

Discover more from After School by Casey Lewis
Kate Moss’s daughter Lila Moss is YSL Beauty's newest ambassador; Greg from 'White Lotus' made a brilliant runway cameo at Eckhaus Latta's NYFW show; and Blue Ivy wore a Tupac Shakur hoodie to the Super Bowl.
ECOMMERCE STARTUP TEMU AIRS FIRST SUPER BOWL SPOT—TWICE, adweek
Shein competitor Temu made its Super Bowl debut airing its spot twice — which cost them a cool $14 million bucks. How did a company that is “just five months old” and “one of the youngest brands to ever air a Super Bowl ad” do it? It’s owned by Pinduoduo, the Chinese e-commerce giant.
'HE GETS US' IS BRINGING JESUS TO THE SUPER BOWL. CAN IT CONVERT VIEWERS TO FOLLOWERS?, adweek
Not likely. Over a third of Gen Z is unaffiliated with any religion, but rather than drawing young people toward the church, the flashy He Gets Us campaign — bankrolled by the famously anti-LGBTQ CEO of Hobby Lobby — has the potential to simply remind lapsed Christians why they left.
HOW THE LANGUAGE OF THERAPY TOOK OVER DATING, nyt
In the ’50s — or even the ’80s — it would be hard to imagine that saying ‘I see my therapist regularly’ would have status, but now, taking care of one’s mental health carries social currency. And that’s not always a good thing.
“This is part of the competitive advantage,” said Paul Eastwick, a psychology professor at the University of California, Davis, who researches romantic relationships. “Instead of being like, ‘I’m 5-11, and I can bench press some large amount,’ it’s like, ‘I have grappled with the challenges of my childhood, and I’ve thought deeply about my issues,’” he said.
WITH THERAPISTS IN SHORT SUPPLY, COLLEGE STUDENTS COUNSEL EACH OTHER, wsj
What could go wrong?
CONSPIRACY THEORISTS THINK WALKABLE CITIES ARE REALLY OPEN-AIR PRISON DYSTOPIAS NOW, vice
One TikTok out of Canada with 670,000 views compared Edmonton’s proposal to the Hunger Games in a video with the song “Fulsom Prison Blues” playing in the background. Another video in the U.K. by a Gen Z TikToker compared the proposal to Black Mirror and attributed the idea to Tories.
THE TALIBAN CAN’T STOP TIKTOK, wired
Despite an economic crisis, political chaos, and the regime’s ban, TikTok influencers are still thriving in Afghanistan.
Naijib is one of a few dozen urban twentysomething Afghans who have built massive followings on TikTok, which more and more Afghans across the country now use. There are no official figures for the app’s penetration, with estimates ranging from 325,000 to upwards of 2 million users, but influencers’ videos routinely record hundreds of thousands of views. Over the past couple of years, the app has become a source of escapist entertainment, a place for debate, and a platform for businesses—one that has managed to withstand the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, sanctions, banking restrictions—and even being banned by the new regime.
One last thought:
Therapy Speak and Open-Air Dystopia
So much good stuff in here as usual. Very disturbed that college students are being expected to counsel each other bc of therapist shortage and cost of therapist. Where are the elders in this society?
Great roundup! Am of the camp that guys in therapy = more attractive, yes.