Leo DiCaprio knows the rules: \u201cNever work with children, never work with animals, never work with someone better looking than you.\u201d But on the cover of this month\u2019s Vanity Fair, Leo commits triple-career-suicide by appearing side by side with Knut, who is an animal, a bona-fide child star and perhaps the most handsome male on the planet.<\/p>\n
Once again Knut has stolen the show. \u00a0A resident of the Berlin zoo, Knut, who is a five-month-old polar bear cub, is quickly becoming the most famous celebrity in the world. Each month, tens of thousands of visitors are drawn by his fluffy white cuteness, including Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who recently skipped out on the European Union\u2019s 50th<\/sup> anniversary party just for a chance to see Knut.\u00a0 (Italians are such suckers for beauty.) \u00a0Folks can\u2019t get enough Knut, and marketers are lining up for a piece of the action.\u00a0 There\u2019s a Universal Music CD, \u201cKnut the Little Cuddle Bear.\u201d\u00a0 The Tribeca Film Festival just signed Knut as their worldwide icon.\u00a0 There\u2019s T-shirts, a 32-page coffee table book, a bunch of websites, and film and musical projects in the works.\u00a0 It\u2019s all so adorable.<\/p>\n But not everyone finds this so cute.\u00a0 Several animal rights groups are distressed that a captive animal, raised by humans, is becoming the icon of the green movement. \u00a0The Berlin Zoo has responded to this criticism by hiring German ad agency Scholz & Friends, who have created the campaign, \u201cRespect Habitats. \u00a0Knut\u201d.\u00a0 It\u2019s intended to be a sort of Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval to be licensed only to companies committed to environmental preservation. \u00a0Soon you may see Knut staring out from your cereal box or on your kid\u2019s soccer ball. \u00a0Knut free-range chicken.\u00a0 Rain forest Knut nuts. \u00a0Hemp suits by Knut. \u00a0Oh, the possibilities.<\/p>\n The future looks bright for Knut, at least for the next few months.\u00a0 By the end of summer, that little fur-ball will weigh over 100 pounds. \u00a0Soon he\u2019ll stand almost 10 feet tall and weigh a half-ton, with razor sharp claws and 4-inch-long teeth. \u00a0Will the world still love him then?\u00a0 Or will he become the next Gary Coleman or Jerry Mathers? \u00a0We\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n Until then, green marketing is all the rage, and nothing is as cute as Knut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leo DiCaprio knows the rules: \u201cNever work with children, never work with animals, never work with someone better looking than you.\u201d But on the cover of this month\u2019s Vanity Fair, Leo commits triple-career-suicide by appearing side by side with Knut, who is an animal, a bona-fide child star and perhaps…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[522,702,961],"class_list":["post-448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2","tag-green-marketing","tag-knut","tag-polar-bear"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}