Your ATTN Please || Tuesday, 20 May

We interrupt this newsletter to ask you an important question…

We’ve got something in the works for you, so stay tuned to find out more 👀

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?

“Oopsie” becomes a marketing strategy, Outdoor Boys leave YT & The Weeknd’s film bombs (big time)

Is "oops my bad" marketing the new trend? Duolingo and HBO seem to think so.

Mistakes are a part of life. But when you’re a brand with millions of eyes on you, mistakes can be hard to come back from. Does one continue as planned and pray everyone gets brand-nesia? Duolingo and HBO Max say lean in – representing one of the leading marketing trends in 2025.

Duolingo has just archived their entire profile, staging what I’m sure will be a hilarious comeback after coming under fire for going “AI first” and firing a bunch of contractors. HBO Max poked fun at themselves for years of sh*tty rebrands. Both went against consumer sentiment – and both leaned into the joke of it. I say take notes.

Outdoor Boys say goodbye.

And it's a sad day for fans of the beloved YouTube channel, which garnered nearly 15 million subscribers over the last 10 years. Its wholesome content inspired many to get outside, spend time with family and learn skills that aren’t necessarily taught in today's digital world. Luke Nichols, who runs the account, posted his final video on Sunday, explaining: “Because of people stealing my content and posting it on other platforms, my family and I have been viewed about 4 billion times, in addition to the 2.8 billion views on YouTube.”

He went on to say this led to his family becoming “overwhelmed” with fans trying to interact with them. The proliferation of stolen content from creators like this is commonplace. Unfortunately, it’s SOME platforms' entire business model to promote aggregator bot accounts and bury the original creators. You will be missed, Outdoor Boys!

The Weeknd's Hurry Up Tomorrow bombs at box office.

– and no one is surprised. Although, $3.3 million on opening weekend is truly shocking. So is 14% on Rotten Tomatoes. His last project with Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, "The Idol,"  flopped hard as well. Probably because it was nothing more than a weird, 5-episode long soft-p*rn music video of chain-smoking and icky scenes that made everybody who watched internally recoil. My best bet is no one was willing to take that chance again.

Anyway, that’s all folks!

-Sophie Randell, Writer

DEEP DIVE

The dark side of building "community"

It’s never been trendier to say your brand is “building community” than it is right now.

But where do we draw the line between actual, genuine community and community as an aesthetic? Because community is not just a vibe, or a content strategy, or a shortcut to engagement. It’s a commitment. One that comes with responsibility, reciprocity, and actual people at the centre of it. And too many brands seem to be forgetting that.

I recently read about the death of counterculture and the part brands had to play.

Everyone wants community, but few actually want the responsibility.

Most brands saying “we’re building community” are really just building audience. Or fandom. Or a Discord server with niche memes and a brand voice that uses sparkles. But community is waaay deeper than that. Community means showing up consistently. It means accountability. It means you don’t get to disappear when the vibes shift or when it’s no longer trending on TikTok.

When brands treat community as a campaign, they don’t just dilute the meaning of the word. They break trust. People notice when the energy is extractive. Why yes, we can most definitely tell when you’re here to be a culture vulture, not a contributor.

Punk was a protest. Skate was subversive. Queer nightlife was a lifeline. And then brands showed up with their creative briefs, chasing edge and energy — not equity.

Brands took the aesthetics, sanitised the politics, and tossed the community. Suddenly, anarchy symbols were on high street hoodies. “Grunge” became a fall fashion trend. Pride was a product line. And when the next shiny subculture came along? The old one got dropped like last season’s lookbook.

This isn’t “celebrating culture.” It’s cultural strip-mining. And it should serve as a giant red flag for any brand entering community spaces today. If your relationship with culture is transactional, it won’t last. And it probably shouldn’t.

Brands and pop culture more broadly have been doing this to Black culture for decades.

From hip-hop to streetwear, slang to dance, protective hairstyles to social movements, the world has consistently pulled from Black culture as an endless source of innovation, style, and “cool.” But it’s a one-way exchange. Everyone wants the sound, the swag, the social capital. Few are willing to pour back in. Fewer still are willing to confront the structural inequalities that shape the very conditions this culture was created within.

