Social media trends: Brands get cheesy (and queasy)

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.

Think twice: Zara is facing some calls to boycott the brand after its latest campaign, which featured images of mannequins with missing limbs and wrapped in plastic bags, faced criticism for its similarities to images coming out of Gaza. The brand has since pulled the campaign, and released a statement on Instagram calling the whole thing a “misunderstanding.”

No reservations: The brands are at it again. When rumors swirled that Travis Kelce was making plans for Taylor Swift’s birthday, KFC and Chili’s were among the restaurants jumping in to throw their names into the ring. Also, for some reason, politicians and government accounts used the news cycle to promote local venues like Portillo’s, Margaritaville, and Cups.

Car-pe diem: Chipotle responded to a TikTok about taking a few extra napkins from the store to keep in the car with what some online are calling a genius marketing ploy. Rather than discourage people from stocking up, the restaurant released a $30 napkin dispenser for car visors that’s now sold out. No word on if they’ll restock, but we know we’ll continue to (on car napkins, at least).

Cheese and no thank you: If you have $65 to spend on a gift and no ideas, might we recommend…anything but this? Doritos unveiled a new nacho cheese–flavored spirit, and, much like the rest of the internet, we can’t think too hard about it or risk gagging. We feel similarly about the Ssense fondue page.

Instapod: Instagram is now in the podcasting game with Close Friends Only, which is hosted by Doja Cat and Ice Spice. What’s next, books brought to you by Spotify? Oh, that’s right.