Our latest report, Think Forward: The Liveable Web explores the five key trends set to shape social over the next 12 months. In this blog, we take a look at the trend ‘Primal Renaissance’ and how after years of cultural sanitsation and emotional suppression, the social landscape is embracing messiness again.
Gen Z is the “puriteen” generation having less sex, shunning alcohol and taking fewer drugs – or so brands thought. After an online era defined by abstention and self-censorship, the last twelve months have seen an uptick in unruliness as young social users connect through chaos, finding relatability in mess.
In June, Brat Summer exploded into lime green-coloured life following the release of Charli XCX’s sixth studio album, becoming a lightning rod for social media users who craved realness instead of the “clean girl” aesthetic popularised on TikTok in years prior.
Its highly memeable celebration of a different type of femininity – seeking out hedonism and centering pleasure; to hell with anyone who judges – chimed for the same reason that tennis drama Challengers did. That film’s domination of the online discourse was powered by the way that, as with Brat, that, in the tennis drama, base desires weren’t just permitted – they were held up as a vital, relatable part of being alive in 2024.
Its popularity is a middle finger to what came before. Not just in mainstream media, where the Marvel Cinematic Universe, noted by film critics for its sexlessness, ruled the box office; where K-pop has replaced lust-driven pop, rap and R&B at the top of the Spotify streaming charts. It’s a riposte to modesty movements: wellness trends like “dense bean salad girl”, weight loss trends like the appetite suppressant Ozempic. It took the desires that drive us and dragged them by the hair extensions into the epicentre of culture again – inspiring brands, creators and audiences alike.
Read about how brands like Calvin Klein, H&M and Nike are embracing and responding to Primal Resistance, and the lessons marketers can learn in Think Forward: The Liveable Web. Download your free copy now for this, and all five trends.
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