Your ATTN Please | Monday, 22 September

Are you old enough to remember the post-night-out photo dumps of the early 2000s?

You’d take 87 photos in a span of a few hours, then go home and upload every single one to Facebook. Later, we started curating our feeds, posting photos of brunch or selfies with our cats, angled just so. Fast forward to 2025, and our feeds are full of high-production videos and perfect influencer content we normies can’t compete with. Add in never-ending world events that make a random light-hearted post feel tone deaf, and one has to wonder, is casual posting a thing of the past?

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

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WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?

Sephora’s now on Uber Eats, Tootsie Pop asks “How many licks?” (again) & Mini products take over

Can I get uhhh… large fries and a Fenty Gloss bomb? Sephora is now available on Uber Eats.

This! This is what modern marketing is all about. Effortless access to makeup and sweet treats. Don’t ever tell me it’s a man’s world again. The move is part of Uber's expansion into providing more retail products to consumers. And it's the perfect way for Sephora to execute on its mission of making beauty “available to all.” And when you put it like that, the collab couldn’t make more sense.

Imagine you’re getting ready, running fashionably late (always darling), go to squeeze out that last little bit of foundation you thought you had only to realise, you don’t. There’s none. And your best friend is going to kill you for showing up halfway through dinner again. Not this time. Uber has officially saved your unorganised type B ass.

Tootsie Pop brings back "How Many Licks."

After more than 50 years, Tootsie Pop asks the same iconic question. In a refreshing and unexpected nostalgia play, the candy brand sharpened the animation and voice work on one of their most famous campaign videos. In an age where marketing can be so layered and convoluted, it’s nice to see a brand roll it back to simpler times and messaging. 10/10.

Mini products are now everywhere, and I love them.

No I don’t mean from shrinkflation. I mean literal, intentionally small products like the Trader Joes Mini Totes, travel-sized stocking-stuffers like La Mer or Frito-Lays mini Cheetos, Doritos and Sun Chips. And I freaking love whatever this phenomenon is called because 1. It makes me feel like I’m just-a-tiny-girl and 2. So cute and adorable and insta-worthy??? What’s not to like?

“There’s definitely more of an opportunity for virality when something is small and cute,” said Alex Kalatzis, Director of Marketing at beauty brand Tower 28, which sells miniature versions of many of its most popular products. Also, we’re all broke, so I’ll take the mini of just about anything before I opt for the regular size. Try before you buy, baby.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

DEEP DIVE

Posting "just because" is going extinct

This morning, I posted a mirror selfie.

Literally less than ten minutes later, I deleted it. Crazy work for someone whose story duration dashes once looked like 20 tiny ants. But those ten minutes alone felt like a fkn lifetime of mental gymnastics.

I had thought I looked nice, something we know (esp. as women) can feel like a mythic pull (“I woke up like this” does not happen as often as we were once promised).

But the second I posted, on CLOSE FRIENDS mind you, I felt anxious and to be honest, stupid.

Also, very exposed; why was I sharing this? Who even cared? Is this how I want to be perceived? Do I want to be perceived at all by anyone except my bf and maybe my sisters?

That spiral of second-guessing is exactly what The New Yorker recently called “posting ennui”, the creeping sense that casual posting doesn’t really make sense anymore.

And honestly, I find that so freaking sad.

I miss it. I miss seeing the silly little breakfast pics, the shower thoughts, the blurry snaps of a night out, the shameless mirror selfies and thirst traps. Posts that nobody cared about but everyone still wanted to share anyway. It’s lame that kind of posting now feels embarrassing, out of touch and even a little cringe.

Because what do we see on social media now, fifteen-plus years in? A feed that feels more like a news ticker than a scrapbook: influencers chasing high-budget polish, headlines announcing international horrors, AI-generated content filling in the gaps, and attention farmers feeding on outrage.

What used to be a place for small joys and silly documentation now feels like a stage where you risk ridicule every time you step on it.

And so we don’t.

Instead of posting, we scroll. We lurk. We voyeuristically watch others, the professionals, the shameless, the chaos agents, while keeping our own lives hidden.

And when we do post something personal, it comes with a vulnerability hangover. What if it’s cringe? What if no one cares? What if someone does care, in the wrong way? What if it’s insensitive due to the feelings of XYZ about ABC??

This is the paradox of posting ennui: social media is still omnipresent, but casual participation feels extinct.

The low-stakes, “just because” posting that made the early internet fun has been replaced by a culture where every post is either strategy or spectacle.

I truly respect those that keep at it, just for the love of the game. Others, like me, sheepishly dip in and out, torn between wanting to share, to create, and wanting to hide.

I guess for me, sometimes the only purpose posting serves is catharsis—taking something out of my brain and putting it into another container.

And maybe that’s ok. Like, that’s all that’s left, not posting for the world, but posting just to let it go, I guess.

But I can’t shake the grief of it all. And no I’m not being dramatic.

Because somewhere in the creator/ influencer economy and the Outrage Machine, we lost the stupid f*cking breakfast pics.

And the internet is a whole lot poorer without them. 

-Sophie Randell, Writer

TREND PLUG

“I believe his name was?"

This sound, which has been making the rounds on TikTok, describes the classic case of not being able to hear what someone else just said.

In the clip, one person says, “I'm an innocent bystander” and the other mishears it and goes, “I believe he said his name was Millicent Bystander.” Strangely, there's no clear original source linked to the clip, leaving its origin a mystery. Creators are using this audio to highlight laughable moments of miscommunication, especially when someone misinterprets what's being said. For example:

• Me trying to take notes in my lecture classes

• Me trying to watch anything without subtitles

• When I'm in the back of the car so I can't hear anything but I want to be included

How you can jump on this trend:

Use the original audio to showcase relatable communication fails. Add on screen text describing the moment of mishearing or misunderstanding. This can be a playful way to give details of product names, industry inside jokes, or funny customer requests.

A few ideas to get you started:

• When I have to repeat a client brief by memory

• When my boss tells me instructions while I wasn't paying attention

• When I'm in a meeting with my boss's boss but they keep cutting out

- Bella Vlasich, Intern

FOR THE GROUP CHAT

😂Yap’s funniest home videos: Is this the best prank ever
❤How wholesome: Buying from vendors with no customers
😊Soooo satisfying: Kinetic sand 4 life
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: Guacamole Quesadillas!

ASK THE EDITOR

I run a hair salon and am trying to grow my following on IG. What's the best way to do that? - Kiera

Hey Kiera!

One way to build your audience, especially for a local business like yours, is to use micro-influencers. Micro-influencers tend to have a smaller but very engaged audience, so partnering with them can be super effective.

Look for influencers who align with your business, so ones who are in the lifestyle or beauty space would work well for you. Then, reach out to a few and get to know them. You want to make sure it's a good fit before you have them represent your brand!

Once you've found who you want to work with, create a campaign together. This could involve creating content around live demonstrations or giveaways. Ideally, you'll find a few you can collaborate with on an ongoing basis as you build your audience.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

PSST…PASS IT ON