Happy Holidays! This week, we’re officially tired of AI 'slop,' secondhand gifting is becoming a holiday flex, the Kennedy Center gets a controversial rebrand, and more.
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TRENDING
Kennedy Center renaming challenges legacy norms
The Kennedy Center board voted unanimously to rename the historic venue the Trump-Kennedy Center, crediting the current administration with saving the institution despite legal questions about congressional authority. This rebranding follows a year of internal restructuring and falling ticket sales, showing how even permanent cultural memorials are becoming vulnerable to rapid identity changes. The news opens discourse on a potential new precedent where the line between historical legacy and active politics is becoming more fluid. Source: The Washington Post
"Thriftmas" goes mainstream as resale becomes a flex
The stigma against secondhand gifting is crumbling this holiday season as inflation and tariff uncertainty pushes consumers to view pre-owned items as a financially savvy way to secure high-quality goods. Improved authentication tools on platforms like The RealReal have built the necessary trust to make the change possible, with 86% of Gen Z saying they are more likely to gift secondhand this year compared to last. Nearly six in ten shoppers tell the National Retail Federation they are now open to putting thrifted items under the tree. Source: Modern Retail
TECHNOLOGY
Merriam-Webster crowns "slop" as Word of the Year
Merriam-Webster has named "slop,” defined as low-quality, mass-produced AI content, as its 2025 Word of the Year, cementing a cultural pushback against the digital "rubbish" currently clogging social media feeds. This selection is part of a wider linguistic trend seen across other major dictionaries (like Cambridge’s "parasocial" and Oxford’s "rage bait"), highlighting that we are becoming more critical of how AI is reshaping our world. The words of the year suggest a growing consumer longing for disconnection from digital noise to place a higher premium on human-made quality. Source: CNN
Tech giants teach chatbots to prioritize teen safety
OpenAI and Anthropic are rolling out new "age prediction" tools and updated behavioral guidelines designed to catch subtle conversational cues that indicate a user might be underage. The move is a pivot in how AI interacts with younger demographics, with ChatGPT's new "Model Spec" explicitly prioritizing safety by encouraging offline help and refusing to discuss self-harm. This proactive stance comes as the industry faces intensifying legal pressure and lawsuits regarding AI's impact on teen mental health, pushing companies to trade some of their models' open-ended "warmth" for necessary protective barriers. Source: The Verge
BRAND
CMOs weigh in on 2025’s overhyped marketing trends
Marketing executives from big brands are collectively pushing back against the pressure to jump on every viral meme or platform, arguing that chasing relevance often damages long term brand equity. The conversation has also moved away from using AI as a catch all strategy or prioritizing volume of content, with leaders saying human creativity and a distinct point of view are the only real differentiators left. Rather than relying on outdated crisis playbooks or traditional social listening that can be manipulated by bots, the most successful brands are choosing to take firm stances and build genuine trust with consumers instead of just fighting for temporary attention. Source: Marketing Brew
Roblox evolves into a current culture lab
With 151 million daily active users updating their avatars 274 million times a day, Roblox has transformed into a critical testing ground where 88% of Gen Z use digital items to preview physical purchases, like clothing. Rather than building isolated experiences, brands are now using "rewarded video" ads and analyzing search data to identify rising trends and memes before they hit the mainstream. This allows retailers to treat the platform as a large, real-time focus group for cultural signals while relying on improved safety features to minimize risk. Source: Glossy
SOCIAL
Study shows "apolitical" creators are more influential than their political peers
A new study published by researchers from Columbia and Harvard reveals that niche creators who rarely discuss politics are three times more persuasive when they do speak up compared to creators who post political content full time. The influence seems to stem from authenticity, as a political view shared by a trusted lifestyle creator registers as genuine advice rather than the transactional agenda of a dedicated political influencer. The research suggests future brand and campaign strategies should look to evolve and treat creator partnerships as long term relationship building, not as last minute advertising buys, to effectively move the needle. Source: WIRED
