Your ATTN Please || Saturday, 1 March

There’s nothing like squishing your face into a soft loaf of bread, amirite?

Not your jam? (pardon the pun). Well, for one particular creator, it was her ticket to long-lasting fame. The internet has a way of rewarding the absurd and the faceless, and for Bread Face, how she managed to turn her strange hobby from a fleeting internet gag into a decade-long art form. Her success proves that mystery, restraint, and commitment to the bit can outlast virality.

-Sophie, Writer ♡

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?

Meta says sorry (again), Meta also fires 20 employees for snitching (sheesh) & Starbucks scrambles to save tanking reputation

Your daily dose of tea served piping hot.

Honestly, when is Meta not apologising?

However, the latest expression of regret seems to be a tad more serious this time. As it should be when your algorithm goes haywire and serves uncensored videos featuring literal murders and NSFW content to your users. Quite the blunder, considering the minimum age to use Instagram is 13 years old.

“I watched 10 people die today,” said one Instagram user whose account was affected, speaking to the Wall Street Journal.

“I saw at least 60 people killed by gangs or other dudes, uncensored, many with neck cut or blasted by guns... WHAT IS HAPPENING?” wrote another user on Reddit page r/Instagram in a post titled “Instagram is now 100% gore.”

Kind of crazy when your algo goes from cute cat videos to horrific gore overnight. Some users claimed they saw such content, even with Instagram’s “Sensitive Content Control” enabled to its highest moderation setting. “We have fixed an error that caused some users to see content... that should not have been recommended,” an Instagram spokesperson said, adding, “We apologize for the mistake.” Uh, thanks. Sure, you can apologise. But we can’t unsee that sh*t.

While we’re on the subject, Meta has fired roughly 20 employees after leaking confidential company information.

Yeowch. Apparently, the company has been the star of its very own whodunnit story. They've ramped up efforts to find leakers after stories detailing unannounced product plans and internal meetings began coming out. “We tell employees when they join the company, and we offer periodic reminders, that it is against our policies to leak internal information, no matter the intent,” Meta spokesperson Dave Arnold told The Verge.

“We recently conducted an investigation that resulted in roughly 20 employees being terminated for sharing confidential information outside the company, and we expect there will be more. We take this seriously and will continue to take action when we identify leaks.” Welp, I guess a snitch is a snitch no matter which way you look at it.

And while we’re also on the subject (not of Meta, but of being fired) Starbucks lays off over 1000 workers in order to “streamline” the business.

Oh, it’s removing over 14 items from their menu after saying it would begin to "optimise" menu offerings. This has resulted in a 30% reduction in both beverage and food items by the end of the year. The coffee chain has been on a rollercoaster for the last year and half, with stocks plummeting, dropping in the Interbrand's top 100 global brands. Not surprisingly, revenue and store sales are consistently declining.

It’s not just numbers, however. It’s also the brand's reputation. Stephen Hahn, Executive VP of Reptrak, says Starbucks’ reputation went from a strong 71.5 points in 2021 on a 100-point index to a vulnerable 57.7 points this January in an exclusive report. It's not looking good, guys.

Anyway, that’s all folks!

-Sophie, Writer

DEEP DIVE

Why bizarre creators like "Bread Face" will never go out of style

Before the fashion/foodfluencer-hybrids of today, we had Bread Face.

In 2015, an anonymous woman pressed her face into a Martin’s potato roll to Fetty Wap’s "Trap Queen". Ten years down the line, Bread Face has become a digital fixture, a decade-long commitment to one of the most hypnotic and inexplicable acts to grace our feeds.

Despite the mechanism of her fame (literally smashing her face into baked goods), Bread Face has outlasted the usual internet life cycle of viral one-hit wonders. She’s still here, still posting (albeit less frequently), and still captivating. But why? And what can brands, marketers, and digital creators learn from the woman who turned carbohydrate collisions into an art form?

The internet loves the bizarre, the hyper-specific, the why does this exist of it all.

Bread Face embodies the kind of absurdity that initially confuses, then fascinates. Before you know it—you’re invested.

Her content works because it operates on two levels. On one hand, it’s pure sensory satisfaction (the softness of the bread, the gentle indentation of her face). On the other, it’s completely irrational. It doesn’t mean anything, which somehow makes it more compelling. Absurdity thrives because it leaves room for interpretation. Bread Face can be whatever you want it to be.

