The Zeitgeist: February 28, 2025

Today's Edition: Unseriousness, Status and Yope

February 28, 2025

Good morning. Today is the February 28 Economic Blackout, a national boycott spearheaded by The People’s Union, a grassroots organization. The 24-hour boycott urges Americans not to spend money on fast food, gas and at major retailers to protest against rising prices and the power of corporations. Celebs including John Leguizamo and Bette Midler are supporting it, according to NPR. What might happen? According to The Associated Press, “some retailers may feel a slight pinch from Friday’s broad ‘blackout,’ which is occurring in a challenging economic climate,” and CNN reports that “boycotts tend to be short-lived and rarely inflict financial harm on companies,” citing insights from analysts and professors. But the group says there will be more boycotts “until corporations are held accountable, billionaires pay their fair share, and the working class finally gets the freedom we deserve.”

Campaigns

Earned-friendly campaigns & clever moments

Neiman Marcus Serves Up Food and Fashion in Café Society Spring Campaign

The campaign celebrates the synergy between fashion and culinary culture and is the latest example of how brands are increasingly leaning into food and food experiences.

By Lisa Lockwood | WWD

Planning to kill your mascot? Consider the following

The key to getting rid of famed mascots, even temporarily, depends on your audience, according to experts.

By Katie Hicks | Marketing Brew

Also, Cinnabon’s “Churrobon” burner account, Chipotle’s free queso promo for National Tortilla Chip Day, Erewhon’s $19 strawberry and Kellanova’s food-shaped pool floats.

Culture 

Snackable bites of consumer culture

The End of Seriousness

Unseriousness has taken over social media, and our obsession with jokes and memes has turned everything - even serious issues - into punchlines.

By Lauren Michele Jackson | The New Yorker

The Wellness Club is Gen Z’s Country Club

In an era where self-care is social, wellness memberships are becoming the new status symbol.

By Alessandra Codinha | Vogue

A Fyre Festival Sequel? What Could Go Wrong?

The infamous festival is back. With little details available, tickets are now available ranging from $1,400 to $1.1 million.

By Scott Cacciola | The New York Times

The Hottest Thing in Fashion Advertising? Books

Fashion brands are incorporating books into their marketing campaigns, and other brands are using books to keep up with elusive younger consumers.

By Katie Deighton | The Wall Street Journal

Corporate

This company is paying employees $10,000 to return to the office

Cameo has promised each of its employees an additional $10,000 annually in exchange for coming into the office four days a week.

By Pavithra Mohan | Fast Company

Workplace chat’s future: more AI agents, fewer humans

Slack’s CMO predicts within a few years, employees will interact more frequently with AI agents than with human colleagues as companies integrate autonomous AI agents into workplace comms platforms.

By Megan Morrone | Axios

This workplace benefit is helping parents — and boosting businesses. Could it backfire?

More companies are offering child care at work to help its employees, but some worry it could make access to affordable care even more unequal.

By Rachel Cohen | Vox

BP to ditch renewables goals and return focus to fossil fuels

BP’s chief executive will scrap a target to increase renewable generation 20-fold by 2030, returning the focus to fossil fuels, as part of a strategy shift to tackle investor concerns over earnings.

By Arunima Kumar, Anousha Sakoui | Reuters

Commerce

Shopper society snapshot

How the Internet Made In-Store Shopping Miserable

When it comes to the stockroom, even the best stores can’t keep up with the internet.

By Suzanne Kapner | Wall Street Journal

Walmart expands same-day delivery reach

Walmart is now able to reach 93% of U.S. households with same-day delivery after expanding its stores’ delivery reach in Q4.

By Max Garland | Retail Dive

America’s bike-delivery hotspots

More than half of DoorDash deliveries are made on two wheels in San Francisco, New York City and Washington, D.C. Bikes are more eco-friendly and less dangerous than cars and trucks, but come with challenges of their own.

By Alex Fitzpatrick | Axios

How will store closures affect shoppers? What to know about prices, availability

Experts say the number of closures is just a fraction of all stores, but that closures are an opportunity for retailers to fill the gap.

By Betty-Lin Fisher | USA Today

Connections

Feed intelligence

He Left CNN to Start a Newsletter. It’s Now a Must-Read

Oliver Darcy’s newsletter, Status, has accumulated 70K+ subscribers since its launch last August and is on track to surpass $1M in revenue by the end of 2025. He just brought on longtime CNN editor Jon Passantino this week.

By Isabella Simonetti | The Wall Street Journal

A Billion People Are Watching Podcasts on YouTube Every Month

The video site, which didn’t support podcasts or seek out podcast creators until the pandemic, has passed Spotify to become the most popular podcasting platform in the US.

By Ashley Carman | Bloomberg

Yope is sparking Gen Z (and VC) interest with an Instagram-like app for private groups

The photo-sharing app has gained 2.2M monthly users, fueled by an ambassador program that generated over 56M views on TikTok and Instagram.

By Ivan Mehta, Ingrid Lunden | TechCrunch

Instagram May Launch Reels as Separate App, Increasing Pressure on TikTok

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said they may launch a stand-alone Reels app to compete with TikTok and improve recommendations.

By Kalley Huang, Kaya Yurieff | The Information

Media Moves:

  • Lester Holt, anchor at NBC’s Nightly News, is stepping down and moving full time to NBC’s Dateline.

  • Mark Gurman, formerly chief correspondent at Bloomberg covering Apple, is now managing editor of global consumer tech at the newsroom. In his new role, Mark will oversee breaking news, reviews, features, graphics, video and audio related to consumer-focused devices. As he assumes a broader remit, he will retain coverage of Apple and ownership of the widely read PowerOn newsletter.

  • Ece Yildirim, formerly digital rotational program associate at CNBC Make It, is now staff reporter at Quartz, reporting and writing a wide range of stories, with a particular focus on coverage for its Tech & Innovation channel.

  • Eli Blumenthal, formerly senior editor at CNET, is now senior manager at Verizon.

Also... read about lassi, Ramadan’s refreshing drink that’s been consumed for more than 1,000 years.

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