You have heard it. Probably today. The haunting saxophone melody that has become the default underscore for every minor inconvenience, every cancelled plan, every slightly disappointing Tuesday. It is everywhere. And almost nobody using it has stopped for a single second to ask where it actually came from, or what it was originally written to carry. Today we're getting into what happens when the algorithm gets hold of something sacred and decides it would make great background music for a snickerdoodle video.

Marketing Dive reports that Pizza Hut has launched its "Hut Originals" platform with a Throwback Value Menu, a limited-edition streetwear collection with NYC brand Dinner Service NY. Oh, and a "Back to the Hut" in-app trivia experience, all leaning hard into nostalgia for the brand's '80s, '90s and 2000s heyday. The streetwear collection transforms classic Pizza Hut uniforms and BOOK IT! memories into rugby shirts, tote bags and camo jackets. The menu starts at $3. The campaign arrives weeks after Yum Brands sold Pizza Hut for $2.7B. Nothing says "we believe in this brand" quite like immediately selling it.

In news that will send shockwaves through the AI infrastructure world, Wired reports that New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order making New York the first state in the US to ban the construction of new hyperscale data centres. This immediately halts a $10B pipeline of AI infrastructure development for up to one year. The moratorium applies to facilities using 50 megawatts or more of power. And it cites rising electricity bills, water usage and environmental damage as driving forces. Tech companies argue the move cedes ground to China. Hochul argues that when companies succeed because of New York, New Yorkers should too. The debate is just getting started.

And finally, Google Images turned 25 this week, and celebrated by copying Pinterest's entire business model. TechCrunch reports that Google has relaunched Images as a browsable, personalised "For You" gallery that updates in real time based on your interests. This directly mimics the discovery-first experience Pinterest built its brand on. Google is also adding AI image generation directly into Search via its Nano Banana model.

The whole thing started, as Google reminded everyone this week, because Jennifer Lopez wore a green Versace dress to the 2000 Grammys and broke their search engine. Twenty-five years later, Google is still riding that dress. Respect.

Why? Well,

1. Because it has officially become the default background noise of the internet. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry on the timeline is currently using it to score their mundane daily inconveniences. And Tom, Dick and Harry seem to have a lot of inconveniences they’d like to highlight. Hence the incessant sound ripping through my eardrums 24/7. And,

and 2. I don’t think hardly anyone using the track has any earthly idea what they’re listening to. Or more importantly, where it came from.

It is the climactic, instrumental score composed by Stanley Clarke for John Singleton’s seminal 1991 film, Boyz n the Hood.

It is the exact sonic backdrop to one of the most tragic and foundational moments in Black cinematic history; the scene where Ricky is gunned down in an alley, destroying a family's hope of escaping systemic violence.

And yet, that exact piece of historical grief is currently being used to track the fact that Becky accidentally burnt her latest batch of artisanal snickerdoodle Dubai dot cake cookies.

It’s also being used by lifestyle creators to lament a broken nail, a rain-cancelled brunch, or the fact that a trendy designer toy went out of stock.

This is what happens when a hyper-extractive, algorithm-driven media ecosystem takes a culturally, historically, and racially significant artifact. Then it strips away its soul, cleanses its origin, and flattens it into an entirely meaningless, disposable digital asset.

The machine doesn't care about memory; it only cares about the loop. It extracts the raw emotional frequency of a Black masterpiece. Divorces it from its reality. And sanitises it so it can be comfortably consumed by a suburban audience as a superficial joke.

On social media, audio tracks are treated as entirely flat, interchangeable utilities. The user interface actively encourages you to tap the sound, anchor it to your video, and ride the wave of the algorithmic momentum to farm engagement metrics. In that seamless process, any history or meaning is completely erased.

The profound collective pain of a community is flattened into a cheap pattern-interrupter. One that's designed to keep a scrolling thumb lingering on a screen for an extra three seconds.

When we allow social media trends to completely dilute our historical touchstones, we trade true cultural literacy for a shallow, transactional language of aesthetics.

We stop respecting the origin. We stop honouring the weight of the story. And we begin treating the world's creative legacies as disposable content fodder to be chewed up and spit out by the next fiscal quarter.

The era of lazy, thoughtless trend-jacking is hitting an absolute wall of consumer cynicism. Audiences are starting to develop an incredibly sharp, protective radar for when a brand or creator is mindlessly using a cultural frequency they haven't earned, don't understand, and can't respect.

Now, on the other hand we have something called Cultural Integrity. In which, we cannot treat art as a flat, un-contextual utility. We must instead strive to have the educational discipline to investigate the origin. Honour the provenance of the work. And understand that some sounds are far too sacred to be used as background music for an unboxing video.

No matter what creative pursuit you engage, take a second to investigate the roots. Respect the weight of the story. And remember that true creative authority isn't about jumping on every passing loop. It’s about possessing the depth to know exactly when to leave a masterpiece completely alone.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

The sound comes from Sincere, a contestant on Love Island USA, who delivered this piece of profound wisdom straight to the confession camera with the confidence of someone who has never once questioned his own reasoning:

"So like, it's not like just because you have two fishes, you got to like put one back. Like you can still have two fishes and be like, 'wow these are beautiful fish.'"

Creators are lipsyncing to the audio to justify any opinion, habit, purchase or piece of abstract logic that they know is questionable but are absolutely standing behind anyway.

Some of my favourite examples:

Film yourself lipsyncing to the sound. Add whatever completely reasonable decision you're defending as your on-screen text.

A few ideas to get you started:

-Devin Pike, Copywriter

Hey Tomás!

I know you're probably wanting to find clients ASAP, so it's tempting to create content with a strong CTA. But, if you're just building your audience, you need to give people a reason to follow you.

Depending on your audience, you need to decide what kind of content to create. Of course, this will depend on the platform(s) you are trying to grow on. You will likely want to focus on educational or entertaining content that's shareable. The purpose is to get attention, build your audience, and get your brand out there.

Once you've got a solid audience, you can begin asking them to do stuff like sign up for your email list or attend a webinar. But if you try to do this too soon, people will very quickly tune you out!

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

We get it. Creating content that does numbers is harder than it looks. But doing those big numbers is the fastest way to grow your brand. So if you’re tired of throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing what sticks, you’re in luck. Because making our clients go viral is kinda what we do every single day.