Why whimsy really isn’t funny
The arguments that must be going on in FMCG companies between marketing and sustainability/legal/finance teams right now over the ‘#whimsy’ trend must be wild!
A new trend has spread over social media for ‘bedazzling’ your stuff and body with rhinestones and plastic gems in the name of being more ‘whimsical’ and playful.
Allow me to start with an observation of irony. There are several definitions of ‘whimsy’, but the consistent factors are the idea of whimsy being a fleeting, sudden or unexpected act or thought, which is unusual or funny. The irony of whimsy being a trend is not lost: how is something that is going viral and has millions of people performing it unusual or unexpected? Fleeting, as most viral trends are, is probably appropriate here, but another definition caught my eye.
📘 The Cambridge University Dictionary includes a meaning of whimsy as ‘something that is intended to be strange and humorous but in fact has little real meaning or value:’. This seems pretty appropriate, particularly when considering the fleeting nature of trends and likes on instagram. (There is also a definition which list whimsical acts as potentially ‘annoying’… this trend certainly is).
Now, I have 0 issue with people making their belongings their own and personalising things (for instance, all my notebooks are covered in doodles, and I have a reusable straw with a ghost on to make my morning supplement drinks feel like a magic potion, not a yucky-tasting necessity of a long-term health condition). The problem I have, is the sustainability impact of this trend, namely the amount of completely unnecessary plastic waste that will be created, and the businesses who are undoing their own sustainability compliance and goals. Not very humorous at all.