• Threads now has its own version of hashtags.
• Pantone’s optimistic Color of the Year for 2024 is “Peach Fuzz.” But if you’re more cynical, you can pick up the Stuart Semple pigment “Cheap Buzz.”
• White Claw announces non-alcoholic seltzer. Or what we used to call “seltzer.”
• The anthropomorphization of AI tools is nothing new.

What is millennial cringe, you ask reluctantly?

It’s just about anything millennials do that causes second-hand embarrassment in the youths. (Full disclosure, The Daily Carnage is a mostly millennial-run operation.) For example:

The millennial pause: When a millennial person briefly hesitates after pressing record on the self-facing camera and before speaking. To be fair, there used to be a delay, and we’re just playing it safe.

Millennial humor: There’s not one sense of humor that defines millennials, but Gen Z likes to rib us for the earnest, self-critical Internet persona popularized by Buzzfeed and CollegeHumor “back in the day.”

According to Meltwater, there was a 119% increase in mentions of millennial cringe this year, and the folks doing the talking are between 18 and 34. That’s right, millennials are kind of self-conscious right now.

The question is, can your brand speak to the growing anxiety that millennials feel about losing digital literacy?

While we’re on the topic, you should know by now that the laughing-crying emoji [redacted] is totally cringe, video boomerangs are ancient artifacts, landscape mode is out, and under no circumstances should you reference The Office, Friends, or Harry Potter in public.

Check out Meltwater for more.

Doing the Secret Santa thing for this year’s office holiday party? Try out Elfster. It invites your coworkers to participate, randomizes pairs, and lets you build a spending-limited wishlist from any major outlet, so you don’t end up with another weird mug. Or you end up with exactly the weird mug you wanted. If your team is remote, you can ship gifts directly.

Brands that want to make a scene know that Aubrey Plaza is a good bet. She’s teamed up with Cointreau to teach you the difference between a marga-wrong and a marga-right. Hint: The difference is Cointreau.