All Caught Up: Costco chains, Dolly Beauty, That Substack Article
The Dogue Days of Summer
Wow, what a week on Substack with… discourse about Substack! There’s a longer take here to be written about the impulse to perform the cultural criticism persona and I started to unravel this on notes.
I think a lot is going on about well – anxiety about being a part of the culture and performing a type of cultural knowledge when we create culture by just… being a part of it. If you want me to go long, lmk 🙂
This week's picks include what tweens get from Sephora, Big Sean’s book and demure fall.
Christina’s weekly scroll –
Who asked for a live-action Lilo & Stitch???
The Dogue Days of Summer c/o Vogue. I would die for Demi Moore’s micro chihuahua.
Club Pillar, the world's first sober-forward, members-only dating app, is live.
QAnon followers are doubling down following Trump's assassination attempt.
Surprise! The sneaker resale market is completely broken!
Supplements companies are trying to compete with Ozempic by offering “natural” alternatives.
That said, GLP-1 drugs may help stave off some cancers.
Gamergate was the internet—and it’s everywhere now. Separately, I can't believe that was 10 years ago...
“As influencer culture and political culture become ever more intertwined, it should be no surprise that the desire to maintain masculine status—and anger at its decline—can be found in many of the ways the right codes itself.”
Addison Rae confirmed via IG that the lyrics to "Diet Pepsi" are cross gold chain.. not Costco chain 💔
Nikita’s weekly scroll –
How tweens learn beauty-speak on TikTok and parrot it back to us.
Whew, this one. Why do we keep sorting women into digestible subcultures? Why do we perform ‘girlhood’ trends, and what do they have to say about the cultural context of these trends – aka women’s rights being under attack all over the world.
Also can we talk about Brat Summer into Demure Fall? Something something trad wives counterculture don’t have the bandwidth but…are you picking up what I’m putting down?
Literally cannot do a Google search without adding Reddit in front of it so it would follow that Reddit is seeing publishers flock to the platform.
I met my boyfriend the old-fashioned way - on Bumble. Buuuuut, MAUs are way down for dating apps as a whole. Interesting tensions to note here are that apps that rely on mass scale - like Tinder aren’t doing well, but niche-community-oriented apps are doing better. The future is slow, intentional growth.
Women’s sports teams are inking seven-figure sponsorship deals!
Headspace released free meditations for people navigating fertility challenges. Really like this idea.
A smart analysis of the Real Real’s ‘canal street fakes’ campaign. I like how the writer unpacked the symbolic value of luxury goods and what subverting the logo means through the lens of power.
Big Sean wrote a quasi-self-help-y book?
I love the discourse that Joe’s tweet sparked. Is very online copywriting writing for people who won’t go outside and see it? Is it for other marketers? Do we bring URL judgments to IRL versus IRL judgments to URL? [h/t @/raewitte]
Has FOMO been replaced by a reluctance to participate in real life at all.
Evangelicals(!) are rallying around Kamala.
Dolly Parton is launching a beauty brand.
People are talking a lot about that Nike campaign, I kind of don’t have a strong opinion on it personally. I feel like the amount of discussion it sparks is a small symbol of success. But, better marketing alone will not solve some intrinsic brand problems.
Whole Foods co-founder opened a… luxury wellness spa/clinic. They’re hiring a Pickleball pro!
Leadership shuffle at Starbucks. They needed someone from a QSR background, not sure why they went the CPG hire route. Notably, the new CEO used to be a CMO! At a time when the CMO role is as fickle as ever and or being eliminated entirely. All I know is that if my hiring made a company’s market cap go up by $20B you could not get me to shut up ever.
Zuck got Daniel Arsham to sculpt his wife—more of this from billionaires, less tweeting.
More notes on cultural creation, which I loved from Morning. Stop thinking of culture as performance, think of it as a state of being.
I am not a cultural critic. Perhaps we need to differentiate commentator from critic.
˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚Little Treat Corner ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
Christina’s weekly report:
READING: Lots of emails…
EATING: Blue Cornflower Griddle Cakes!
PLAYING: A little bit of everything at the moment~
OBSESSING: Finally started watching House of the Dragon and I’m addicted. Matt Smith <3
RECOMMENDING: House of the Dragon!!! Sorry for being so late to the party!
TREATING: BRB! I’M HEADED TO LONDON!
Nikita’s weekly report:
READING:
’s book, finally!EATING: This concoction of a bowl I made: chili/lime chicken, crispy rice, avocado, cucumber, roasted corn, lettuce, cilantro, peanut sauce…
PLAYING: Emily in Paris. I’m not proud of it.
OBSESSING: The Ladder app. Their paid media got me…
RECOMMENDING: Flying home to visit your family.
TREATING: I bought a new pair of ballet flats, lol.
If you want to share a link, a tip, or just chat, leave a comment or email us at hello@blankprojects.co.