Category: 3. Business

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An advert for Sanex shower gel, owned by Colgate-Palmolive, has been banned after the UK’s advertising watchdog found it perpetuated racial stereotypes. 

The television advert, which showed scenes of a black woman with irritated, dry skin, followed by scenes of a white woman with smooth skin, “could be interpreted as suggesting that white skin was superior to black skin”, according to the Advertising Standards Authority. 

The watchdog told the company to withdraw the ad after concluding that it was in breach of rules banning harmful or offensive advertising. 

In its response to the assessment that the advert “included a racial stereotype and was therefore likely to cause serious offence,” Colgate-Palmolive told the ASA it had employed a “before and after” scenario to show their product was suitable for everyone, not to make a comparison based on ethnicity. 

The US consumer goods group added that as part of its commitment to diversity, it had chosen to feature models with different skin tones and ethnicities, the ASA said.

The watchdog said that while it understood that such a message was “not the one intended,” it had concluded that the ad “was likely to reinforce the negative and offensive racial stereotype that black skin was problematic and that white skin was superior”.

Colgate-Palmolive, which also makes consumer goods like cleaning brand Ajax, Colgate toothpaste and Speed Stick deodorant, has had several adverts banned by the ASA over the past decade.

In 2018 it pulled a toothpaste ad the UK watchdog deemed misleading for claiming that a Colgate product could “instantly” repair teeth. Another Sanex advert that appeared in 2015 was also banned for making misleading claims about the product’s moisturising capabilities, after competitors Beiersdorf and Unilever lodged complaints.

Colgate-Palmolive did not respond to a request for comment.

The group is among a number of companies recently forced to pull adverts following complaints that they perpetuated racial stereotypes. 

Swiss watchmaker Swatch last week removed an advert in which a model was pulling his eyes into a slanting gesture, after Chinese social media users denounced the image as racist, prompting a drop in its share price.

In a statement posted on Instagram on August 16, Swatch apologised for “any distress or misunderstanding” caused by the ad, which it said had been immediately removed, along with all related materials.

Meanwhile last year, US packaged food giant Kraft Heinz apologised for a billboard in London depicting a newly married couple after it was criticised online for promoting stereotypes about black fathers. Kraft Heinz said at the time it would “continue to listen, learn and improve to avoid this happening again”.

The maker of ChatGPT is on the cusp of becoming the world’s most valuable private company. OpenAI is in talks to sell $6bn in shares, which would boost its valuation to $500bn, nearly half that of Tesla, according to multiple reports. The artificial intelligence startup’s stock would be sold to investors by current and former employees.

OpenAI has seen exponential growth over the past year. Investors, including Microsoft and SoftBank, have poured at least $40bn into the startup, giving it a valuation of $300bn as of Marc. Last October, it was valued at $157bn.

If OpenAI achieves a $500bn valuation, it would surpass Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which currently holds the title of world’s most valuable privately held company, at $350bn.

The reported cohort of investors now eyeing OpenAI’s share sale include three firms that have already invested: SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group and Thrive Capital. According to Bloomberg, the talks are in early stages and the numbers could change. OpenAI declined to comment.

OpenAI leads a crowded and competitive race, with the world’s most powerful companies battling to beat out one another on AI. Meta, Google, Amazon and Microsoft have all been spending enormous sums on AI development – hiring engineers and building data centers. The four companies have spent a combined $155bn on AI development in 2025 alone.

Although artificial intelligence has improved since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, OpenAI received a lukewarm reception at the debut of its latest version of the AI that underpins the chatbot, GPT-5, earlier this month. Users said the new AI model’s writing was worse and that it lacked the personality of previous iterations.

Altman has said his company is pursuing “artificial general intelligence”, or an AI that can outdo a human at most tasks, but at the recent launch, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the GPT-5 was “generally intelligent”, but was not yet able to “continuously learn”.

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AI companies have also been increasingly scrutinized by regulators for chatbots that create harmful conversations and manipulate users.

The US director of national intelligence says the UK has withdrawn its controversial demand to access global Apple users’ data if required.

Tulsi Gabbard said in a post on X the UK had agreed to drop its instruction for the tech giant to provide a “back door” which would have “enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties”.

The BBC understands Apple has not yet received any formal communication from either the US or UK governments.

“We do not comment on operational matters, including confirming or denying the existence of such notices,” a UK government spokesperson said.

“We have long had joint security and intelligence arrangements with the US to tackle the most serious threats such as terrorism and child sexual abuse, including the role played by fast-moving technology in enabling those threats.

In December, the UK issued Apple with a formal notice demanding the right to access encrypted data from its users worldwide.

However Apple itself cannot view the data of customers who have activated its toughest security tool, Advanced Data Protection (ADP), which prevents anyone other than the user from reading their files.

In order to do so, it would have had to break its own encryption methods.

“We have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services, and we never will,” it said.

Instead, Apple responded by withdrawing ADP from the UK market, and started a legal process to challenge the order. This was due to be heard at a tribunal in early 2026.

It is not yet clear whether that will continue to go ahead.

Because of the secrecy surrounding the government order, issued under the Investigatory Powers Act, it is not known whether other tech companies have also received a demand.

The messaging platform WhatsApp, used by millions of Brits, says so far it has not.

The notice, which neither Apple nor the Home Office has ever confirmed, enraged privacy campaigners, who are now cautiously optimistic about the news.

