Social media trends: It’s wine o’clock somewhere

Each week, Marketing Brew recaps what people are talking about on social media, the trends that took over our feeds, and how marketers are responding.

Just joshin’ around: What started as a joke about affordable wine has led to a full-on Josh takeover on X. Memes and puns about Josh Cellars’s wine are everywhere, ranging from “Josh pit” to “Don’t Josh and drive.” People are putting Josh in song lyrics, squash, motivational posts, and X-rays. They’re referencing old Nickelodeon shows. The joke has even spread to other informally named wines, like Justin, Jim, Dave, and Kelly.

Some have joked that Josh Cellars’s marketing department is probably loving this. Based on the brand’s response on Instagram, that seems right.

Mak it stop? If your Josh-filled timeline on X is interspersed with ads from makeup brand Il Makiage, you’re not alone. The brand appears to be putting a lot of paid media behind the platform, even as other advertisers have been fleeing it. Some of the most prolific ads include GRWM-style videos with celebrities like Melora Hardin and Audrina Patridge, as well as other promotional videos for its foundation color-match quiz. While some people seem tempted by the sponcon, others seem less impressed by the offers.

Secret singing: People online are wondering why, exactly, the new Mean Girls movie wasn’t explicitly marketed as a musical amid reports that 16% of moviegoers left theaters “disappointed” and videos of people being surprised by the musical numbers have gone viral.

In an interview with Variety, Marc Weinstock, Paramount’s president of global marketing and distribution, said it was a deliberate choice to keep the musical status on the DL because disclosing it prominently could “have the potential to turn off audiences.” In other words, better to let viewers down than not buy a ticket at all.

In other Mean Girls remake news, some online have noted the prominence of product placements in the film, specifically E.l.f. makeup products.

Chicken or fish? Chicken of the Sea has made its most iconic unintentional spokesperson an intentional spokesperson—and it’s doing numbers. Jessica Simpson, who, 20-odd years ago, famously asked if the brand’s canned tuna was chicken or fish, is now cashing a check on a mix-up that haunted her for years. Much like the TikTok comment section, we respect it.