Bad news for fans of little treats: just after the price of cocoa reached record highs, now coffee is doing the same. Next time you order a mocha, you’d better sip it slowly.
Scroll down to read about supermarket sweets, sporty kids, and Frida Kahlo’s eyebrow pencil.
Stats to power your week
📢 Catching most people by surprise, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called a snap general election last week. As for what will drive how people vote, 55% in the UK say their personal values have the most impact on their political views, but 44% say they’re influenced by the current state of the economy. GWI Zeitgeist
📱Just a little preview from our latest social report – more consumers (47%) discover products via social media ads, brands’ social pages, or social recommendations, than on search engines (33%). When combined, these channels have a lot of influence. GWI Core
🍭 There’s been a 37% increase year-on-year in the number who say their favorite brand of candy is…a supermarket own-brand option. Sweets are often a go-to affordable treat in hard times, but not always for branded options. GWI Core Plus
🧒 Four years on, how many kids are sticking with their lockdown hobbies? Alas, not that many. With commiserations to the baking industry, since early 2021 there’s been a steady decline in children in the UK engaging in almost all our tracked hobbies, except for playing and watching sports. GWI Kids
🖥️ A year ago saw the biggest ever trial of a four-day work week, and more than half of the companies that took part made the change permanent. But who exactly is benefiting from the shorter week right now? Unsurprisingly, sole traders lead the way, with tech & communication the sector most likely to have an extra day off. GWI Work
What’s on our radar
It’s a bit too complicated to fully explain here, but AI lab Anthropic has made a breakthrough in understanding how large language models (LLMs) work, and how they can be controlled. You can see this control in action in a version of Claude that is convinced it’s the Golden Gate Bridge.
As well as bridge impersonations, we’ve also recently learned that LLMs can outperform humans at predicting company performance and understanding irony (the latter study being, um, ironically published in a journal called Nature Human Behavior).
And the AI economy is set to develop further, with Amazon’s Alexa poised for an upgrade with a monthly subscription.
McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s are competing to win over inflation-weary consumers with budget-value menus, but fast-casual chains like Chipotle are enjoying visits from high-income customers.
In-person live shows are doing well after the pandemic – live comedy is scaling new heights, while Taylor Swift’s shows in Singapore seem to have added a boost to the country’s GDP figures.
IKEA has teamed up with rehoming center Woodgreen Pets to launch its first ever product range for pets.
Chart of the week
With our latest release of GWI Core, our research has picked up a significant milestone: after years of disruption, global consumer confidence has finally climbed above 2019 levels.
The shape of this week’s chart tells you all you need to know about the uncertainty of the last few years. The initial outbreak of Covid-19 saw a steep plunge in confidence, and then, just as normality looked to be returning, it took another dip following the conflict in Ukraine and subsequent inflation.
Of course, this is only a global average, and local narratives vary. Thailand has enjoyed a 32% uptick in consumer confidence, while in Austria, it’s still 22% lower than it was in 2019.
Local lowdown
In Mexico, the eyeliner is the window to the soul
In her book Eyeliner: A Cultural History, published late last year, author Zahra Hankir describes how the Mexican-American Chola community wears the titular makeup as a way to take pride in their identity and heritage, pushing back against cultural assimilation.
Mexico has a deep connection not just with eyeliner, but virtually all eye makeup. Mexicans are the most likely to wear eyeliner, eyebrow products, and eyeshadow, across all the countries that we track.
In fact, one of the most recognizable facial features in the world received a helping hand from an “Ebony” Revlon eyebrow pencil. That was the product Mexican painter Frida Kahlo used to accentuate her distinctive unibrow.