The difference? Black culture is too deep, too wide, too rooted to be “killed” — but that doesn’t mean it isn’t harmed. When brands commodify elements that are integral to Black identity, without care, credit, or contribution, it’s not just theft. It’s erasure. And while they profit off the packaging, Black communities continue to face the policing, punishment, and prejudice attached to the real thing.

If brands want to participate, they can’t just take. They have to show up, pay up, and stand up. This is especially important in an industry that seems to be bulldozing DEI efforts at large.

Because aesthetic without ethics is just performance. And a lousy one at that.

When brands co-opt the look of a community but not the values, what remains is marketing cosplay. It’s all visual language, no lived reality.

This isn’t just a missed opportunity. It actively harms the communities being mimicked. The original members get pushed out or spoken over. The values that held the community together—solidarity, resistance, joy, whatever it may be—get reduced to palette choices and playlist curation.

Brands, we’re not participants. We’re custodians.

If you’re entering community spaces as a brand, you’re not just another user. You’re not just “joining the conversation.” You’re in a position of power. And that power comes with responsibility. You have to move from extraction to custodianship.

That means:

• Hiring people from the communities you want to serve

• Investing long-term (not just when the trend report tells you to)

• Giving credit where it’s due and not rewriting history

• Making space, not taking space

• Knowing when to amplify, and when to sit down

Community isn’t something you own. It’s something you earn through care, consistency, and alignment with values that aren’t negotiable for the sake of brand safety. You can’t be cool without caring, because that’s like, totally not cool. You get me? 

-Sophie Randell, Writer

TREND PLUG

Propaganda I'm not falling for

This one’s for the spiral girls (and me).

The sound comes from a Charli XCX and Bon Iver collab and is now the background music to every identity crisis on TikTok. The trend? Using it to list “propaganda” you're not falling for; aka mainstream narratives, hot takes, or overhyped ideas you just don’t buy into.

The trend format is simple: creators overlay a list of “propaganda I’m not falling for” while looking vaguely haunted in their front cam. It’s dry, it’s a little dramatic, and it’s a great excuse to start beef with abstract societal norms.

Here are three real examples from the trend:

@maya81802 included:

• regretting tattoos

• a certain body shape required for Pilates

• Zara or H&M being “better” than Shein

@tvnglsm said no to:

• clean girl look

• fake internet relationships

• overusing ChatGPT

and @thegirllyingdown shared:

• glamorising 2019

• “I don’t follow politics”

• preventative Botox

How you can jump on this trend:

Put the sound over a selfie-style clip. Then just list the stuff you’re done pretending to believe in—marketing lies, industry jargon, or office clichés that you’re mentally opting out of.

A few ideas to get you started:

• Canva Pro changing your life

• treating burnout like a badge of honour

• starting every email with “hope you're well”

• obsessing over audience retention on a 37-view reel

• linking a 98-page strategy deck that no one asked for

- abdel khalil, brand & marketing executive

FOR THE GROUP CHAT

😲WTF: Real life prison break
✨Daily inspo: Sheryl Lee Ralph is the best
😊Soooo satisfying: Hydraulic press madness!
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: 20 min ginger glazed chicken!

TODAY ON THE YAP PODCAST

Want even more “YAP”ing? Check out the full podcast here.

ASK THE EDITOR

I'm in charge of creating content for a small makeup brand. I've been posting a lot but our following isn't growing. What should I do? -Nina

Hey Nina!

I'd start with looking over your analytics to see what your best and worst performing content is. Look for patterns so you can start to get an idea of is working and what isn't. If you're reviewing your static content, pay extra attention to your hook and your images. If you're analysing your video content, look at things like your on-screen text, audio quality, your hook, and visual style.

Once you've got an idea of what isn't working, it's time to start testing. Change one thing at a time and look at how that affects your performance. Keep in mind that, if your goal is to grow your audience, you want people to engage and share your content. As you make tweaks, you'll begin to see what gets you the results you want. Then do more of that!

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

PSST…PASS IT ON