This week on my internet (11th July)
Antipastogate, Wireless, and the duality of the celebrity limelight
Happy Friday,
It’s a scorcher in London this weekend, so book that lido, stick a tea towel in your freezer in preparation, and only go to the beach if you care to be packed in tighter than the central line on a Wednesday morning.
Grab a coffee and get stuck in;
Culture Beat
🥗 I have never seen TikTok this united over anything before #teamsaladlady. It’s sparked such a huge response, Forbes has written about it.
TL;DR - a very nice woman made an incredible antipasto salad (with vegetables from her OWN GARDEN and cheese made with her BARE HANDS) but was reduced to tears by rude hosts.
New to the neighbourhood and definitely invited to the party, she was treated unfairly and told she wasn’t invited, then left in floods of tears. The hosts in question have since responded with a pathetic response that it wasn’t a “party” but a “get together of people who knew each other” and that they didn’t know her.
If you need a more visual explainer of all the characters in this story, this TikTok sums it all up better.
🎸 Wireless festival line up has been announced, and people have a lot of feelings. The lineup was only announced four days before the festival and music fans have been scrambling to sell their tickets. The lineup has Drake playing all 3 days at the headline slot, a decision that probably ate the whole budget and meant they couldn’t afford better names for the rest of the festival.
🎤 Chris Brown, convicted of domestic abuse in 2009 and charged with GBH in the UK, contiues his tour in the UK. Being a felon doesn’t seem to have impacted ticket sales or fans. One presenter has been interviewing fans outside the tour, asking if they were aware of his criminal history.
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📷 Cole Sprouse has revived his revenge IG account, @camera_duels. Basically, an account dedicated to taking sneaky photos of whoever is trying to take sneaky photos of him. It’s not just the snaps that have everyone in a chokehold, but his genuinely funny + pithy captions. The more you scroll, the more you realise how horrifying it must be to be a celebrity.
🏓 On the other hand, Tom Holland seems to be everywhere this week despite claiming to hate the publicity. From stealing the Wimbledon spotlight to a casual dinner at Gordon Ramsays restaurant, he’s sure been out and about. He’s currently promoting his 0% alcohol brand, Bero, hosting a branded Bero Padel tournament, with a star studded invite list including his South London bestie, Stormzy.
🎾 Speaking of Wimbledon, the queues look insane this year, with some people waiting 7hrs (after arriving at 3am to “beat the queue”). Unfortunately for locals, there’s limited logistics management for the amount of people and some have been defacating in the woods round the corner. Not very in line with Wimbledon’s twee image. On the plus side, at least the hit social series “Overheard At Wimbledon” is back for another year.
Content Corner: Brands & Entertainment
🍓 M&S’ Strawberry & Cream sandwich went viral after it launched last month. Inspired by the the viral Japanese fruit sando, it turns out to be a huge hit with Brits, especially in time for Wimbledon. Hilariously, the taxman is trying to claim that the item sits under the category of cake (20% VAT), rather than sandwiches (0% VAT).
💵 Sabrina Carpenter has had shows on at Hyde Park and launched a Shoreditch pop-up selling tour merch, vinyl’s and other bits. I’ve passed it twice in the last week and both times saw a queue around the block.
📉 The Times has issued a divisive post about being a HENRY, aka High Earners Not Rich Yet, claiming earning a “challenging” £100k is actually a curse. 9/10 Brits earning over this bracket don’t consider themselves wealthy. Many may have seen a significant salary increase in the last 6 years, but disposable income isn’t going up at the same rates in terms of inflation.
🧀 A burrata bar opened up in Shoreditch, offering a 5 course menu (you guessed it, each course including a burratta), for the incredibly reasonable price of £5 - proceeds all going to Anthony Nolan. The concept was launched by Galbani, and unfortunately was a brief pop-up, with no plans to make permanent.
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Audience insights: Gen Z (mostly)
🤝 Despite everything I’ve seen about Gen Z being doom spenders, addicted to shopping, and generally shit at saving, it appears they might actually be okay at saving specifically for retirement? Some are contributing up to 20% of their income, and holding over 3x more than Gen X had at the same age (I hope that’s factored in inflation).
🏝️ Gen Z has found a fix for burnout. News publishers LOVE to make up terminology, and have defined it as “microretirement”. TL;DR: Gen Z have discovered they can also ask for a week or two of unpaid leave a year when PTO isn’t enough.
🐦🔥 50% of Gen Z are watching anime weekly, and roughly a third of those are watching daily. Netflix leads as the go-to source for anime worldwide. It’s cheaper to make than live action programming and gets an insane amount of engagement.
🍷 Gen Z have notoriously been hailed as the most sober generation, prioritising vibes over vodka. Well, how the tables have turned; Gen Z has not only joined us, but had the highest increase of all generations, year on year of people drinking in the last 6 months.
Tech & Social
🦅 Byte Dance (Tiktok parent company) is rumoured to be creating a TikTok US version, to avoid the upcoming TikTok ban. The looming ban threat has been around for 6 months, and hasn’t quite come to fruition, but the behemoth won’t take any chances.
֎ Meta is trying to win the AI race with money. The company has poached hundreds of employees from successful AI startups, and continues to attempt to grow the team by throwing money at talent, offering more and more until they can’t refuse.
xoxo
