All Caught Up: the 4B movement, numbing out, online monoculture

Is this a trend, or is it just the economy?

and

Nov 15, 2024

Instead of insightful cultural commentary, today I write to you with a crick in my neck and excitement about something I can’t talk about just yet. Since we have 1,300+ words ahead and 30+ links to get through, I’ll leave you with that.

This week's picks include Mattel’s WICKED mistake, Mayonnaise Blanc and Dolce & Gabbana x SKIMS.

Christina’s weekly scroll –

Donald Trump won the presidency with major backing from the "manosphere," aka popular bro-ey podcasts/streams, bypassing traditional media and connecting directly with a new (mostly conservative/apolitical) generation. Shoutout online monoculture!
The 4B movement has been spreading (seriously) since Trump's victory.
Nikita Walia
covered this back in June and… here we are again.
Latto for Backwoods (!!!) Backwoods is synonymous with hip-hop, so it's cool that the brand flew Latto out to the Dominican Republic for this XXL-sponsored factory tour.
ICYMI: Mattel made a WICKED (🥁) mistake and listed a porn site on its Wicked doll packaging. In a statement, Mattel said:
“Mattel was made aware of a misprint on the packaging of the Mattel ‘Wicked’ collection dolls, primarily sold in the U.S., which intended to direct consumers to the official WickedMovie.com landing page. We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this. Parents are advised that the misprinted, incorrect website is not appropriate for children. Consumers who already have the product are advised to discard the product packaging or obscure the link and may contact Mattel Customer Service for further information.”
Precious Moments x Online Ceramics. Wow, talk about an unexpected collaboration. (Yes, I copped.)
This Louis Vuitton storefront renovation/takeover is nuts. More architectural delights here.
Marc Jacobs is the guest editor for the December issue of American Vogue, the first time (!) the magazine has ever named a guest editor in its history. There are two covers featuring Kaia Gerber, one by Steven Meisel and one by Anna Weyant (both major in their own right). I cannot believe how far Anna Weyant has come in such a short period of time!!! From 56 Henry to Vogue... Amazing.
Dolce & Gabbana x SKIMS with… KOURTNEY KARDASHIAN! (lol) Launching 11/19.
Vulture commemorated the 25th anniversary of Pokémon: The First Movie with an interview with Veronica Taylor, Ash's original voice actress. Leonardo DiCaprio allegedly almost voiced Ash?
The Tara Yummy x Wildflower social rollout was super cute but the print feels like a miss, imo. r/tarayummysnark agrees.
25 years later, The Blair Witch Project is finally being released as producer Mike Monello always intended. Here are the details for the curious.
The world is her oyster… Vaquera x Marc Jacobs starring Addison Rae!
Gotta try the new Sweetgreen fries. They're air-fried in avocado oil (i.e. not a seed oil lmao) and served with pickle ketchup and/or garlic aioli sauce. Yum!!!

Nikita’s weekly scroll –

A few years ago, Target was the hot retailer on the block. Walmart’s latest play is creator brands. 14 large creator brands launched between 2022-2024, and 57% of them launched at Walmart.

Net-net, they know that Gen Alpha watches a lot of YouTube and will bully their parents into purchasing stuff at Walmart for them. I found this quote particularly interesting, and I would love to know how this came to be:

“This generation's brand awareness and purchasing influence are reshaping retail dynamics. Unlike previous generations, Gen Alpha sees no contradiction between "cool" creator brands and traditional retail destinations like Walmart.”
LVMH invested in Our Legacy, which says a lot of things to me. One, it says I need to stock up on OL before the quality goes to shit, and two it shows that LVMH is making a longer play into aCcEssiBlE LuXurY. The revenue figures here are staggering, with Our Legacy growing from €8M to €40M. The money will primarily go to expanding Our Legacy’s retail footprint. Supposedly.
Lots of chatter about brands being in service of culture, but very little about how to do that. Enjoyed this from
Ana Andjelic
, about how brands can build a full cultural machine.
There have been several brands that have popped up in the beauty space in the last 3-5 years that are all about fewer, better products. But, growth metrics are at odds with that – when the beauty industry launches products on an almost weekly cadence, how can brands with this thesis introduce novelty? Scent. Keeping my eyes on a fav, Soft Services. They did a fabulous D.S.& Durga Buffing Bar collab a few weeks ago, and just now dropped a scented version of their Theraplush SKU.
Is this a trend, or is it just the economy? Of course, logos are getting less logo-y and more IYKYK!
A16z unveiled a parenting-focused AI thesis.
More money, more problems? Not exactly. New research is putting that commonly cited stat - that ROI on earnings and happiness diminishes after about $80K under scrutiny.
I think people were hungry for Beyoncé or Rihanna to launch a wig and wig-care line. Legendary marketer Bozoma St. John is self-funding that ambition.
Look. We badly need a new marketing playbook for legacy media. Idle linking is not working, and as unvetted information spreads like a virus, legacy media needs to catch up fast. Perhaps there are things to learn from the playbook of the wider creator-internet. Relatedly, as much is being/will be written about this election, there’s a real need to look at the constant, ambient nature of right-wing messaging.
Feels like this is a headline every few years, and rightfully so. Yale is offering a course on Beyoncé and her legacy – examining her career from her self-titled album to Cowboy Carter.
I’ve been exploring versions of this in my own study and writing for a while – but this article about why everyone is just numbing out just hit like a gut punch. I would highlight the whole thing if I could, but man, oh man. In an absence of meaning and a higher purpose, people are just… tuning out.
As a follow-up – the always excellent Further & Further crew released this report about life feeling heavy – and I think it’s worth reading, even as a reminder. I think there’s a lot of chatter in our marketing space about young people having multiple careers, and all of that – glossing over kinda shitty macro trends. Let’s not!
Sean Monahan
released two reports. I found myself screenshotting a lot.
I personally would love to know what the vibes are in-house at dating apps right now because there’s a new trend piece about the decline of dating apps… daily. I feel like at this point… there has to be a plan in-house, right?
Another case of: is this a trend, or is this the economy? Young people are moving to more rural places and cities are seeing attrition – Brooklyn lost 8% of its youth population! Perhaps a welcome change to the electoral map, but idk man. Let's start calling things what they are. How many people want to live in the TikTok-ified, ghoulish high-rise version of what NYC is becoming? I feel like most of the “stuff” going on can be explained by the rent. Follow the rent, follow the trend.
TikTok is double, tripling down on their US business. Seems like they have ambitions of being an everything app in the US – probably the best analog would be WeChat? They’ve filed trademarks for a BNPL and some kind of review/location/recommendations app.
PolyMarket CEO’s home was raided. So that is happening!
Peter Do is out at Helmut Lang. Wanted to see where this would go, but fashion waits for no one.
And to end on a lighter note: Heinz launched a mayo wine and The Four Seasons launched pajamas.