Your ATTN Please || Friday, 22 August

August 22, 2025

Together with

Google’s violating children’s privacy via YouTube.

Platforms are collecting personal data for targeted ads without parental consent. Meta’s AI bot flirts with minors. TikTok exploits kids with addictive algorithms. Roblox enables sexual exploitation and the distribution of child sexual abuse material. The list (literally) goes on. What we have always known to be true is finally official: the internet is not a safe place for children. So, what does that mean for advertisers?

PRESENTED BY IZZYAGENTS - YOUR ATTN PLEASE’S AI PARTNER

You’re running competitions. But are you actually cashing in on them?

Most brands run social media competitions for reach and engagement… but then stop short of the real payoff.

Thousands of comments flood in, and then? Nothing.

But with an AI agent, you can:

✅ Message every single commenter automatically
✅ Instantly collect email addresses & add them to your database
✅ Send an offer to every entrant—maximising your chance of turning them into paying customers

…All without adding another item to your team's to-do list.

This is exactly how our client saw:

👉 87% of commenters give their email address
👉 $360K+ worth of emails collected from one social campaign

Want to do the same for your next giveaway? 👇

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?

Child safety online is getting worse, Tea App disaster isn’t over & TikTok supports literal stalkers

Big Tech is facing a major child safety reckoning.

And it only appears to be worsening with the integration of AI. Google, Meta, TikTok, and Roblox are all under different investigations. But the reality is, such things often don’t change with a couple of lawsuits. So, what do you do? As a parent? As a sibling? As a consumer?

Online child sexual abuse material has skyrocketed from fewer than one million reports in 2013 to nearly 36 million in 2023… containing over 100 million images and videos. Meta was responsible for a whopping 85% of these reports. Many of these involve children 10 years old or younger.

Then, in 2024, Meta began encrypting its platforms, potentially hiding tens of millions of reports, literally preventing law enforcement action, hiding and protecting the actions of child predators. And clearly, it’s not just Meta: “Forty-two states and over 1000 families have filed lawsuits against Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger), Alphabet (Google, YouTube), and other tech companies for using advanced algorithms to intentionally target and addict young users, resulting in harmful and even fatal physical and mental health outcomes.”

“iPad time” just went from reasonably harmless distraction to the least safe thing you could put in your child’s hands that’s not a freaking weapon.

Yes, the Tea App debacle just got worse.

This story just shocks the life out of me every time it develops. Turns out the man, yes the MAN who started the "women safety app," attempted to hire Paola Sanchez, founder and administrator of Are We Dating the Same Guy? (a collection of Facebook groups where women share “red flags” about men) as a female face for the company and then hijack her grassroots community. He then convinced millions of women to spill their secrets andddd exposed them to the world. Sigh. Not all men, but, unfortunately, always a man.

TikTok shop is selling a viral GPS tracker marketed to stalkers and controlling partners.

I got a bad case of Online Scaries today. Anyone else want to go lay in a small river or creek with me? Perhaps a babbling brook? Lmk.

“If your girl says she’s just out with friends every night, you’d better slap one of these on her car—no, it is not an AirTag, it’s a real GPS tracker,” one clip, which has 5 million views, states. This video is just one of many that literally market this product as a tool of coercive control. It's sold as an undetectable way to spy on your partner… and everyone being totally fine with this…?? Yeah, that’s enough internet for today, thanks. 

DEEP DIVE

Streaming, but make it scroll? The rise of the social media sitcom.

Somewhere between the TikTok skit economy and the prestige TV industrial complex, a new hybrid has emerged: the social media sitcom.

Brands are writing pilots, and you’re the laugh track. Think snack-sized, scripted worlds designed to live and die on your For You page.

It’s like Friends, but sponsored lol.

Brooklyn Coffee Shop roasts café customers. Bistro Huddy has an entire restaurant lore starring exactly one man in every role. Bratz is two seasons deep into Alwayz Bratz. Jewellery brand Alexis Bitta is four seasons into The Bittarverse. And Tower 28, never one to blush, hired an actual HBO comedy writer to make The Blush Lives of Sensitive Girls.

Even Bilt, Pretzelized, and Oatly are among those experimenting with the format as we speak.

It’s kind of funny to me that, at a time when the internet feels more fragmented than ever (good luck getting two people to agree on a favourite app, let alone a show), brands are suddenly playing network execs, trying to resurrect appointment viewing.

Except your “Thursday night line-up” is now whatever the algorithm blesses between cat memes and a skincare haul.

So, why now?

Partly because chaos-posting peaked when Duolingo’s owl was twerking on the timeline. That shtick has a shelf life. But the sitcom approach is continuity-driven. Characters, storylines, running jokes: stuff you actually want to stick around for.

People don’t want another viral stunt. They want someone (or something) to root for, even if it’s a plastic doll or a fictional waiter who’s really good at wigs.

Should every brand grab a writers’ room and start storyboarding Season 1?

Absolutely fkn not.

A sitcom isn’t a magic funnel. It only works if you’ve got a distinct world, a tone, and characters that people want to hang out with.

Bratz dolls are practically built for melodrama. Blush was risky, but Tower 28 leaned into absurdity and pulled it off. But if your “characters” are just spokespeople with a ring light… maybe stick to Instagram Stories, babes…

If you’re hellbent on trying it out then here’s the golden rule: (yes I made it up, no it doesn’t matter, duh.)

Entertainment first, marketing second.

No one’s tuning into Season 3 of Moisturiser: The Flaky Skin Sitcom. But if your brand has the stamina to commit past three episodes, a POV sharp enough to write actual punchlines, and the humility to not sell every five seconds… you might just win your own mini-fanbase.

Otherwise? Just enjoy being part of the laugh track like the rest of us x

TREND PLUG

"I have the one and only 24k gold labewbew"

This one is straight from TikTok's deepest brainrot hells.

TikTok user @Lilz Bullz exploded in popularity after showing off her allegedly super limited 24k golden labubu. Really it's just spray-painted, but the way she said LABEWBEW really stuck with comments and TikTok as a platform by extension. Not to mention that the way she's holding up the labubu really resonated with the people.

TikTokers have taken the sound and used it in a multitude of ways. By holding up their pets, siblings, and even Kevin JONAS (WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??).

How you can jump on this trend:

Use this funny trending audio to show off a rare (according to you) treasure that you currently possess.

A few ideas to get you started:

  • Lip sync along and hold up your product or latest launch

  • Hold up the most recent seasonal latte that your fav coffee shop just released

  • Hold up your pet, significant other, or boss (you didn't hear that from me) while you lip sync to the audio

- abdel khalil, brand & marketing executive

FOR THE GROUP CHAT

😂Yap’s funniest home videos: Driving already? They grow up so fast
❤How wholesome: Meet Harry
😊Soooo satisfying: Driveway power washing
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: Another day, another chicken pasta recipe

ASK THE EDITOR

I'm putting out a lot of content for our brand but it seems like I'm posting just to post. What should I do? - Richard

Hey Richard!

Getting your message right is going to come down to your brand positioning. How do you want your audience to see you? What makes you different from all the other businesses that do the same thing yours does? This can't just be that you have the "best" product because pretty much everyone thinks they're the best. It has to be some kind of value your audience can get behind. Once you know what this is, it will be your core message.

Then you need to figure out how you're going to get this across in your content, because this is the thing that your audience will be able to connect with. So focus on figuring out your positioning, then let your content stem from that! For a more in-depth look at brand positioning, check out this article.

- Charlotte, Editor ♡

PSST…PASS IT ON

Reply

or to participate.