Has the rising cost of living affected your social life? You may be suffering from "friendflation”, making social connections harder to maintain. You know what they say: there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Scroll down to read about gaming tariffs, data privacy, and Gen Z’s love of books.
Stats to power your week
🎯 Last year, Target donated $1M to President Trump for his inauguration. One year on, the number of Democrats who regularly shop there has decreased 13%, with the number of Republicans rising a similar percentage. With the overall number of Americans shopping at the retailer falling 19% since 2021, will the new CEO be able to turn things around? GWI USA
🤖 32% of consumers are concerned about job losses caused by future developments in AI. At the top are those working in marketing (46%) and media (44%). But with Wired and Business Insider removing AI-written articles, do they need to be so concerned? From banks to AWS, many are scaling back their plans to replace employees with AI. GWI Zeitgeist
🧠 Illinois has banned AI in therapy, making it illegal for licensed therapists to use chatbots to make decisions. But as we know, some are cutting out the middle man and going directly to the bots. Those who use AI for therapy are more likely to want their chatbots to be empathetic (+53%), upbeat (+41%), funny (+46%), and inquisitive (+52%) than those who use AI for work. GWI Zeitgeist
🍬 Mars Wrigley has announced their sweet treats will be free from synthetic dyes from 2026 onwards, in a move over 50% of Americans support. GWI Zeitgeist
📚 British bookstore Waterstones has announced their plan to open 10 new stores a year, citing Gen Z interest. In the UK, the number of this generation who are interested in books has increased 13%. GWI Core
What’s on our radar
Tariffs are taking effect on the video game industry, as Sony announced a $50 increase to the RRP of the PS5 in the US. Gamestop has since offered a trade-in deal to cancel it out.
Airbus is about to make history, as its A320 is set to overtake Boeing as the most-delivered commercial airliner in history. For those not familiar with the industry, this is like if Pepsi continued on their trajectory in the 80s to overtake Coca-Cola. What will Boeing’s “new coke” look like?
From “brain rot” being named Oxford’s word of the year last year, “skibidi” being added to Cambridge dictionary last week, and “Trumpisms” finding their way into everyday conversation, is the way we speak online seeping into the real world?
Have we reached the peak of the AI boom? A new study has warned most investments in the technology struggle to see returns. Google has also released data on how much water an AI prompt uses for the first time.
If you’re considering a VPN, make sure you’re not compromising your privacy any further. A free Chrome extension with over 100,000 downloads has been exposed for screenshotting user activity. Elsewhere in data privacy, Grok user conversations have been popping up in Google search results.
Chart of the week
There’s a lot of talk around AI art, particularly in the film industry. In 2023, AI was at the centre of the Hollywood strikes. Just 2 years on, we’ve seen generative AI used in Oscar-winning films, and studios placing warnings on their films forbidding them from being used to train AI models. Clearly, there’s a conflict here.
The average film fan has little interest in AI art, and is not particularly confident that they can even identify it. But there’s another perspective at play here. There’s a general interest in AI art from regular cinema-goers. Attempts to push boundaries in how the cinema experience can be enhanced have been controversial, but the novelty is appealing to regulars. In terms of who’s driving the bottom line, those who visit regularly are more likely to spend more on their overall cinema experience such as food, concessions, and limited edition popcorn buckets.
The push-pull dynamic of the different types of cinema-goers will see media companies try to find a balance with the tech. But one thing is certain among both audiences: art made by humans is more meaningful.
🔥 Hot take
Punchy perspectives, with data that nudges the narrative
“People really aren’t talking about politics much online”
With a series of global elections and geopolitical turmoil over the last few years, if you were online, politics may have felt unavoidable. Since 2022, the number of Americans who have posted about politics has increased 20%. In the US, it’s the number one topic people post about online - more than music, sports, and films. It feels like everyone’s talking about politics.
That’s got to be a lot of people posting then, right? Well, let’s zoom out. About 32M Americans post about politics, a little over 10%. Globally, less than 10% of consumers do. And as much as Americans are posting more about politics, they’d much rather follow creators who post about TV, film, music, sports, fitness, and travel. In fact, they’re nearly 4.5x more likely to post about nothing at all than politics. It’s worth considering that most people don’t really care about politics at all.
