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Each week, Marketing Brew recaps what people are talking about on social media, the trends that took over our feeds, and how marketers are responding.
The public is not relationing: It seems the celebrity PR machine is not operating the way it used to. In recent weeks, we’ve seen:
- Botched apology videos from stars including Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis and Drew Barrymore where, in addition to criticizing the messaging, people have called out stars for using “humble” backgrounds in these videos as a way to appear more relatable.
- Oprah and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson face criticism for encouraging people to donate to a Maui relief fund they set up, prompting people to wonder why the two wealthy celebs didn’t fund it entirely on their own.
- A video of actor Jonathan Majors breaking up a fight between two teenage girls—an incident that some suspect was staged and one person called the “worst PR stunt of the century”—on the eve of his trial for domestic assault.
- Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who has proposed raising the voting age to 25, getting bodied in TikTok comments after joining the platform in an effort to appeal to younger voters.
One person who seems to be hitting the mark? Sophie Turner, who was recently seen out with Taylor Swift after people on social media said appearing with the singer, who also dated Turner’s ex Joe Jonas, would be “the funniest thing possible.”
Shock value? On TikTok, people are talking about dating app The League’s NYC subway ads, which include taglines like, “Date someone with a five-year plan that makes you want to ovulate.” People posted the ads with trending shocked sounds, while one TikToker said the campaign gave her the ick. Another (jokingly) called for more decorum from advertisers.
Checking in on the influencers:
- Sofia Richie is working with Peloton, and based on the number of TikTok likes, people seem into it.
- Creator Sarah Klait made a sponsored video with Bloom Nutrition that pokes fun at unrelatable “day in my life” influencer videos that’s racked up more than half a million likes.
- Queen of Fall, Caitlin Covington, announced that she’ll be conducting her annual fall photo shoot in October. Happy Christian Girl Autumn. <3