this choice. They argued the technology actually enhanced the languages authenticity, particularly since Hungarians system of vowels and consonants is especially hard for nonnative speakers to capture accurately. Whether writers use phonetics or standard language, and whether producers use AI or dialect coaches, questions of ethics and linguistic authenticity will remain. Its important to research language choices and dialogue, and to consult the diverse speakers portrayed in scripts. These are among the many essential checks and balances that are becoming bigger parts of the filmmaking process. Chris C. Palmer is a professor of English at Kennesaw State University. Mitchell Olson is an associate professor of screen and TV writing at Kennesaw State University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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We love our social media, and more frighteningly, we love getting medical information from social media. Almost 20% of Americans say they trust TikTok as much as doctors, even though 45% of the medical information on TikTok is false or misleading. Now, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open, the problem goes deeper: Social media might be promoting the overuse of medical tests such as MRIs. In some circles, such tests have even become a luxury status symbol. What the new study found Researchers analyzed a cross-section of 982 posts from account holders with more than 194 million combined followers on Instagram and TikTok. They selected posts referring to five different tests, which have evidence of being overused and failing to improve health outcomes when used for people who dont need them. The tests included: full-body MRIs early-cancer detection egg reserve tests (which get used as a proxy for fertility) gut microbiome tests low-testosterone blood tests The researchers found that 87% of the posts mentioned the benefits of the tests, 84% had a promotional tone, and 51% encouraged the audience to go get tested. Only 15% mentioned the harms of using the tests, while about 5% minimized the harms involved. A mere 6% of the posts cited evidence, while 34% cited personal anecdotes. Overall, 68% of posters had a financial interest in the test they were promoting. [Most] posts were promotional, were from account holders with some form of financial interest in promoting the test, and mentioned test benefits. . . . These posts have the potential to mislead the public to getting tested despite the lack of evidence to support these tests and the potential for harms related to overdiagnosis or overuse, the researchers wrote.
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