The Youth Lab

/// PLANET ///

• COP27, the United Nations climate change conference for leaders, is coming up. Last year at COP26, leaders were warned countries needed to take immediate and drastic action to meet goals. According to UN Climate Change Secretary Simon Stiell, not enough has been done - "the gravity of the threats we are facing, and the shortness of the time we have remaining to avoid the devastating consequences of runaway climate change.” In the meantime, Greta Thunberg is making an impact by skipping it, labelling it a platform for leaders to get attention and greenwash. More on this to come...
• Climate change remains an overwhelming concern for the public. A new report from Red C revealed that 72% of Irish people believe their personal actions can improve the environment. This isn’t an isolated mindset - 75% of people living across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific see climate change as a threat to their country.
• Craig David brings the bangers and positive messages, celebrating small changes like choosing train travel as a more sustainable option. His animated music video follows the artist in different landscapes across a train journey. It was created in partnership with The Trainline and “sheds light on the importance of making more sustainable choices, such as travelling by train, in the form of a heartfelt love song to Mother Nature.”
• Online speculation surrounding young actor Kit O’Connor’s sexuality accusing him of 'queerbaiting'. The term implies someone is insinuating they are LGBTQIA+ for their own gain, and has its own controversy attached. Cases like this question what celebrities owe their fans and the pressure experienced from being forced to answer these questions from anonymous online voices. The impact of this particular case of pressure? The 18 year old felt forced to come out on Twitter.

/// FAME ///

• The party is ending early for young Italians and Koreans, with two sad incidents having huge impact on nightlife. Italy’s new right wing government is locking down on unlicensed raves, erasing an important social space for young people. A tragic accident in Seoul’s busy nightlife district resulted in over 150 deaths, which, according to locals, was caused by local authorities' lack of adequate crowd control management. Korean club promoters shared their fears to Resident Advisor - "People will be afraid to gather, and I think it will have a big impact on night culture, especially. I think the government's rules will also change."
• Netflix feat. ads are coming soon… The streaming giant who has been struggling in the past few months to retain subscriptions, recently introduced their new “Basic with Ads” subscription tier, a slightly cheaper alternative that has, you guessed it, ads. Potentially a big opportunity for brands, but paying subscribers aren’t necessarily happy.
• Nothing like a weirdly unexpected collab to get people talking. This week it’s Juicy Couture partnering with Kraft Mayo dropping some ultra nostalgic velour tracksuits available on Mayo Couture (sadly only available in the US). It’s the perfect amount of weird, with the collection inspiration being their shared velvety smooth DNA.
• Sending congratulations to Miss Puerto Rico and Miss Argentina who, after keeping their relationship a secret since meeting in 2020 at a beauty pageant, got married and shared their beautiful news. The internet is very happy for them (many hoping to find the same happiness).

/// TRANSFORMATION ///

• Earlier in the week, Elon Musk was reminded by civil rights leaders the huge role Twitter plays in tackling election-related misinformation. He addressed his proposed plans in an open letter, and big advertisers threaten to cut spend if he guts Twitter’s content moderation. Monetising ‘Blue Tick’ verification has been subject to criticism too. In an article on Buzzfeed, writer Katie Notopoulos says that while happy to pay for extra Twitter features, she points out the bigger problem - “Stripping unpaid accounts of verified status will immediately open the floodgates to impersonators and misinformation.”
• Now you can invite guest stars into your Twitch stream and host your own talk show while gaming, with a new feature called Guest Star. This is exciting news for Twitch fans, as it will bring favourite Twitchers together creating content. Features like this are keeping gaming community members glued to their streams - Just Chatting increased stream watch time by 151%.
• The rapid development of AI tools is often critiqued, due to harmful stereotypes built into algorithms. A new tool called the Stable Diffusion Bias Explorer, designed by AI Ethics Researchers, aims to help people understand these biases. Users are able to explore AI Model maps by combining different descriptive terms, seeing how certain combinations can give biased results. Our curiosity is piqued (while listening to an AI cover of Jolene from artist Holly Herndon).

BRAND TAKEOUTS

Be Sensitive To Big Conversations - There are massive changes ahead, from COP27 and Twitter impacting information dissemination but for a lot of people, the everyday keeps going. Be mindful of the balance in your communication - brands need to be sensitive to big conversations that are shaping the cultural landscape of our time.

Stay Tuned For COP27 Coverage - We will be watching closely and sharing our takeouts and the business implications. In the meantime, understand what happened last year by reading our download from COP26, THINKHOUSE’s Guide for Sustainability in Action and this breakdown of the last IPCC Report.

Stay Curious By Keeping Reading, Listening, & Learning - Got An Idea Or Suggestion? Please email theyouthlab@thinkhousehq.com.