📈 Mic (Gum)Drop

We’re flying cars, trick-or-treating at 30, and shunning paparazzi.

October 25, 2023

Welcome to Trendlines!

In this time of honoring monsters, can we all just admit that the skeleton is a little out of place in the Halloween pantheon? It has none of the menace of vampires, none of the gore of zombies, and none of the mysticism of ghosts and witches. Oh noooo, don’t slowly amble toward us with those brittle rotten femurs and literally zero working senses 🙄.

Unless… unless the skeleton is but an allegory revealing that the real monster has been inside of us all along. Oh no. In this edition, we:

  • Lament it’s taken so long to get the whole flying car idea off the ground.

  • Turn children away from our door because we deem their skeleton costumes to be too scary them too old to be trick-or-treating.

  • Check in with Grandpa to see how he’s taking the news of Ariana Grande and Dalton Gomez’s split.

Enjoy reading.

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Technology

Future Tense

Let’s be honest, if the future is here, it’s not that great. It’s true that televisions have never been flatter and you can go to space (sort of) but not even one of our nation’s cops have been Robo-ed yet. With the failed promises of ‘80s sci-fi movies plaguing our thoughts, we asked Americans to share which technology they are most disappointed we don’t have yet. 

Mr. Jetson must have had a strong impact on people because a plurality of Americans (42%) are most disappointed by a lack of flying cars. To be fair, he did always look pretty cool when he dropped his kids off at school without having to wait in traffic.

For 14% of Americans, low orbit isn’t enough and they are most disappointed by the lack of interstellar space travel. With all the advances in space travel they should definitely Kling-on to hope for a future among the stars.

The third most disappointing broken promise is holograms with 8% wishing the technology wasn’t reserved for Tupac. Just imagine a world where you can pretend you are present for a meeting as long as no one tries to shake your hand.

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Holiday

Mic (Gum)Drop: You’re Never Too Old To Trick Or Treat

With Halloween around the Candy Corn-er, it’s time to decide whether or not you’re trick-or-treating. Many of you may be wondering if it’s still okay to request sweets while walking down 5th Avenue in a costume or if that’s only for the Baby Ruths. A plurality of Americans (30%) believe you’re never too old to trick-or-treat and anyone who says differently is being a Milk Dud.

All those geriatric, 19 year-old, trick-or-treaters will still need to decide what to Jujube this year. Of course, we’ve been planning since November 1st of last year because we never let the Fun Dip. The plurality of Americans plan their costume between 1-3 months in advance (46%), but you’re still in good company if you just started planning Now and Later, as 40% don’t start planning until less than a month out.

Lastly, you’ll need to figure out what type of costume you’ll be wearing. Sure you could be Batman, but are you going to be a cool, funny, scary, or sexy Batman? A plurality of Americans think they're Mento look cool (33%), while others want to make people Laffy Taffy (25%) or scare them so bad that they’ll need a Life Saver (24%).

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Entertainment

Gen (TM)Z

As the Hollywood actors’ strike continues, we can only assume that A-list celebrities are passing the time by absorbing all the data-driven insights Trendlines has to offer. Well, Ben Affleck, next time you’re caught by paparazzi drowning your sorrows in cigarettes or Dunkin’, you may be heartened to know that most Americans don’t really care about them apples: Nearly three-quarters (72%) do not follow celebrity gossip closely. 

Even when asked how closely they follow the personal lives of their self-reported favorite celebrity, most Americans (53%) still don’t pay close attention. To be fair, why bother keeping up when TSwift is going to give us a detailed rundown on the next album anyway? It’s going to be such a melodic description of how savvy veterans are able to find the soft spots against a Cover 2 Zone defense. 

That’s a wrap, folks

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About Gradient

Gradient is a cross-functional team of industry analysts, market researchers, data scientists, technologists, and storytellers who help organizations uncover missed opportunities, find new layers of clarity, and pioneer new directions with confidence and statistical integrity. We work with startups, Fortune 100 brands, consulting firms, and political campaigns.

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