New research is debunking the viral “Gen Z stare” stereotype. Preply’s 2026 Global Small Talk survey found 58% of Gen Z make small talk in person daily—nearly twice as much as Baby Boomers (31%). And they gravitate toward talking about weekend plans and restaurants over Boomers’ go-to, the weather. Plus, 65% say they talk more now than five years ago, more than any other generation. It’s just that Gen Z is highly selective about when they choose to speak: 87% avoided at least one live conversation in the past year, and 41% have looked at their phone specifically to dodge one. But rather than avoiding conversation altogether, Gen Z appears to be filtering it: 27% let calls go to voicemail and text back instead, compared to just 7% of Boomers. It’s a useful frame for brands trying to understand Gen Z; the “stare” is sometimes just discernment about when, where, and how a conversation is actually worth having. (ACCESS Newswire)
👀 Read more from YPulse: The Gen Z Stare is the New Millennial Pause on The Viral List
Converse is under fire for their latest social media ad. Earlier this week, the brand pulled a post of K-pop singer Karina wearing a white skirt and holding a pair of Chucks by the laces from their Instagram after facing backlash from critics claiming the photo included racist imagery. The backlash quickly moved beyond criticism of the campaign to some people calling for the employees involved to be fired and others pushing for a boycott of the brand. The situation follows a trend of retailers and fashion brands facing criticism over products and campaigns many consumers perceive as racist. Just last month, Target pulled a children’s Halloween costume after critics said the outfit resembled a racist caricature. While some viewers have questioned whether the Converse ad was intentionally insensitive, it might not even matter. (CNN)
👀 Read more from YPulse: Will Young Consumers Forgive a Canceled Brand?
A new study says the Gen Z “sex recession” is real, but it’s complicated. For years, there have been headlines and narratives that Gen Z is less sexually active than previous generations (Xers love to bemoan that kids these days aren’t having any fun). New research from Playboy, The Kinsey Institute, and contraceptive brand Julie found that 29% of 18-29-year-olds had no sexual partners over the last three months, and 19% have never had a partner. Among those who aren’t sexually active, the top reason is limited opportunity to meet partners, and 60% agree that dating is exhausting and not worth it. Rather than pinning the alleged sexual recession on a single factor, the study suggests that a mix of technology and economics (who can afford to date?) could be to blame. But half of young adults don’t actually think there is a sex recession, and a quarter aren’t sure. YPulse does need to call out that this research doesn’t compare Gen Z’s sexual activity to previous gens either—and our data shows that 58% of 18-24-year-olds in the U.S. report they are sexually active in 2026, compared to 55% in 2015. (Mashable)
👀 Read more from YPulse: Dating and Relationships Report
UGC marketing is becoming harder to spot—on purpose. UGC being used to promote products and brands in a “natural” setting is nothing new on social media, but it typically exists on a brand profile or is marked as an #ad on a creator’s account. Now, viewers are seeing more content that centers a product more slyly, like using an AI voice-to-text app without ever acknowledging its presence in a breakup text video. The Wall Street Journal calls this new trend in user-generated content “stealth marketing.” Brands are doing it intentionally; they know by now that young consumers especially are trusting smaller creators over mega-influencers who have clearly become millionaires off ads. By hiring dozens, or even hundreds, of micro-creators to make content on secondary accounts that all have identical hooks and no formal disclosure, they get content across the algorithm without having viewers put off by it feeling like an ad. Whether this abides by FTC advertising guidelines is murky water, but the creators and brands making reliable money from it seem to find it worth the risk. (WSJ)
👀 Read more from YPulse: Gen Z’s Trust in Creators Has Only Grown Since 2020
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