Bread Face has pulled off something quite rare: fame without recognition. At a time when personal branding is currency, she’s removed herself from the equation. There’s no real personality behind the bread—just a visual, a ritual, a presence.

And that works.

It’s the same reason we’re drawn to faceless creators like Corpse Husband, Banksy, Daft Punk, or MF DOOM. Anonymity builds intrigue. It lets the content speak for itself. In an era of overexposure, when every influencer is one bad day away from a PR disaster, Bread Face’s lack of personal narrative keeps her free from the usual pitfalls.

Most viral sensations burn bright and fast, their relevance evaporating the second they try to capitalise on their moment. Bread Face, on the other hand, has played the long game.

She’s never overproduced. Never overshared. Never turned her niche into a desperate cash grab.

She posts less frequently, yes. But with each post comes a reminder that Bread Face is still here. And that’s the key—pacing. Staying relevant isn’t about constant output; it’s about knowing when to remind people why they cared in the first place.

At first glance, Bread Face looks like another bizarre social media stunt. But after nearly ten years, it’s clear this isn’t just a bit. It’s an ongoing, carefully curated project. The music choices, the aesthetic, the unwavering commitment to the act itself—there’s an argument to be made that Bread Face isn’t just an internet oddity but a legitimate performance artist.

If Marina Abramović’s The Artist Is Present is about endurance and human connection, Bread Face is about transformation. Something as mundane as bread can become hypnotic, sensual, even surreal. And the internet might have laughed at first, but longevity has a way of shifting perception.

What brands can learn from Bread Face.

Despite the temptation, Bread Face has never over-monetised. She’s done some brand partnerships, sure, but never at the expense of the mystery. The best collaborations have felt seamless, not forced—a rare achievement. So, what does that tell us? Brands should understand that mystery is a commodity.

Not everything needs to be explained, and over-saturation kills intrigue. Sometimes, the best strategy is to create something so compelling that people need to talk about it. Bread Face didn’t chase virality. She created a space where it could happen naturally. And nearly a decade later, we’re still watching.

You may think we’ve all ruined our attention spans. But Bread Face reminds us that there is life after brain rot. And sometimes all you need is commitment to the bit, to your bit, to stay relevant.

-Sophie, Writer

TREND PLUG

I had a dream my life would be...

You know life isn't fair, but even after making so many good-faith choices, why are you now forced to deal with such colossal BS?

Well, you're not alone - Anne Hathaway in 2012's Les Misérables is probably going through the same crap as you. (At least I think... I haven't seen the movie, please don't @ me.) In her powerful solo, "I Dreamed a Dream", Fantine (played by Anne) laments over what her world has become:

"I had a dream my life would be, so different from this hell I'm living!"

Now, TikTokers are using the song to bemoan their own personal hells. Whether they're being eaten up by the Sunday scaries or a personal brand going through a flop era, there's a depressed Anne Hathaway with killer vocals in all of us... Probably.

How you can jump on this trend:

Take the first 11 seconds of this sound, face the camera and lipsync the song. Then, add some text describing a situation so painful, so heart-wrenchingly bad, you start to wonder how it all went so wrong. (Bonus points if you use fake tears, bury your face in your hands and just look visibly distressed in general!)

A few ideas OST to get you started:

• When your manager is "open to feedback," then pushes back and pulls the "I used to do your job" card

• When your favourite mug is hijacked and now permanently lives on Bethany from IT's desk

• When your boss sits with you at lunch and turns your half-hour break into a strategy session

-Devin, Copywriter

FOR THE GROUP CHAT

😲WTF: New Epstein files to be released?!
✨Daily inspo: “Act like the person you wanna become”
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TODAY ON THE YAP PODCAST

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ASK THE EDITOR

Q - I’ve just started my first marketing job and I have no idea what I’m doing, even though I have an advertising degree. Help! -Josh

Hey Josh!

It’s totally normal to feel lost when you’re trying to adjust to working after university. But the fact that you've done that study means you have a great foundational understanding of marketing. Now, it’s about learning to apply what you’ve learnt with a little flexibility, since the real world doesn’t always go by the book!

My biggest piece of advice is to be ok with not knowing. You’re going to make mistakes, so be ready to own them when that happens. Ask as many questions as you can of the people on your team. Better yet, find someone who’s willing to mentor you so you’ve got a person to go to when you need advice. As long as you have a growth mindset, you’ll be just fine.

- Charlotte, Editor ♡

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