Robot Fodder Vol 24
The wellness rebellion: a new age of romanticism
Wellness was supposed to be our escape, but for many, it's become another full-time job. The relentless pressure to optimise, track, and perfect ourselves has led to a collective sigh of exhaustion.
But now the pendulum has swung the other way. Wellness isn’t any one thing, it’s a holistic pursuit for personal gratification. A can of coke with dinner is actually a crispy DC in a champagne coupe — that’s modern self-care.
So how can brands harness this new age romanticism?
Insight
The rise of JOMO
Gen Z, who surprisingly outspend older generations on wellness services, are feeling the burnout the most. The antidote? Not another subscription, but a conscious decision to opt out. The pressure to be constantly working on ourselves is fuelling a cultural shift towards the ‘in-perience’.The ‘joy of missing out’ has consumers focused on smart spending and creating meaningful rituals at home, from savouring restaurant-quality meals to simply enjoying the peace of not participating. For brands, this means the home is the new frontier for meaningful, pressure-free experiences.
Euphoric eating
Nowhere is this rebellion more delicious than on our plates. The era of clean eating as a benchmark for virtue is being steadily replaced by a hunger for rich, sensory-driven meals that prioritise flavour and pleasure. This shift is most visible in the rise of ‘caviar bumps’, a Gen Z ritual that turns a luxury food into a shared, performative moment of pleasure. These over-the-top food styles and desserts are surging in popularity among pleasure-seeking diners flocking to treats like overstuffed, treat-worthy sandwiches or the viral pistachio-filled Dubai chocolate bar. The takeaway is clear, consumers want pleasure, not penance from their foods.
Bad feels refreshingly good
The most provocative signal of this shift is the quiet resurgence of cheeky cigs. Driven by aesthetics and a 90s cultural revival, this isn't about public health denial; it's a subtle rebellion against the hyper-sanitised rules of modern wellness. Between 2023 and 2024, an estimated 127,000 young adults in the UK started smoking regularly. With cultural icons like Charli XCX describing the 'Brat summer starter pack' as 'a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra', it's clear that for some, a little bit of bad feels refreshingly good. It's a reminder that brands can't just sell goodness; they must also understand the allure of breaking the rules.
What’s going on?
Real page turners
Hinge presents ‘No Ordinary Love’: a campaign celebrating the unexpected twists of falling in love. While most of the category is battling app fatigue and falling usage, Hinge went the other way.
Snap out of it
Polaroid’s new campaign pushes back against the reign of screens and AI, and celebrates analog. Directly tackling digital exhaustion Polaroid offers a fresh antidote to digital overload.
Escape to the country
The Hideaways are a collection of handcrafted cabins nestled in the rolling Devon countryside. They offer space to breathe, time to reconnect and a place to live slow.
"Good art direction has the power to turn the norm into a high-brow aesthetic with a poetic tale. It’s an opportunity to elevate everyday brands, turning them into a boost of serotonin and a facilitator of gratitudinal moments worthy of any Insta story."
Steph
Design Director
