Treat Culture and Celebrity Whispers

"economic malaise"

Rihanna and her pregnancy bump star in a new Louis Vuitton campaign; meet the hot boys of the steamy Red, White & Royal Blue movie; and Jordan Peele and Selena Gomez are teaming up for Coyotes adaptation.

ALEX COOPER, MATT KAPLAN FORM MEDIA COMPANY TARGETING GEN Z AUDIENCES, variety
Kaplan, formerly an exec at AwesomenessTV during its heyday, is teaming up with A-list podcaster Alex Cooper — who happens to be Kaplan’s fiancée — for a new venture that will “develop scripted and unscripted content, including podcasts and digital media; produce touring events; and launch other projects.” The company will be called “Trending,” which says all you need to know.

THEY SAID WHAT? LIP READERS DECODE CELEBRITY WHISPERS, nyt
On TikTok, there are millions of views to be had for those who can interpret the caught-on-camera conversations of royal family members, Taylor Swift, and Ben and Jennifer Affleck.

INFLUENCERS ARE OUTRANKING JOURNALISTS AS NEWS SOURCES ON TIKTOK AND OTHER PLATFORMS THAT WIN WITH YOUNGER AUDIENCES, insider
One striking finding from the 2023 Reuters Institute Digital News Report was that while mainstream journalists have done well on legacy social-media platforms like Facebook, they have not had the same impact on more recent entrants like TikTok.

GOOGLE IS WEAVING GENERATIVE AI INTO ONLINE SHOPPING FEATURES, bloomberg
Yesterday, the company announced a new virtual “try-on” feature that will let people see how clothes fit across a range of body types, from XXS to 4XL sizes, taking into consideration the way fabric stretches and wrinkles. Google said it was able to launch such a service because of a new image-based AI model that it developed internally

‘I WEAR IT EVERY SINGLE DAY.’ WHY 20-SOMETHINGS CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF THIS Y2K HAIR TREND, wsj
Google searches for “claw clip” reached a five-year high this March, and Klarna reports that, in the past month, purchases of claw clips have increased by 24% over the previous month. Celebrity fans include Kendall Jenner, who sported a tortoise clip over Memorial Day Weekend, Hailey Bieber, who likes clips with a pop of color, and Bella Hadid.

MILLENNIAL AND GEN Z ECONOMIC MALAISE IS CREATING A ‘TREAT CULTURE’ AS THEY TURN TO TINY PURCHASES FOR A DOSE OF DAILY ESCAPISM, fortune
Millennials and Gen Zers are doing the “non-fun adult things like working without the added benefits of being able to afford a house, much less a comfortable life or even a world that isn’t subject to the chaos of climate change, political extremism, and a pandemic.” Their response: Buy the treat, and lose the pretense that it’s a bad thing.

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