The Zeitgeist: June 14, 2024

Today’s Edition: Blue Collar Jobs, Meme Merch and Hot Dogs

June 14, 2024

Happy Friday! This week, Joey Chestnut, the renowned competitive eater, has been prohibited from participating in the 2024 Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest due to his recent sponsorship with Impossible Foods.

In other news, Apple is jumping into the AI race. This week, it announced its deal with OpenAI and unveiled Apple Intelligence at the company’s highly anticipated WWDC 2024 event. The new software will integrate AI in its many products, and is not trained by private users and interactions.

Also, the creative and marketing communities are getting ready for the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity that will kick off on Monday. Speculation on this year’s winners is running high.

Campaigns

Earned-friendly campaigns & clever moments

Spotify Amps Up Personalization In Biggest Global Brand Campaign Since Wrapped

The new campaign gives the service a way to present data outside of its Wrapped' year-in-review.

By Tim Nudd | AdAge

Joey Chestnut to Face 'Fiercest' Rival Takeru Kobayashi in Netflix Hot Dog Eating Contest After Nathan's Ban

The pair intend to settle their 15-year rivalry on Sept. 2

By Brenton Blanchet | People

A vibrant 'Inside Out 2'-inspired property is coming to Airbnb

The latest in the company's Icons series is sure to make fans emotional.

By Kelly McCarthy | AdAge

Also, Sabrina Carpenter and Van Leeuwen are releasing ‘Espresso’ ice cream, Kid Laroi is getting his own Erewhon Smoothie, Wendy’s debuted a new Triple Berry Frosty for the summer, and Chick-fil-A is drawing controversy with the launch of a summer day camp.

Culture 

Snackable bites of consumer culture

How Gen Zers are redefining the talk show for the TikTok era

The bizarre animated YouTube series is so huge that it’s caught the attention of concerned parents and the Russian government. But it’s still a mystery to almost anyone over 30—except Stephen Colbert.

By Dan Whately & Sydney Bradley | Business Insider

The Rise of Meme Merch

While regular merch is tired, graphic T-shirts with a built-in wink and nod are everywhere — the funnier and weirder to decipher, the better.

By Brooke LaMantia | The Cut

H2Whoa — the radical rebranding of water

Hydration has become a fully fledged lifestyle.

By Alice Lascelles | The Financial Times

Why are so many people online dunking on Sadness from 'Inside Out'?

Sadness is bringing joy to the internet as many online make memes out of the “Inside Out” character’s misery.

By Angela Yang | NBC News

Corporate

Gen Z Plumbers and Construction Workers Are Making #BlueCollar Cool

Gen Z Plumbers and Construction Workers Are Making #BlueCollar Cool.

By Te-Ping Chen | The Wall Street Journal

Quit Being a Cynic at Work. It’s Holding You Back.

Workers have swapped pensions and equity in their companies for more meager benefits that put the risk and onus on individuals.

By Rachel Feintzeig | The Wall Street Journal

Pride and LGBTQ+ inclusion is good business. Here’s why

When navigating Pride Month, corporations are trying to balance what is enough, what is too much, and how to take action aligned with the company’s vision and values.

By Erin Uritus | Fast Company

How chief learning officers are upskilling employees with generative AI

How we learn and develop within organizations is evolving with generative AI, pinpointing what rapidly emerging skills are needed from employees.

By Cloey Callahan | Worklife

Commerce

Shopper society snapshot

What Retail Apocalypse? Shopping Centers Are Making a Comeback.

According to a recent report, vacancy rates are at their lowest in two decades, indicating that properties are thriving.

By Joe Gose | The New York Times

Do you regret that last purchase via social media? You're certainly not alone.

A new survey by WalletHub shows how consumers feel about their purchases via social media.

By Betty Lin-Fisher | USA Today

Target’s Supply-Chain Chief Turned to Stores to Answer the Online Fulfillment Challenge

Gretchen McCarthy says a focus on using consumer aisles as fulfillment centers for same-day delivery helped streamline the flow of consumer goods.

By Liz Young | The Wall Street Journal

Connections

Feed intelligence

Popsugar Relaunches as "PS" with New Editorial Focus on Making Wellness More Accessible

Through real life-stories and evidence-based journalism, the women’s lifestyle publication will focus on accessible wellness across the categories its audience is most passionate about: Health, Fitness, Beauty, and Balance

By Vox Media Staff | Vox Media

TikTok creators experiment with Substack

Substack has selected a group of TikTok creators for a year-long incubator program that will help them translate their short-form video content into a newsletter.

By Taylor Lorenz | Washington Post

It’s time to BeAcquired for €500 million

BeReal, the photo app very popular among Gen Z, sold itself to French gaming company Voodoo for $537 million. Still, the company has quickly run out of money as user growth stalled.

By Emma Roth I The Verge

The internet's latest crush is charming – and confusing – all of TikTok. Leave him alone.

Grant Magdanz, a 29-year-old software development entrepreneur, has amassed more than 37,000 followers on TikTok in less than a month for his vulnerable videos about facing his fears, losing his job, and living with his grandma.

By David Oliver I USA Today

What’s Behind TikTok’s Beef With Chipotle?

Long favored by young people, Chipotle is facing backlash with Gen Zers going viral for protesting purportedly small portion sizes by walking out without paying or filming workers.

By Joseph Bernstein I New York Times

Media Moves:

  • The Associated Press has hired Sarah Parvini to cover artificial intelligence. Parvini was covering the video game industry for the Los Angeles Times.

  • Bloomberg News has hired Cassandre Coyer to cover data privacy and security.

  • The Los Angeles Business Journal has hired Keerthi Vedantam to cover technology. She previously was a healthcare technology reporter at Crunchbase.

  • Alex Nicoll is now the private equity reporter at Business Insider. He previously covered real estate and homeownership.

  • Bloomberg News has hired David Carnevali as a reporter for its deals team. Carnevali has been a Reuter mergers and acquisitions reporter covering healthcare and industrial deals.

  • Molly Cook Escobar is joining Barron’s visuals team as a data visualization and graphics editor.

Also... check out Fast Company’s fifth annual list of LGBTQ innovators in business and tech.

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