“If true, this decision is hugely welcome,” said Sam Grant from civil rights group Liberty, which along with Privacy International previously launched separate legal action against the UK government.

He told the BBC the creation of a back door to citizens’ private data would be a “reckless and potentially unlawful move from the government”.

“This would present a huge threat to our personal and national security, especially as we know it’d leave politicians, campaigners and minority groups especially at risk of being targeted,” he said.

“As long as this power exists within the Investigatory Powers Act, it remains a risk that any future government might also try to use it to create a back door into other end-to-end encrypted services we all use.”

Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, voiced similar concerns.

“The UK’s powers to attack encryption are still on the law books, and pose a serious risk to user security and protection against criminal abuse of our data,” he said.

Democrat Senator Ron Wydens said if the climbdown by the UK was true, then “that’s a win for everyone who values secure communications”.

“However, the details of any agreement are extremely important,” he added.

There is already a legal agreement between the US and UK governments – the Data Access Agreement – which allows both countries to share data for law enforcement purposes.

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 slid on Tuesday driven by tech stocks, as investors gear up for what Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell will say about the path of interest rates at a key conference later in the week.

The Nasdaq fell as megacaps lost, after having rallied for much of the year. Nvidia fell 3.5%, the biggest drop in nearly four months.

The key event this week is the Fed’s annual symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, from Aug. 21-23, where Powell’s comments will be scrutinized for any clues on the central bank’s outlook on the economy and monetary policy.

“It seems like folks are hedging a little going into Jackson Hole, thinking Powell might be more hawkish than markets currently appreciate,” said James Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group.

Interest rate futures point to a total of two rate cuts this year worth 25 basis points each, with the first expected in September, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Some market participants also expressed some concerns about AI-related stocks after OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman said they are in a bubble in an interview with “The Verge” late last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 10.45 points, roughly flat, to 44,922.27, the S&P 500 lost 37.78 points, or 0.59%, to 6,411.37 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 314.82 points, or 1.46%, to 21,314.95.

Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, said some investors are taking some profits from tech stocks and rotating into other sectors. “(This move) spills into the broader market because of those stocks‘ weight in major indices,” he added.

Still, six of the S&P 500 sectors rose. Real estate led the pack, up 1.8%, helped by better-than-expected housing data. On the other hand, technology and communications services lost over 1.9% and 1.2%, respectively.

A Reuters poll showed on Tuesday that the S&P 500 will end 2025 just below current near-record levels, at 6,300 points, reflecting tempered optimism amid ongoing concerns over the economic impact of President Donald Trump’s global tariffs and uncertainty surrounding Fed rate cuts.

The blue-chip Dow briefly hit a record high on Tuesday, aided by a rise in Home Depot’s shares after the retailer kept its annual forecasts intact.

Home Depot rose 3.17% despite missing quarterly results estimates, while rival home-improvement chain Lowe’s also gained 2.18%.

Earnings from Lowe’s and big-box retailers Walmart and Target later this week are now in focus as investors await more insight on the health of the American consumer.

“Consumers are still not really spending at full speed ahead, they’re a little bit cautious,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.

“They’re waiting to see the full results of the tariffs’ impact on the upcoming holiday sales in a couple of months from now.”

Intel jumped roughly 7% after the chipmaker got a $2 billion capital injection from Japan’s SoftBank Group.

Palo Alto Networks rose 3.06% after the cybersecurity company forecast fiscal 2026 revenue and profit above estimates.

Medtronic lost 3.13%, after the company said it would add two new directors to its board after Elliott Investment Management took a large stake in the medical-device maker.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.06-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 205 new highs and 62 new lows on the NYSE.

The S&P 500 posted 13 new 52-week highs and one new low while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 56 new highs and 88 new lows.

These sections now provide that wind and solar facilities that begin construction after July 4, 2026 must be placed in service before January 1, 2028 to qualify for the credits. The OBBBA also precludes “prohibited foreign entities” from claiming the credits and requires projects (not just wind and solar) that begin construction after December 31, 2025 to satisfy certain “material assistance rules” to qualify for the credits (together, these rules are colloquially named the “foreign entity of concern,” or “FEOC,” rules).²

On the heels of the OBBBA, President Trump signed Executive Order 14315 (the “Executive Order”) directing the Treasury to release updated beginning-of-construction guidance to sharpen the teeth of the OBBBA’s new sunset dates for the clean electricity production and investment tax credits for wind and solar projects. The Executive Order also directs the Treasury to release guidance to implement the FEOC rules within the same time frame.

On August 15, 2025, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) and the Treasury released Notice 2025-42 (the “Notice”), which provides the revised beginning-of-construction guidance envisaged by the Executive Order. The Notice applies solely for the purposes of the wind and solar beginning-of-construction deadline introduced by the OBBBA.³ The Notice:

• most importantly, eliminates the 5% spend safe harbor, except for low-output solar facilities (those with an output of 1.5MWac or less, determined on an integrated operations basis)
• is not retroactive and provides a small period of grace to wind and solar facilities for which construction has not begun before September 2, 2025
• applies solely for the purposes of the beginning-of-construction deadline for wind and solar facilities for which a credit under section 45Y or 48E would be claimed, and does not purport to affect beginning-of-construction guidance generally
• otherwise generally applies existing guidance relating to on- and off-site physical work of a significant nature, the continuity safe harbor, and the transfer rules.

The highlights of the Notice are described in more detail below.

Scope and applicability of the notice