Culture Over Consumption
We’ve just come out of a frenzied decade of consumerism moving at such pace alongside social purchasing abilities that new vocabulary, jobs, scrolling injuries came into play – and that phenomena, in a nutshell, could be described as content. But what does the word even mean — so vapid in its usage we tagged on the word influence and slowly realised that that also, had lost all meaning.
So, it’s no surprise that when the world as we know it changed for the foreseeable future, not only did we bind together, we also seemed to beautifully regress back into the art of enjoying ‘things’. Poems, a play, a jigsaw and talking. Like an episode of The Golden Girls meets Question Time with a dash of the Brontë Sisters thrown in we all took stock of what mattered. And that my friends, was not celebrities and their ‘content’.
Take Gal Gadot’s crowd-sourced rendition of ‘Imagine’ being ridiculed by the masses for the idea that the superpowers of celebrity could save us all. We didn’t care and we moved on — the cult of celebrities and influencers seemed to exist pre-COVID-19 in a way we all know can’t continue post.
Culture happens below us like a subtle current, adapting and shifting with its societal hives forming together to be with like-minded souls. But what happened in these recent years was like a wash of worthless content that for some reason — none of us could tune out of.
Things will change and maybe for the better in the world of brand. People will still buy and we knew that they already wanted brands to give back — but maybe they will really consider what matters to them. Luxury accessories don’t seem so essential when you don’t have anywhere to go.
And let’s not forget the age-old gift of entertainment and being entertained. We all need light in the shade but that light can’t burn out our time or energy any longer.
In the rush to return to normal, use this time to consider which parts of normal are worth rushing back to…I know I certainly will be.
Please look out for the next Youth and Culture report looking at our new virtual reality across retail, food and drink spanning Gen Z and Boomer.
