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The Bridge: Gen-Z’s socially conscious hive-mind is impacting celebrity more than ever, with accountability being enforced from sustainability practices to musical content.
It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane, It’s…Taylor Swift?
Oh Taylor, how could you? That’s right, America’s favorite break up songstress has finally done wrong in Gen-Z’s (and mother nature’s) eyes. Yard, a sustainability marketing agency, released a July 2022 report detailing the carbon emissions of famous people’s private jets. In a time where you can get canceled for still using plastic straws (shout out to the sea turtles), the report obviously went mega-viral.
Back to Taylor.
Unfortunately, Swift’s chart-topping ability isn’t limited to the Billboard 100, beating Travis Scott, Kylie Jenner, and Kim Kardashian for the #1 spot on Yard’s list. We’ll give you a sec to guess how many flights her PJ (that’s Zillennial for “Private Jet”) took…
170! That’s one hundred and seventy flights, in just the first 200 days of this year. That’s a lot of travel for an artist who isn’t touring. 8,293 tons of carbon emissions worth of flights… to be exact.
To make it just a little bit worse, the average flight times are just less than an hour and a half. You can bet that Gen-Z’s reaction to this news is going to last quite a bit longer.
It’s Getting Hot In Here
For 2000’s babies, accountability doesn’t just stop at sustainability. In fact, Gen-Z prioritizes brand values that align with their own – often turning on their favorite celebrities and brands if they don’t move with integrity.
In other words, they want their role models walk-the-walk.
Take mental health for example, another hot topic for kids these days. Gen-Z made a notable push for their favorite artists to stop glamorizing violence and drug use after the almost incessant passings of numerous “Emo Rap” stars pre-pandemic.
Emo Rap, a genre known for its depressing lyrics and manic artists, subsequently began fading in popularity as kids stopped identifying with it. Wondering what took its place? Just scroll through Tik Tok for 30 minutes, you’ll notice that trending music is decidedly upbeat.
Even Drake and Beyonce are releasing dancier, happier music compared to previous releases. Look at Gen-Z go, making the world a better place one Spotify stream at a time.
