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Ok, not what I expected to read on IG this morning. Especially when I realised this post was written by the fictional CEO of Global Tetrahedron, the firm that supposedly owns The Onion (check out their website - I dare you). The post announced a new deal the satirical news outlet has struck, in which they'll acquire the infamous Infowars brand. To jog your memory, right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones used Infowars as a platform for spreading his views to an audience of 30 million.

Back in 2022, Jones was ordered to pay $1.5B in damages after claiming the Sandy Hook shooting was "staged." Selling off his Infowars assets was the only way for him to make the payout. Enter The Onion. Now, pending court approval, the brand plans to bring Infowars into its empire of satire. This plan, which the Sandy Hook families supported, will turn a once-harmful platform into one that will bring a bit of levity to the interwebz.

In other news, Tim Cook is stepping down from his position as Apple's CEO after 15 years. From 1 September, current Senior VP of Hardware Engineering John Ternus will step into the role. Under Cook's leadership, the company introduced Apple Watch and AirPods, as well as services like Apple Pay, Apple Music, and Apple TV. So in other words, you've got some big shoes to fill, Ternus.

Moving on. The “Influencer Olympics," AKA Coachella, has always been a place for creators to make tonnes of content in the hopes of getting brands to notice them. It's even become common for influencers to pretend they're at the event. But this year, faking a Coachella experience went up 100 notches as the music festival was overrun with AI influencers.

And, apparently, these accounts are pretty believable to the average scroller. Take Granny Spills, an AI account that posted "granny" in the arms of Justin Beiber. (All the "omg I want to be you when I grow up" comments are sendinggg me.) Then you have Ammarathegoat, whose photos of the festival are flooded with comments like "Girl you're so gorgeous!!" Like, are we really that gullible? Are all these comments bots?

Sure, these accounts are not hiding the fact that they are AI influencers. But also, there's no disclosure on the actual content. So really, what incentive will brands have to send real creators to events when they can send fake ones and still get loads of engagement (for much cheaper, I assume)? Ok, that's enough internet for today, thank you.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

Known online as "Zyzz," he became the patron saint of a new kind of fitness religion. His gospel was simple: aesthetics above all.

Zyzz and his "aesthetic" crew were transparent about their lifestyle. That was: partying, gym sessions, and the poorly hidden secret of anabolic steroids. While the world watched in a mix of horror and fascination, a generation of young men was radicalised into the idea that a needle was a shortcut to a god-like physique.

The raw, aggressive imagery of the steroid era has been replaced by the sleek, minimalist aesthetic of "biohacking."

The neon-lit gym basements have been swapped for high-end wellness clinics and minimalist "research" websites. We are no longer talking about "stacking" Dbol; we are talking about "optimising" via peptides.

This new alchemy is a rebranding of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). And it has turned the grey market into a wellness revolution.

Steroids carry a heavy social stigma. Thoughts of "roid rage," acne, hair loss and problems with your package are somewhat of a deterrent. Peptides, however, sound clinical, natural, and sophisticated. Defined as short chains of amino acids that occur naturally in the body, peptides like BPC-157, Melanotan II, and CJC-1295 are marketed as "signalling molecules" rather than drugs.

In the hands of modern social media creators, these substances are framed through the lens of longevity and health. Influencers don't talk about getting "huge". They talk about "cellular repair," "growth hormone secretagogues," and "metabolic efficiency."

By stripping away the bodybuilding jargon and replacing it with the vocabulary of a Silicon Valley startup, the fitness community has made self-injection feel like a virtuous act of self-care.

For decades, "pinning" was the line in the sand that separated the casual gym-goer from the hardcore user. That line has been erased by the mainstreaming of GLP-1 agonists like Ozempic and Wegovy.

As millions of people now use self-injectable pens for weight loss, the "fear of the needle" has evaporated. This cultural shift has created a vacuum that the grey market was happy to fill. If a doctor prescribes a peptide for weight loss, the logic goes, why shouldn't an influencer recommend a peptide for tanning, muscle growth, or injury recovery?

The "Ozempic effect" has inadvertently acted as a gateway. One that has made the act of injecting unregulated substances from a "research only" website feel like a minor lifestyle tweak rather than a major fkn medical gamble.

A simple Google search leads to professional-looking websites that sell vials of powder with elegant branding.

These companies survive on a legal technicality: the "Not for Human Consumption" label. By categorising these potent drugs as "research chemicals," sellers bypass FDA oversight. However, the social media creators who promote them, often through "educational" videos that stop just short of a direct endorsement. And they know exactly who the "researchers" are: 19-year-olds looking to fix a shoulder injury or get a six-pack before summer.

This creates a dangerous information gap. A creator talks about the "miraculous" healing properties of BPC-157 without mentioning that most data comes from rat studies, not human trials. So they are essentially conducting a massive, uncontrolled experiment on their audience.

Because peptides are "natural" amino acids, users assume they lack the side effects of synthetic hormones. But the body is a delicate feedback loop. Artificially stimulating growth hormone or melanin production can have systemic consequences that we are only really just beginning to understand. These range from heart issues to the acceleration of undiagnosed cancers.

And because these substances are unregulated, there is zero guarantee of purity. "Research" vials have been found to contain heavy metals, incorrect dosages, or entirely different substances. We are seeing the same fallout we saw in the Zyzz era--organ stress and hormonal shutdowns. But it’s being masked by a "healthy" glow.

In the 70s, it was the "breakfast of champions" (Dianabol); in the 2010s, it was the "aesthetic" steroid boom. Today, it’s the peptide wave.

The platforms have changed from bodybuilding forums to TikTok. The vials have prettier labels. But the core issue remains.

We are still outsourcing our self-worth to substances we don't fully understand. And we're being guided by influencers who are more concerned with engagement than epidemiology.

As we look back at the fallout of the steroid era, we should ask ourselves: ten years from now, what will we call the "longevity" influencers who led their followers into the unregulated world of the New Alchemy?

The needles may be smaller, but the stakes are just as high.

 -Sophie Randell, Writer

Today’s viral trend is built around the Kardashians saying “it’s a full time job.” The vibe is lightly dramatic, self-aware, and very real - highlighting situations that sound simple on paper but are actually way more time-consuming than people think.

Creators are using the audio with captions that call out everyday tasks that can take over your life. Think: “when you open TikTok for content inspo and suddenly it’s been 2 hours” or “when it’s time to scroll social media for ‘trend research’.” It’s all about exaggerating the effort behind things people underestimate.

Use the audio and pair it with a scenario that seems small or easy but actually requires a lot of time, effort, or mental energy. Add on-screen text starting with “when…” or “POV…” to set the context. The more relatable (and slightly exposing) it is, the better.

A few ideas to get you started:

-Georgia Russell, Intern

😲WTF: Surf's up
✨Daily inspo: Your next DIY project..?
😊Soooo satisfying: So pretty to look at
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: Bacon Avo Lettuce Wrap

Hey Les,

When you move from a one-man band to leading a team, the temptation is to stay across everything because, up until now, you've had to! But the best leaders don't try to be everywhere, all the time. Instead, they trust their team to own the work in their respective areas of expertise. You will become the person who sets the vision, keeping everyone focused on the brand story you're telling.

Support your team when they need it, but you'll have to be ok giving up the control you're used to! Another important piece of leading your team will be to set the culture. So celebrate small wins, encourage reflection and learning when things go wrong, and role model good communication within the team. Good luck!

- 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.