A Millennial National holiday, a picture book with no pictures, and the rise of the Jankosians. All the news you need to finish off the week!
1. It’s October 3rd
Happy Mean Girls Day! October 3rd is unofficially known as National Mean Girls Day by Millennials and teens who choose today to celebrate the now iconic film thanks to the movie’s line, “On October 3rd, he asked me what day it was.” Don’t miss the fact that social media is in full Mean Girls worship mode, with fan art and GIFs devoted to the movie being proudly showcased. News outlets have also adopted the holiday as a reason to post Mean Girls homages. We’ve written in the past about why the movie has remained a cultural cornerstone for the generation and continues to resonate with young viewers today—if you missed the chance to celebrate all things Mean Girls with its fans this year, mark it in your calendar for 2015. We guarantee it will still be relevant.
2. The Rise of the Jankosians
In yesterday’s Teen Mag Roundup (we read them so you don’t have to) we told you to keep an eye on the Janosians, a five-guy gang hailing from Australia with 1.7 million subscribers on YouTube who have now landed a world tour, record deal, and a debut movie to document their “half-scripted, half-improvised” lives. So don’t miss three of the Jankosians’ appearance at Advertising Week, where they sat in on a panel devoted to online video, to talk about their “music, comedy, pranks and other material aimed at girls 12 to 17” joked, took selfies, and talked about their platforms of choice: Instagram, Keek, and of course, YouTube.
3. Death of Gender Stereotypes?
Our Millennial Guy confessed this week that he is tired of marketing relying on cynical and out of touch stereotypes that just plan mock Millennial males—and that’s just not working. But while Millennial guys might be unhappy about the marketing aimed at them, you shouldn’t miss that marketers could “(finally) be realizing that stereotyping women doesn’t work. Depicting modern women might have a long way to go, but—as we’ve pointed out—recently some brands have been taking steps to portray diversity and strength, keep it real, and fight against sexism to reach female consumers.
4. A Big Emotional Picture
This summer, we reported that Pixar will be releasing two movies in 2015 including Inside Out, will be their second with a female lead, and their first starring a girl who isn’t a princess. We also told you the movie would be the story of five emotions battling for control inside the mind of a young girl. The “main and most important” emotion being Joy, voiced by Amy Poehler, which speaks to the idea of optimism being the default mode of Millennials and potentially post-Millennials as well. Now don’t miss that the first trailer for Inside Out has arrived, and while it doesn’t reveal much about the plot, it does showcase Pixar’s greatest hits with young viewers.
5. The No-Picture Book
Young children’s books are often known for their illustrations and much as their words, and we often talk about young consumers’ affinity for pictures over text, so a picture book with no pictures might seem like a terrible idea. Except…Actor, producer, and author BJ Novak’s The Book With No Pictures is filled with silly, ridiculous sounding words, sentences, and sounds, like “Boo Boo Butt” and “Bluurf,” that grownups have to read out loud. Judging from this video of Novak reading his work to a room full of grade-school kids who can’t contain their laughter, it could be a big success.
